Throughout this blog I've focused heavily on the importance of
the Internet in modern media, because without a doubt it's the most
significant thing influencing modern culture today.
For me a key area of interest is viral videos (films), because although they're often professionally made, they're imbued with an amateur methodology.
As noted in the book Internet
Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practise, it can be difficult for a
brand to truly present its personality through its website as it doesn’t give the user
the same clues that a physical experience can. Often the culture and ideology of
a company can be lost or misinterpreted within the confines of a sanitized website.
It's because of this that I believe that viral films can provide a useful route for advertising brands online. They're relatively cheap to produce and distribute, and they can strike a chord in a very positive way.
The best forms of these videos often exhibit a somewhat amateur ideology, occasionally using handheld or camera phones they're released and promoted through consumer based social media sites.
Yet could it be argued that the use of this tactic (YouTube videos) is not actually a creditable form of marketing - as it only works if it's picked up and promoted by people who have no rational reason to do so.
Culturally we appear to adore viral marketing [why is this?],
you only have to look at the popularity of the Old Spice Guy and the Will It Blend
videos. They generate a huge amounts of buzz, large audience figures as well as extensive user comments.
Personally I believe that the most successful viral videos aren't essentially aimed at getting people to buy a product there and then, but to have them talking about it. In other words generate a buzz around a brand that will have a positive affect on sales and orders over a much longer period of time.
Look at the recent Pepsi video featuring David Beckham kicking balls into bins. The product itself doesn't feature heavily but the content and Beckham's celebrity status have the impact to deliver a message - the film of course can continually sit there alway available, always popular - just like Pepsi!
[the pictures = (1) Old Spice Guy for Old Spice, (2) Koby Bryant jumping over on Aston Martin for Nike and (3/4) David Beckham kicking footballs in a bin for Pepsi - check them out]