Last time I wrote about viral marketing, using the Conan O’Brien fiasco as an example. I barely scratched the surface then so I figured I’d go more in depth about it this time. (and probably a few more times, if you please) To be fair, a lot of people don’t like the phrase viral marketing, mostly because, as ad wizards ourselves, we try and stay away from negative comparisons like viruses. I’ve heard some people prefer things like “word-of-mouth marketing”. But the term ‘viral marketing’ works well enough; it’s memorable and somewhat descriptive, which ultimately is what you want in a brand. Anyway, this week I’d like to go over another great example, this one from the ad wizards at amazon.com. (Here are some more good examples and a clear definition)
It’s hard to think of bookstores that only sold books, but 15 years ago the idea of getting your books, DVDs, and CDs in the same place was a bit of a novelty. Borders had just started their expansion and Amazon was just starting and still on shaky ground. With their initial public offering they decided it was time to compete in that arena by offering a wide selection of DVDs and CDs, their only advantage being that they had a much wider selection, the question was, how do you use that advantage?
The answer was one of the first forms of viral marketing, the internet advertorial. In essence, the idea that people will buy more if they feel they’ve learned something. And with that, the Internet Movie Database was born. (us.imdb.com) Amazon could have gone broke trying to match the major retail suppliers advertising. Instead they beat them on their home turf, the Internet, by creating the largest, most comprehensive website for movie facts and trivia. Do you want to know more about Burt Lancaster? Go to IMDB. Does he seem like a pretty cool guy? You can click on the link and go by his films on Amazon. This was a great move because, not only did it give them a great advertising tool that has ballooned into everything from a social networking board to a news site, but it also gave them a leg up on SEO marketing which was just getting going at that time. When Google ballooned and everyone and their ad agencies were trying to be the number one search result in their field, Amazon already had theirs pinned. Is it any coincidence that right around the time Google became the top search engine in the world, Amazon turned record profits?
A few other interesting links:
http://www.seattlepi.com/business/158315_amazon28.html
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/10/organized-chaos-2/
Last 5 posts by joshuasinason
- Tivo takes a giant step toward bringing your TV and computer together - March 4th, 2010
- Biggest Social Media Mistakes - and the Multi-Billion Dollar Companies that Make Them - February 26th, 2010
- Comcast/XFinity: Changing Your Brand Name as Damage Control - February 19th, 2010
- Google takes the plunge into the Social Media pool - February 11th, 2010
- Leno, Conan and the Flashfire Influence of Viral Marketing - January 26th, 2010
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