hotelicopter - the anatomy of a successful viral marketing campaign

the anatomy of a successful viral marketing campaign

AdamHealeyCo‐founder&CEO

hotelicopter

EyefortravelMarke<ngConference Miami,June4th,2009

thegoal

Createyourownsuccessfulviralmarke<ngcampaigns.

anatomyofasuccessfulviralmarke2ngcampaign eyefortravelmarke2ngconference,6/4/09

• Introduc2ontohotelicopter• Thereasonforourrebranding• Thecampaign

• Theresults• Theingredients

introduc/on


We’refocusedonbeingthemarketleaderinhotelsearch.

themarketposi/oning

“That’sgreat,buthowareyoudifferentthanKayak?”

focusedonhotelsfocusedonflights

bookhotelsdirectbookOrbitzdirect

bookingissocial: bookingistransac2onal:partoftravelexperienceseparatefromtravelexperience


thebackstory

HotelSearch

HotelReviews

SocialNetwork

Weini<allylaunchedasVibeAgentinNovember2007.


‐

20,000,000

40,000,000

60,000,000

80,000,000

100,000,000

120,000,000

themarketevolu/on

FacebookUniqueVisitors(US)

VibeAgentlaunchestothepublic

FacebookPlaMormlaunches

KayakbuysSidestepfor$200million

MicrosoRbuysFarecastfor$115million

hotelicopterlauncheshotelsearchengine

Bigchangesinsocialmediaandmeta‐searchfollowed.

FacebookConnectlaunchesbeta

25

33 3530

49

104


therebranding

CampaignGoals:

• Buildbuzzpriortorebrandinglaunch• Createinboundlinkstonewdomain

Ournewfocusonhotelsearchledtotherebranding.


thecampaignidea

WedecidedtocreateaflyinghotelforAprilFool’sDay.


astarisborn

TheHotelicopterbecomestheworld’sfirstflyinghotel!



thecampaign

thevideo


Watchthevideohere.

thewebsite


thecampaignplaBorm

website photos&videos socialnetworks,news,andads

AYercrea<ngthecontent,wefocusedondistribu<on.


theresults:crea/ngbuzz

Thecampaigncreatedlotsofbuzzforoursitelaunch.

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

1 9 17

25

33

41

49

57

65

73

81

89

97

105

113

121

129

137

145

153

161

169

177

185

193

201

209

217

225

233

241

249

257

265

273

281

289

297

305

313

321

329

Visits/100

Tweets

Gizmodopost:5,000visits/hr

Engadgetpost:8,000visits/hr

DailyCandy:13,000visits/hr

TechCrunch:11,000visits/hr

CNetpost:2,500visits/hr

TotalCampaign:‐‐‐‐‐

1.1mpageviews500kvideoviews2,100tweets3,500Pfans


theresults:inboundlinks

Wealsosurpassedexpecta<onsregardinginboundlinks.

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200 Googleinboundlinks(usinglink:command)

VibeAgent‐PR5hotelicopter‐PR6


theframework

Therearefourkeycomponentsforviralcampaignsuccess.


Everythingstartswithhavingverycompellingcontent.

1.content

• Visuallyappealing• Entertaining• Unique/Intriguing• Interac2ve• Short


Createaninterconnected,relevantdistribu<onpla\orm.

2.distribu/on

• Eachcommunityisdis2nct

• Priori2zeyourtargets• Twiderisveryviral• BuyFacebookads(byclick)


Monitorresultsandreallocateresourcesaccordingly.

3.monitoring

• TrafficandViews

• RSSFeeds• MessageBoards

• AdCampaigns

• Tweets


Engagethecommunityandshapetheconversa<on.

4.engagement

• Seedcontent• Befriendlyandupbeat• Deleteoffensiveposts• Over‐communicate


Viralmarke<ngistheperfectvehicleforthese<mes.

conclusions

• Weliveinthe(short)Aden2on(span)Economy

• Ourcampaigncost$3,000,or.2¢/impression

• Createasmall,crea2ve,autonomousteam

• Compellingcontentthatpeoplewanttoshare


WhatshouldwedowiththeHotelicopternow?Tellus!


ques/onforyou:

AdamHealeyCo‐founder&CEO

hotelicopter

[email protected]@AdamHealey

Linkedin.com/in/AdamHealey

hotelicopter - the anatomy of a successful viral marketing campaign

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