The Alternate Reality Game and Viral Marketing

Where the World Really is Your Playground
Do you remember those days as a kid when you and a group of friends would pretend that your given environment was either a jungle or the interior of a space ship and you’d spend the whole afternoon in that make-believe world and no matter what anyone said, that cat really was an alien and your plastic gun fired plasma? So now, what if I told you there was a kind of game that managed to harness that feeling of yours and literally make the world your playpen?
The alternate reality game or ARG is a type of game that uses the real world as its platform while using multiple media and game elements to tell a story that is directly affected by the players’ thoughts and actions. So in its own way, it bears a similarity to a puzzle game or a detective story, since an ARG is not as simple as “beat this” or “get that”. It uses a player intense environment that takes place in real-time and evolves according to the players’ decisions and interact with the game’s characters to solve puzzles and challenges.
While it can be just another way to play a type of game, the mainstream has recognized this as a potent form of advertisement. This is where the viral marketing comes in. Imagine this: you’re sitting on your desk, typing away when suddenly comes an invitation to check a website. So being naturally curious, you go to the website and are mildly amused at what you find. Just then, you receive a phone call that sets you off your desk and on an adventure around the city, often teaming up with people or working against them. And at the end of it, you earn yourself a promotional item from the makers of the product who commissioned the ARG. Clever, wouldn’t you say?
Some of the best examples of the ARG being used to drum up interest for products would have to be “The Beast” from 2001, “I Love Bees” from 2004, “Lost Experience” from 2006. “The Beast” was created in order to market Steven Spielberg’s film “A.I.: Artificial Intelligence” and another of Stanley Kubrick’s unfinished works. The game centered on the mystery of the disappearance of a credited character and the murder of another. The game created various web sites for its end and even places like hat stores and sleep clinics.
“I Love Bees” was to promote Bungee’s massively popular “Halo” video game sequel. It followed that after the theatrical trailers for the video game, the URL of the site “ilovebees.com” was flashed. Curious, people would go to the site, which was about honeymaking and sales, but with random characters and sentence fragments. The webmaster set up a blog that something had gone wrong, and both ARG and Halo fans set themselves to work on solving it, thus leading them to aid an AI (Artificial Intelligence used by the military of the in-game universe) that had crash-landed on earth.
“Lost Experience” was one ARG developed for the recently-concluded TV show, “Lost”. The game was a little more difficult to follow, reflecting on the mysterious nature that was the show’s trademark. But from what could be gleaned, it was built around solving some of the sinister initiatives of the show.
This proves that games and marketing have found a brilliant way to blend together to promote products and awareness. Given time, one can only wonder what brilliance can be achieved.

EMail Marketing in a Nutshell

Perhaps one of the most lucrative aspects of e-commerce is e-mail marketing. In fact, in 2006, companies and firms spent around $400 million on e-mail marketing campaigns, just one indication of the growing reliance on this type of marketing.

In essence, it uses electronic mail, otherwise known as e-mail, as the focal point and primary tool for marketing campaigns directed towards customers. Of course, e-mail marketing isn’t always just for commercial applications. Even fund raising messages relayed through a designed can be considered e-mail marketing.

Generally, e-mail marketing refers to many different situations and purposes. E-mail marketing is also useful in order to enhance a company’s relationship with its customers. They can keep track of customers and encourage brand loyalty because of the one-on-one nature of e-mail marketing.

This way, companies can go direct to existing clients and give them prime offers that will allow the company to have return customers.

This type of marketing can also be utilized for the purpose of acquiring new customers by sending out e-mails to prospective clients. These e-mails are sort of like feelers that provide new customers with an idea of what products or services your company can offer them, and what privileges or discounts they get from your e-mail marketing campaign.

Companies with e-mail marketing campaigns can also tap other companies by allowing them to advertise on the e-mails they send out.

E-mail marketing has numerous advantages. One of the foremost benefits is high revenue for the company. Marketing through e-mail correspondence has proven to be very effective. According to some sources, this type of marketing trails only one other online marketing method in terms of effectiveness (that method is search marketing). E-mail marketers can also keep track of their revenue as well as their returns on investment because there are many tools available.

When you think about it, E-mail marketing is really very viable because so many people check their e-mail accounts everyday—and we’re not even talking about people with multiple e-mail accounts here. Statistics peg that more than half of the people who use the Internet check their e-mails or send e-mails at least once per day.

