1. Newspapers and magazines – interesting stuff but not exciting me
2. Billboards - sometimes a pleasant distraction while stuck in traffic and sometimes the billboards are the traffic.
3. Spinners - I love sign spinning and there isn’t enough of it in New Zealand which is a shame as it is great 30 second slice of entertainment. It allows me to have some interaction with the person spinning the board (or am I interacting with the brand?)- I can beep the horn of my car to show encouragement or stop and tell them they are doing a great job.

But there has to be more to physical marketing than this?  I may be an odd sort of chap but I want to participate, I want to be involved in a promotion or event, I want to feel satisfied after I have been involved.  

A number of years ago I remember reading about how 50 people came together by the London Eye in the UK at a specific time and opened their umbrellas for about 10 ten minutes and then walked off into the sunset – madness?  well maybe but I also remeber an interview with one of the participants saying they didn’t know why they joined the activity but it seemed like a fun think to do on a Sunday afternoon.  The participant was compelled to be involved but could not articulate the reasons why.

 A littl bit of google research dug up the following scenarios of Viral Gathering.  (I am not sure what phrase to use so if anyone knows of the official name let me know).

1. Social Experiment
2. xbox banned TV ad

1. A Social Experiment video

2.  Using the idea of a social experiment turning it into an advertisement. Xbox 360 video

These videos give us an idea about what viral marketing is.  I put together a couple of lists on how I would define the concepts of viral gathering.

1. A group of 50+ people of coming together to perfrom a shared activity
2. The group may or may not know each other
3. The activity happens for no more than 10 minutes
4. The activity may or may not have anything to marketing / advertising / promotion

What would be the benefits to the participants?

1. Participate in an activity with other people
2. Share an experience
3. Gain satisfaction from completing a task

The above points are those fell out of my braing in short order but I think you get an idea where I am coming from.  I am interested in anyone elses views on this form of human promotion:- viral gathering.

In this article (Viral Marketing III) I just want to consider the next level of viral marketing which is a series of media releases that build upon a story that is slowly exposed to the viewer / consumer.  Introducing the Millions of Us.

Millions of us describe themselves as;

“pioneers and recognized leader in creating immersive brand marketing through virtual worlds, multiplayer online games, and social media.”

Their work with Terminator is testimony to that, check out the video

By using YouTube, Web sites, blogs and forums to provide a conversation platform they allowed everyone and anyone to get involved.  We could be part of an unfolding story.

For a glossy media brands like Terminator this seems like a partnership made in heaven but what about the corporates? How do they viral market their brands in such a way that is interesting and appealing…. Here in New Zealand Tui has had a great campaign with billboards and “yeah right!” phrase.

This campaign continued into lots of different sayings or comments on current events.  Interface-7 came up with a Yeah Right application.

My current thoughts are that a story based campaign is best (and most interested) but you have to think of a good story which is the hard bit.

I have included my favourite viral video – numa numa by Gary.

It is still not clear to me how you create a video like Numa Numa that is tied to your brand.  Maybe the answer is that this isn’t something that you can “create” but something that is organic?

I often cite Goldcorp‘s problems during social networking presentations and the way that they encouraged the market (and private individuals) to develop collateral that would help them mine for gold.  Their method was to create a competition with a prize, in their case US$575,000.

I wonder how much money you have to put up in order to get say 100 media students to create a viral marketing ad for you.

I don’t have any research to share with you unfirtunately but my brain suggests the following:

1. A low value prize e.g. $1000 that is socialised with all University Media departments (assumes you have a great network)

2. A huge prize that by its nature creates such a buzz that you reach everyone you want to.

3…Not thought of a third option – ideas?