VIRAL MARKETING & TIPPING POINTS

Malcolm Gladwell’s best seller

Thomas Schelling (Nobel Prize winner) first introduced the concept of “tipping points” in 1972

Malcolm Gladwell popularized the concept in his best seller

Downside of traditional marketing

Cost: TV and print ads are expensive

Media clutter: It is difficult for products to stand

out against the background of advertising

Cynicism: Consumers, especially Gen X and

Gen Y consumers, are jaded and cynical about “obvious” marketing

TIVO, DVRs: Consumers can avoid TV

commercials altogether Segmentation:

Consumers aren’t heterogeneous, they are segmented into different markets

Viral Marketing

Steve Jurvetson and Tim Draper coined the term “viral marketing” in 1997.

a.k.a. below the radar marketing, buzz marketing, stealth advertising

Companies now devote roughly 15 percent of their marketing budgets to buzz and related strategies (Martin & Smith, 2008)

Relies on word-of-mouth (WOM) endorsements like a virus, word about a product or service

spreads from one consumer to another “67 percent of sales of U.S. consumer goods

are now influenced by word of mouth” (Salzman, Matathia, & O’Reilly, 2003, p. 31).

Conduits for viral marketing

Face-to-face interaction Cell phone Email Texting Instant messaging

Twitter Social networking media

MySpace Facebook

Blogs

Examples, intentional and unintentional

Twitter, tweeting Live Strong bracelets

(and the whole wrist band craze)

Ipods, Iphones accessory dogs “Support Our Troops”

stickers Hip Hop (culture as a

commodity)

More examples of buzz

Flash mobs MySpace, Facebook YouTube Blogs, blogging, the

blogosphere Pinkberry Razor scooters Harry Potter books Wii Fit

Methods and techniques

Poseurs: “ordinary person at a bar, in line at a concert, at a soccer field Sony Ericcson hired 120

actors and actresses to play tourists at popular attractions around the country.The “tourists” asked passersby to take their picture with a T68i cell phone that featured a digital camera

Trendsetters and early adopters Use of “cool hunters” and

“trend spotters”

Imitation, social modeling yellow magnetic ribbons

saying “Support the Troops”

Email, chat rooms, and blogs

Manufactured controversies: Ambercrombie & Fitch

sold thong underwear in children’s sizes, with the words “eye candy” printed on the front

Malcolm Gladwell’s notion of “Tipping Points”

Tipping point: the threshold or critical point at

which an idea, product, or message takes off or reaches critical mass.

Viral theory of marketing: ideas and messages can be

contagious just like diseases The law of the few

It doesn’t take large numbers of people to generate a trend

A select few enjoy a disproportionate amount of influence over the spread of social trends

Key influencers: Mavens

Mavens: possess information, expertise, and seek to share it “Mavens are data banks.

They provide the message” (Gladwell)

Are “in the know” Alpha consumers or early

adopters (keller & Berry, 2003)

Examples: celebrity chefs, eco-enthusiasts, fashion aficionados, fitness gurus, tech geeks, wine snobs

“One American in 10 tells the other nine how to live” (Keller & Barry, 2003)

Mavens may be somewhat socially awkward or “geeky”

Mavens want to educate more than persuade or sell.

Key Influencers: Connectors

Connectors: know everybody, are networkers, have many contacts “Connectors are social

glue: they spread it.” (Gladwell)

Have large social circles They are social gadflies;

they blog, chat, text, twitter

They are the people who always forward emails to you.

6 degrees of separation: a small number of people, like Kevin Bacon, are linked to everyone else

Key Influencers: Salesman

Salesman: are persuasive Charismatic types Good at building rapport,

trust Often rely on “soft”

influence They are the friends who

tell us: “you gotta see this movie,” “check out this YouTube

video” “You have got to try this

restaurant.” Note: All three types are

needed for a phenomenon to take-off

Tipping points--continued

Power of context must happen at the right time, place for example, social networking

(MySpace, Facebook) wouldn’t be possible without widespread access to the Internet

The stickiness factor idea, message, or product has to be

“sticky” or inherently attractive idea must be memorable, practical,

personal, novel hard to manufacture this feature

Other concerns

Scalability: message must be able to go from very small to very large without “gearing up.” Wii couldn’t ramp up manufacturing

and lost millions in sales. Effortless transfer: message must be

passed on for free, or nearly free, or “coast” on existing networks. “word of mouse” Leveraging free media

The downside

Not that scientific evidence is largely

anecdotal phenomenon isn’t that

reliable, predictable A bit of a “finger in the

wind” approach to marketing

viral marketing” is something of an oxymoron. The more viral marketing

is planned or contrived, the less likely it is to succeed

Viral marketing may backfire: Wal-mart and Facebook

Momentum may not reach the tipping point no guarantee the initial

“buzz” will become contagious.

difficult to orchestrate word of mouth

good ideas don’t always gain traction

Trends come and go quickly like a contagion, a trend

can die out quickly or be replaced by a new trend