Another advantage is that e-mail marketing allows a more personalized way of dealing with customers, as e-mail marketers can tailor-fit campaigns and e-mail messages to suit a particular subgroup of their clientele. This makes marketing more dynamic and less automated.

Of course, e-mail marketing is not yet an exact science. There are still many variables to deal with, such as delivery rate and e-mail regulations, particularly those relating to what is considered as spam mail. Still, e-mail marketing is on the rise, and it has proven its worth in the world of online marketing and e-commerce.

Viral Videos and Instant Fame: How Internet Redefines Stardom

Back in the pre-internet era, becoming an icon or a sensation proves to be very difficult. You will have to wait in long lines for auditions, enter singing contests, form your own band, do something really, really embarrassing in your neighborhood, or, with luck, be discovered by talent scouts here and there. And most take years to take a place in the spotlight.

Nowadays, you can achieve fame by having the right resources. With good use of a personal computer and your internet connection, you can now be popular. Nearly every bit of information placed in the internet spreads virally, even videos. Upload a really interesting video of yourself doing some crazy stunt, and in a few days, the rest of the world is watching you. Congratulations, you are now the star of a viral video.

A viral video is a video that you can find online that’s either funny or annoying, and will get you asking your friends to watch it. In turn, that friend will ask his friend to watch, and his friend to another, thus spreading like a virus, until it eventually becomes a craze.

Enter Gary Brolsma aka the Numa Numa Guy: he achieved instant fame by uploading the Numa Numa Dance, a video of him lip-syncing and dancing in newgrounds.com. It got over 13 million views two years after it was put there. The video also put him in newspaper stories and guest appearances in radio and TV shows. To date, he has been viewed by 700 million people.

Youtube.com is what you may call a nest of viral videos. You can find a lot of interesting clips there: dancing robots with the use of stop motion, documentaries about the emo culture, practical jokes, guitar solos and covers in front of a webcam, and even live clips of certain performances by anonymous people. Young international artists like Charice Pempengco and Justine Bieber got their share of fame in Youtube.

Rick Astley also had a share of rekindled fame with the video of his single “Never gonna give you up,” which was a hit back in the late 80’s. People use his video as a practical joke: a guy gives the victim a link and claims that it’s relevant to what they’re currently talking about. To the victim’s surprise, he’s already redirected to the video. Astley himself also enjoys and acknowledges this prank.

The internet is a source of limitless possibilities. With the right resources, you can be famous in a snap of a finger. Who knows? The next time you video yourself tripping down a staircase may be the next biggest internet thing.

Viral Video Gone Wrong or Fake Viral Marketing: The Case of the Girl who Dies

Recently, a video popped up on YouTube, one which featured something called a “Prank Gone Wrong.” In it, a couple of friends play a prank on another female friend by surprising her once she gets home. The girl, in terror, runs out of the house and rushes headlong to the street, where seconds later a sedan runs her over. The pranksters, who were filming all this time, rushed out to witness the scene, eventually filming the carcass of their friend, who was suddenly no more than roadkill.

I’ve seen many of my friends post the video on FaceBook, genuinely creeped out at the scene where the girl was run over by the car. To be fair, the video looks quite believable when you first watch it or when you don’t watch it too closely. There have already been many discussions about the video on blogs and message boards, and there have been YouTube response videos discussing and debunking the video.

Most of them offered the same verdict: FAKE.

Clearly, when you watch the video and analyze the post-accident scene, the body of the girl was lying in a position inconsistent with the direction of impact. Hey, that sounded a bit like a piece of CSI dialogue. Also, why would anyone put up a video that can incriminate them in the death of a friend? Besides, YouTube should have removed the video right away if it were real. Lastly, there have been links posted of the allegedly dead girl’s FaceBook—which shows she is alive and well, and there are even different versions of the video posted on her FaceBook wall.

Yep, not only was the video fake, but it was also some sort of marketing ploy. What’s up? For one, I don’t see how anybody can benefit from a marketing standpoint by making a video like this. Maybe I’d understand it more if it was relating to a movie or a TV show, but this isn’t like how it was with the viral videos for the movie The Blair Witch Project. This went beyond what viral marketing is about, with many people finding that the video bordered on tasteless and offensive.

Okay, so the actress (Cindy Vela) has garnered a ton of publicity for her role in the video (the girl who “dies”). I guess that’s something. And it’s probably the end result they aimed for. Now, Cindy is a bit of a high-profile internet celebrity, posting on FaceBook (through admins) and Twitter (maybe through admins as well).

