DaxThink: Digital life

Why not has to be the logical question. It's not for me, and its a big risk, but why not try it for the experience.

http://www.channel4.com/bigbrother/housemates/profile.jsp?id=601


:~Dax~:


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Whilst working at Pod1, we created a viral campaign for Lastminute.com with the aim of promoting their adult range of gifts for Valentines. It was a competitive pitch and so we had to stand out.

... and stand out we did. The result was a spoof news story targeting a fixed demographic of women who might be interested in this product.

The site isn't up any more, but thanks to the Way Back Machine (which keeps a cache of over 85 billion websites and pages) you can still see the original campaign in all its glory at:
http://web.archive.org/web/20050205021411/http://www.bradnjen.co.uk/

The campaign generated almost 40% click through rate on a seeded email list and a ton of traffic for the client.

So it's easy to do viral then?

Actually no, and one of the biggest problems with viral is the perception by the client of what is involved. Essentially a viral campaign is a cheaper solution to a problem, in most cases driving traffic or awareness to a site, and with any 'short-cut' the results often don't live up to the hype.

Every week brands, individuals and agencies design viral campaigns for their clients and most get lost in the ether after a short period of time. Often too they will be a new take on an existing theme or game, and examples like this often fail to capture the imagination of the audience.

How many great viral campaigns can you recall?

For a viral campaign to work you need your audience to do your marketing for you by passing it on to friends. There are sites like MySpace and YouTube which make this easier of course by providing a ready-made audience as well as the free infrastructure for hosting video files.

However, it is these exact same sites that also make it harder for the viral marketer. Consumers have vast amounts of choice, and these sites are packed with home-grown content that can be extremely funny, saucy and/or violent, three of the greatest motivators for a good campaign to go viral.

So is viral worth it?

This largely depends on who your audience in and most importantly on how you determine success. If you want to reach out to new members of your target group and engage them with your brand, but keep realistic expectations on the volume you might reach, then viral could be your answer.

Although costs can vary dramatically dependant on the type of execution (i.e. video, animation etc), the one cost that is often overlooked is the seeding cost. Do not presume that your incredible viral concept will be picked up and take off just because you have built it. You should seed it online using social media sites, use your email newsletter, advertise it and generally promote the heck out of it until you have a critical mass.

There is no hard and fast rule to judging if one viral will work over another, but originality certainly plays a large part.

One of the best examples is the Coca-Cola and Mentos campaign where some bright spark noticed that if you add the two together the reaction can be huge.

A quick search on YouTube today for Mentos offers up 14,200 results with the top 3 videos having viewing figures combined of over 7.6 million. This is just adding sweets to a bottle of drink!

What you should always consider though is refer-a-friend mechanisms, and use them on your site, in your email campaigns and anywhere else you can. They won't give you 7.6 million viewers overnight, but they will have a steady and positive effect on your CRM database size.

We will look at how to maximise their value in the next email tips posting.



:~Dax~:

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Didn't the old saying go that if you built a better mousetrap the world would beat a path to your door?

I wonder what today's analogy would be.

I bet it would be a long the lines of 'build a better social networking site and Google would beat a path to your door.

It has been the debate of several pub sessions lately that I have been in, and if any readers are starting one and need the input of an experienced interactive bloke (for a smattering of equity) then feel free to ask!

I am sure I could fit you into my busy schedule for that.

;-)

Over and out


:~Dax~:

So the new logo and branding was launched yesterday for London 2012 with much fanfare and the presence of the usual list of A, B & C grade celebs. Everyone will have an opinion on this and a logo is never going to please everybody, but it is unfortunate that the majority of public opinion (so far) is very negative.

I am not going to sit on the fence... I think it is an embarassment. What was wrong with the older logo that is plastered all over the tube trains and that has been in use since we started pitching for the games in the first place? I, and others, presumed that was our city's logo anyway.

Courtesy of the discussion lists on Chinwag Uk-NetMarketing, I also saw a much more selatious side of this logo. Without getting too specific, look for Lisa Simpson and the rest will come to you.

If you want to read the official story behind the new branding then click here.

Also, Click Here to see a comparison against some of the logos of the past on the Sky News website.


:~Dax~:

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You can’t please all of the people all of the time, and sometimes your subscribers will not want to remain on your list any longer. Later in this series we will look at how to understand why people unsubscribe and how to overcome any problems you may have in your content, but for now the golden rule is to let them go.

There are 4 ways in which someone can unsubscribe, and you must have your technology and processes setup to deal with all 4 methods.

:: Clicking your unsubscribe link
:: Replying to your email with the word ‘remove’ in the subject line
:: Replying to your email with the word ‘unsubscribe’ in the subject line
:: Writing to your business address requesting removal

Many of you will have aggressive targets in place for list growth, but not unsubscribing people who have requested it is counter-productive and can lead to deliverability issues and legal action.

However, there are some techniques you can use to try and keep your unhappy recipients.

:: When they click on the unsubscribe link, take them to a page that gives them opt-in / opt-out choices from your different types of emails, i.e. opt-out from 3rd party comms but remain on the newsletter. I have seen this cut the unsubscribe rate by 30%.
:: Take the time to ask them why, and make sure you reply where appropriate (and practical):: Give the opportunity to alter the frequency of the emails they receive; commonly unsubscribe requests are generated because they get behind in reading your emails and feel they are not of value


:~Dax~:

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