The novel Pattern Recognition by William Gibson has much to do with brands, as the protagonist, Cayce Pollard, is a trend-spotter, due to her allergy to particularly sensitive and potentially successful brands or corporate logos. Viral marketing, a sort of semi-subliminal advertising, has become quite popular in the past several years, as advertisers and content producers both want to get their product out to the masses in the most inventive (and revenue generating) ways possible. With the advent of social networks, such as MySpace and Facebook, content providers are taking advantage of these grouping of young people to advertise the latest movies, clothing, video games, and many other things. Here is an example:
This is a great example of viral marketing, as it plays on human curiosity. The oddity of a gorilla playing the drums to Phil Collins “In the Air Tonight” (an awesome song in its own right!) hooks the viewer in like few other ads do. If this were just a regular chocolate ad (where someone, usually an attractive woman, is enjoying the candy) it wouldn’t turn as many heads or have as many people watch as having a gorilla playing the drums. Viral advertising is great to spark water cooler conversation, getting viewers to spread the message on their own to other who may have not seen it. Since viral ad campaigns have been successful in the past, do you think that viral ads are the wave of the future? How do you feel about such ads? Are they an inventive way to keep people from changing the channel or do they come off as just another way marketing agencies have to separate people from their money?
-Nicholas McLaren
November 27, 2007 at 5:07 pm |
Viral advertising are everywhere, from the simplest food products to the annoying TBS advertisement for Frank TV. Remember the slogan that aired on TBS 3 month ago regarding Frank TV? TBS would just shows a short 5 to 10 sec clips saying what is Frank TV? More often it will show a chubby guy imitating or taking someone personality and making fun of them. Finally, it will end will “Frank TV premiering on November 20, very funny”. Throughout the advertisement, TBS would never tell us what Frank TV is; it would only show us some random clips and finally say premier on that date. Until recently, the show aired 2 week ago and they have a different advertisement saying Frank TV is about Frank Caliendo impersonating some celebrity and making fun of them. Why couldn’t TBS just say it at the beginning? The worst thing is, even the show haven’t aired and TBS has already plastering Frank TV’s ad everywhere even in baseball game. I think viral ads are the wave of future; ultimately it will make the viewers to go and research those specific materials.
~Swee Guan Ang
November 27, 2007 at 7:59 pm |
I have to agree that I think viral advertising is a wave of the future. I have to admit, I have never seen that Cadbury commercial before and, if I hadn’t read it was about chocolate before I watched it, I would have definitely had to watch the entire commercial to see what it was about. Also, if I had seen it on TV I probably would have told my friends and relatives to look for this funny commercial with a gorilla playing the drums. Another example of this would be the commercial with the jungle animals singing “All Night Long” by Lionel Richie for Mountain Dew MDX. Though it was aired about a year ago, I still like watching it on YouTube because I think it’s hysterical. I do think viral marketing is an inventive way to keep people watching the commercial. With both of these commercials, I would definitely watch the entire ad because they’re humorous and and not as pushy as other commercials. Where as some commercials are all about “buy our product,” viral marketing uses mini sketches to catch people’s attention. In addition, I believe that it is becoming increasingly easy to use viral marketing since there are so many different technological ways to spread messages now a days. For instance, some companies can even spread their advertising through text messaging! While most of these ads are annoying, I think that companies are finding new ways to do this and some can even be pretty entertaining.
-Daniella Menillo
November 28, 2007 at 5:22 pm |
I do believe viral ads are a new effective way to market these days. I think they are keeping consumers from changing the channel because they are becoming just as interesting as the shows being watched. It is just another marketing strategy but companies are forced to come up with new and different campaigns to keep people watching. Consumers become jaded with commercials if they are repetitive or always using the same plot or strategy. If a company uses something the public has never seen, like a guerrilla playing the drums, their attention will be caught. In a couple months, that company will have to think of something new to grab their consumer’s attention.