While technically the viral video broke no rules and it did accomplish its promotional goal, I believe there should be standards when working with viral marketing. You don’t really want to disturb or play with millions of people’s psyches like that. Hopefully, marketing firms and individuals will look for better alternatives in the future—alternatives that don’t show someone ending up dead.

Still, the video was fun in a creepy way, and it’s a relief knowing that nobody actually died.

Understanding the Way Viral Marketers do it

The word “virus” or “viral” usually connotes something negative– it is associated with diseases and some other unwanted parasitic microbes stuck inside your body. You may not have it, but it’s greatly contagious: it’s something that you will get when you’re in contact with someone who has it.

Marketers, however, want to achieve an ad that works the same way as a virus: one that spreads like an epidemic in no time. Although no, they don’t want to make a vast population feel sick (although sometimes they do just that,) as salesmen, they want their products to be well-known by this mob. Cue in something funny, amusing, annoying or anything that you’ll remember every time you dare close your eyes. And it’s (supposed to) have something to do with a product.

Simply put, viral marketing is any strategy that encourages your viewers to pass the marketing message on. A guy will start talking to his friends about the ad he just saw, then his friends will do the same to their other friends, and so on. It is pretty much how your common cold works. This is also referred to as the “word-of-mouth” marketing (which is how some folklores and mythical stories are passed down and preserved). Now that internet and search engines came into the playing fields, it’s much easier to ‘spread the word’ because people, familiar to you or not, are all over the internet, and all it takes is an e-mail to their addresses and the word is finally released. Mission accomplished.

Hotmail.com, one of the first email services for free, served out a classic example of a viral marketing strategy, one that is fairly easy to understand:

1. Give away free email addresses and some other services,
2. On every free message sent out, put a tagline that  says, “get your free private email at http://www.hotmail.com,”
3. Wait for the people who sends messages unintentionally advertise Hotmail to their friends and co-workers,
4. And to others who can see the email,
5. Let them sign up for their own free email accounts
6. Repeating step 3, sending more mails to more people.

Basically, the strategy worked wonders, at least at that time. Who knew that by tagging a plug in emails can disseminate information quickly? Apparently, Hotmail did.

Nowadays, viral marketing strategies include videos, those that tried to become the next Rick Roll or Numa Numa dance. As far as cyber-marketing goes, it is now the war of the memes. (an aspect of pop culture that’s mostly parodied, and made into a joke, mostly present in the internet)

It’s amazing how the internet revolutionized marketing. Feel free to confess that even you also caught an advertisement over the internet. And ended up buying.

Memes and Viral Marketing

Internet marketing is a very complex undertaking. With the sheer size of the Internet, there is really a wide range of methods that marketers can use in order to promote a product or a service and to create buzz for it. Among these methods is something called the Internet meme, one form of viral marketing.

What is a Meme? The term ‘internet meme’ derives its origin from memes, which are collections of ideas and cultural phenomena spread through written, oral or other forms of media. Internet memes, in essence, follows the original concept. However, the ones on the Internet are more like trends and fads and nothing quite so permanent as a culture or an idea.

Still, Internet marketers see Internet memes as useful marketing tools. Take a couple of films, for example, that rode on huge online viral marketing campaigns that involved memes and viral marketing to assure box office success. The Blair Witch Project, a 1999 horror film, and Snakes on a Plane, a 2006 horror feature film, both relied extensively on viral video and word of mouth marketing.

As a testament to the incredible buzz generated on the Web, one reviewer from the UK even called Snakes on a Plane “perhaps the most internet-hyped film of all time.” Snakes even had a lot of memes associated with it prior (and even after) its eventual theatrical release.

Of course, there are many memes that apparently seem to be borne out of people having too much free time. You’ve got your 4chan memes as prime examples of this. Still, that’s not to say that they don’t have exploitability in terms of marketing purposes.

Creating and capitalizing on memes depend heavily on a thorough knowledge of crowd psychology and awareness of the netizen group dynamic. Memes allow extremely fast proliferation of content, especially if you can drive it enough to become a hot trend.

The Internet is really the prime prospect for many marketers because of its immense potential to generate publicity. The only problem is that there are so many avenues, so many things that internet users do and see in on the web, that it seems so hard to pinpoint which one would be the most effective to focus on.

When it comes to rapidly spreading the news about a product, memes are the way to go. It will be a difficult task and requires a lot of hard work, research, and perseverance. But if you get it right, surely the buzz will be enough to guarantee a big payoff. This is why companies will continue to make campaigns that are aimed toward capitalizing on memes and viral marketing.

Become an Internet Star

The Internet and Stardom; The Redefinition

By now, it is obvious we regard many artists as class acts, even though they were of a different generation. We upload the hits of the Beatles and the Police into our IPods. Michael Jackson was remembered in a moving tribute that is sold as a CD or on DVD. Real or pirated, the great musical talents from our parent’s generation are available on any street corner bazaar or even a CD bar. But as we are the most well-connected generation, we have an extra advantage. What are they? Youtube, Newgrounds, MegaVideo and Veoh; sites where anyone with a digital camera and access to the internet can upload music or videos to share with the whole world. The general aim; to strut their stuff and let the world know it!

We are a generation connected by the world-wide web. And as people of many ages and nationalities are wont to do, we like to show off to our friends, families, even complete strangers. The recent boom of talent show on TV like American Idol and America’s Got Talent are evidence of that. But because of the heavy completion and strict judging processes, not everyone can get their shot at the limelight (or the multimillion music contract and makeovers from well-paid make-up artists and dressers and trainers to keep bodies nicely toned and fit).

People are also persistent, time and time again that has been proven. With the same drive that shot Neil Armstrong to the moon and split the atom, people take their video cameras and do just about anything to get attention. There are comedians, amateur documentary crews, film makers and, surprise surprise, musicians. Justin Beiber stands out as an example for the moment, whether he is talented or a flash in the pan debated very furiously (but not rationally, given the internet’s gift of anonymity has given some people unwarranted arrogance and aggression) in forums and chat rooms. Even the established stars acknowledge the power of the internet with a resurgent Neil Patrick Harris in a starring role in Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

Then, there are the less-savory characters with internet access. Amateur pornography is very much available for viewing. It stands to reason that the participants are aware that they’re taping themselves or have no idea that the video meant for private viewing has been uploaded onto any number of video-viewing sites. There are those that have vicious and hateful rants of any topic under the sun that are there just for the sake of being there. There are those that record themselves engaging g any manner of stupid activities, like immature pranks that could seriously hurt the participants. There are even those who post videos or blogs just to let the world know that they exist and, by reason of apparent talent and wit, must be worshipped and paid attention to. And those are only the penguins at the tip of the iceberg.

The road to stardom has come a long way from agents waiting in the wings of talent shows and gigs. With the resource pool of the almost the whole world at their disposal, agents need not do much than log into Youtube and stumble upon the next big thing in music or skateboarding. But the question to ask is; how long will those stars shine?

Internet Marketing Through Social Media

Social media sites have undeniably become part of modern life. Almost all people who have access to the internet would have at least one account in one of the numerous social media sites or visit them once a day. With all of the traffic that these sites generate, it would be a logical choice to integrate them in any internet marketing campaign.

There are several reasons why you should include social media sites in a marketing campaign. One is already mentioned: traffic generation. You can use social media sites to get your product or service out there. Aside from that, increased traffic is good for any internet marketing strategy. When more people know and get to your site, you increase your chance of selling your product or service.

Another reason is that internet marketing through social media is cost-effective. You don’t need to hire someone else to do it since you can do it yourself. The only investment that you’ll make is the time that you spent building and managing your network. Additionally, the return for your investment in terms of traffic makes it worth the effort.

Using social media also works well with your current internet marketing campaign. You don’t have to do much to make it work with your current strategy. Using social media as a marketing tool is also low-maintenance. You don’t need to keep tabs on it every hour just to make sure it’s working.

You would also notice that as you build your network, you’re also getting supporters and people that share the same interest. It would be easier for you then to work on your niche market through other internet marketing strategies. Also, your network can also serve as promoters for your site or business.

You’d have to note that using social media is more for promotion and build up than anything. Conversion is not the goal in using these sites. Though that maybe the case, what you’re betting on in this strategy is increasing traffic and awareness of your product. Once you have those, conversions and revenue would not be lagging behind.

To make your social media campaign to work, you should tone down on the marketing and focus more on building interest and giving value. A helpful article, a linkbait, or any interesting fact will be more appreciated and followed by people in social media sites. Your goal is to build interest and a community about your product and its niche. The best way to do that is to build hype about your niche first before marketing your product. You shouldn’t worry much about it since once you get people interested in your niche to visit your site, sales should come in naturally.

All these reasons should compel one to look at social media as an avenue for internet marketing. When properly done, targeting social media sites can bring an increase in site traffic, more regular visitors, and an increased bottom line: added conversions and the monetization of your site.