-Katie Kamps
November 29, 2007 at 5:20 pm |
Viral advertising is definitely the new way of catering to our curious egos, and, more importantly (at least in a sense for the adverts), a means of getting the viewers to produce an outpouring of that green currency from their wallets. What better way to grab the attention of the inquisitive individual, resulting in a subsequent breaking of their pockets, than to provide an eye-catching, commercial form of off-the-wall spectacle? I couldn’t agree more with what was previously stated that this form of advertising is the “wave of the future.” In order to keep the market going, the adverts need to create a constant turnover of creative ways to keep prospective consumers engaged. I find this idea to be quite the parallel to the theories of Gunning with “shock and spectacle,” and Jhally with “feeling-induced advertising.” These viral broadcastings are forms of spectacle that induce feelings within us as we watch, be it amusement generating laughter or something quizzical causing curiosity. It could be any type of advertising, as long as it is something we have never seen before, and, keeps us watching of course.
- Imani Dupree
November 29, 2007 at 6:32 pm |
I agree that viral or subliminal advertising has been at an all time high during the past decade. Commercials have seemed to embrace the fact that they are in fact attempting to lure in consumers without actually trying to advertise the produce. The series of commercials that come to mind is the ridiculously stupid sprite commercials. In an electronic voice you hear LIMON and out of nowhere two 400 pound sumo wrestlers, one painted completely yellow and one painted completely green come smashing into each other, pancaking a young male in between them, then it shows the man leeting out a sigh of refreshment, the deeper meaning being DRINK SPRITE. I just laugh at many of the commercials that are being produced these days but at least Sprite had the marbles to exploit the fact that advertising has become more subliminal now then ever before. Just thinking about that commercial makes me oddly thirsty, I think I’m going to go pick up a sick pack of deliciously refreshing Sprite! (Just kidding, I’m not a complete sellout)
November 29, 2007 at 9:00 pm |
This commercial, and the others that follow in its style, remind me of the wave of advertisements that don’t say much about the product itself, but hook you on how inventive (flat out dumb) they can be. For some reason this is really popular with insurance companies. E-surance, Gieco, and Affleck, have all started running ads like this. The latest E-surance commercial doesn’t even tell you about the company and the benefits of using their product. It is a bunch of “bloopers,” that couldn’t have really happened because the commercial is a cartoon, that are shown while “What I Like About You” by The Romantics is played over it. The commercials don’t tell you anything about the products to buy, but what they seem to do, and this is amazing, is have people discussing them with their friends. Gieco’s new ads, that feature the Flintstones or that Cabbage Patch doll, do this the best. I have heard my friends discussing which one they think is funnier and why. It has nothing to do with the product any more. It is about the advertisers gaining a spot in a person’s memory and then having that be an ad that is shown to friends, family, and new people you meet as an ice breaker.
November 30, 2007 at 8:48 am |
I believe that viral advertising is only going to become more prominent over time. Consumers are bombarded with the same type of ad everyday; a problem is introduced, a person complains and desires a solution, and the product comes to save the day. These commercials, although beneficial, can be downright boring. The lack of variety in advertisements can lead consumers to ignore them and not respond in ways that the company had hoped for. Viral ads grab the audience’s interest and offer them a reason to continue to think and talk about what they saw. Presently, these ads are effective and generate not only interest in a company but also revenue for that company. Viral ads are innovative and attractive; however, at one point in time the “common” commercial was also innovative and attractive. With more time and more exposure to these ads people will begin to feel that viral ads are also boring and commonplace. Advertisers must keep up and follow what is popular among consumers, just like Cayce, in order to keep the interest of the public. Viral ads are a great relief from the norm, but it is only a matter of time before a new style of advertising must be introduced.
-Terese McWilliams
November 30, 2007 at 9:56 am |
I believe that yes, viral ads are the way of the future, because as opposed television ads, the viewer watches them voluntarily. I know that I particularly did not watch the Gorilla video when it came out because someone said “Oh it’s a chocolate commercial.” I watched it for it’s creative premise, and was pleasantly surprised to learn, at the end of the video, that it was an ad at all. It didn’t make me want to go out and buy chocolate, though, so I’m not entirely sure if it did much more than remind me that Cadberry makes chocolate. The reason why people might watch this, though, is because of the ridiculous premise, and the beauty is is that they can watch it anywhere, at anytime. At the office, at home, send it to a friend, etc. By making the commercial a piece of entertainment, the viewer doesn’t so much mind that it’s really an ad. They can also be longer than normal TV commercials because there it is free to put it up on the internet, no matter the running time. I see this as becoming the norm.