Why Use Viral Videos

Just the two terms would make one want to use them. Viral means it acts like a virus and spreads by itself. Video means the top tier in media since it combines audio and visual communication, and is the nearest to the 3D or real experience. When you bring them home to your online marketing campaign, viral videos can help boost brand and site recognition, while also building up your supporter and customer base. When you have those, getting sales and conversions won’t be lagging far behind.

If you’ve seen an email or message with a link directing you to a video in YouTube or some other site, then you know how viral videos work. If you clicked on it and distributed it to other people that you know, then you should appreciate how it spreads almost automatically by making use of people’s social networks. Aside from sharing the fun, what you’re doing is also spreading the word about the site or product that started that viral video.

The neat thing about this is when your viral video is successful, a lot of people would be exposed to your site in a quick and cost-effective manner. Since the spreading of the video happens almost naturally, you don’t have to pay people to build links to your site. Aside from that, your viral video might get posted on high-ranking sites, which would also help your site’s rankings and traffic. In short, having a successful viral video is a winning situation.

What are the characteristics of a good viral video? First is the video should be interesting. You can’t have people spread them for you if they’d be just bored with it. Ways to make your video interesting is to include humor, give tips or advice, messages with “shock” value, and themes that ride on popular trends of the season. If you’re able to create a video with one or more of these characteristics, them more likely than not, people are going to spread your videos around.

Presentation is also a key factor. Flash format is ideal for compatibility with almost any browser. You would also consider the video length. The shorter the better. People are more likely to enjoy a three-minute video that gives them the message immediately rather than a video that’s seven minutes long. You also need to consider that not all people viewing your videos would have the time or bandwidth to spare to watch your videos.

It would also help if you have some widgets that entice people to share your video through social networking sites or email. Another strategy is to set gadget where people can copy a code and paste it on their own sites or blogs.

The key thing about viral videos is that when done properly, they spread like wildfire without you even lifting any additional finger. And once they do, you can expect higher recognition of your site, and increased site traffic. These would then place your site in a better position to get potential buyers and conversions.

Mistakes that viral marketers make

Mistakes in Viral Marketing

It has been proven that viral marketing is one of the most highly-effective means of advertising products for this generation of high information. But given the realism that viral marketing tries to accomplish, there are times when the world proves how it is not ready for a marketing campaign that uses such an interactive approach.

There are notable instances wherein the campaign was taken too seriously. In 2007, a Boston transit passenger saw a sign created for the movie adaption of “Aqua Teen Hunger Force”, a popular midnight cartoon show, and pointed it out to a police officer. Unlike a poster, it was a box with wires and electronic paraphernalia on its back while its front had a person “showing you the bird” or flashing his middle finger. The natural assumption for such a strange-looking item was that it was some sort of improvised bomb.

The public reaction was fairly stupendous. A fleet of emergency vehicles and a bomb squad were called in, the intersection cordoned off and the placard detonated. Later on, two bridges were closed off for the removal of a second sign, with the Coast Guard closing off part of the Charles River. Quick-thinking bloggers spread the word out that the placards were part of a viral marketing campaign, but by then city officials took the whole incident out of context by arresting the two guys who put up those signs on the charge of “placing a hoax device with the intent to panic the public.”

Turner Broadcasting, the company that owns the show, had to pay one million dollars each to the Boston Police and the Department of Homeland Security. Meanwhile, the incident made headlines around the world, earning the show and movie roughly 10 times that amount in free publicity.

Need I also forget that incident in New Zealand where a heavily-bandaged man waved a gun around in a bar? Part of a stunt to market the popular video game “Splinter Cell”. The second actor who was supposed to subdue the first actor could not make it due to the police being called in to apprehend him.

There was also that fake meteor crash by a Latvian phone company that was supposed to draw attention away from their failing economy and to presumably subscribe to a new phone line which instead drew representatives from the scientific community who immediately smelled a fake.

Now, one would think it was the fault of the marketers for not warning the populace about the method of advertisement. But that is not how viral marketing works. Viral marketing’s strength is to pull the consumer into the interactive side of the product, adding a level of interactivity the conventional methods cannot achieve. Therein is the risk. To those unaware of the method involved, it looks like you are being drawn into a confusing and dangerous incident. Naturally, given the easily alarmed nature of regular people, this would prompt unwanted attention to be drawn towards actors or the company itself who did not include a disclaimer towards their campaign. It just goes to show that in today’s day and age, one must be very very careful.

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