Virality and Corporate Branding

Laura PoundPhoto: “Grumpy Cat” by Scott Beale

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Businesses need to learn how to change and adapt their strategies in order to attract consumer awareness.

Photo: “office Building” by freefotouk on flickr.

Recently, this has meant that marketing strategies have transitioned from being designed to provide

content to being designed for sensationalism.

Photo: “Philadelphia State Office Building” by pamhule on Flickr

Content creation is being transitioned from the hands of corporations to those of the people, and

increasingly the power to create and control is

being left to the consumer

Photo: “Minimalism 4” by Joe Lencioni on Flickr

Viral Marketing

is a new trend that encourages people to share marketed content with others, causing exponential growth in popularity and consumption.

Photo: “virus” by twenty_questions on Flickr.

There are six elements to a successful viral campaign:

1. Giveaways of products or services2. effortless sharability3. Designed to grow fast4. Exploits people’s fear of missing out5. Utilization of social media 6.Taking advantage of available resources 

Photo: “Planet Xiroph” by Teleyinex on Flickr

Brands are learning to allow consumers to

personalize and disrupt their content through the use of viral campaigns.

Photo: “Minimalist” by cricketgeek on Flickr

By the 11 February, 2013, around 12,000 “Harlem Shake” videos had been posted and viewed more than 44 million times

For example…

Photo: “Minimal (B&W)” by Mr.Shultz on Flickr

Similarly, Korean pop sensation Psy’s music video

“Gangnam Style” has accumulated 1.5 billion views on Youtube, as well as countless consumer remakes

Photo: “Crowd Close-Up” by jjelenbaas on Flickr

Even pets are being marketed as viral “memes”…

The popular website “LOL Cats” features cute animals with poorly spelt humerous captions. The site contains over 6 million photos.

Photo: “Finch the Cat” by Mdphotography on Flickr

So what does all this virality mean for corporate branding?

Photo: “Apple Store ‘I Gigli’ – Inaugurazione“ by Camillo Miller on Flickr

Corporations such as Pepsi have tried their hand at viral trends such as their high production interpretation of “The Harlem Shake,”

Photo: “London” by Howzey on Flickr

…which was met with criticism due to it’s overly promotional, unspontaneous depiction of the trend.

Photo: “Pepsi” by SörnNo1 on Flickr

Similarly, the popular dance craze inspired by “Gangnam Style” has turned out to be another manufactured corporate trend, with PSY being

previously signed by Universal Music Group,

Photo: “PSY” by Rescue Dog on Flickr

As well as the song being written with the intention for it to go viral.

Photo: “PSY”  by Eva Rinaldi on Flickr

So how will we know what a genuine trend is and

what a manufactured trend is?

Photo: “Keyboard Macro” by Chris Kempson on Flickr

Recent studies have shown that media literacy is on the rise- corporations won’t be able to influence trends with the ease that they possess now.

Photo: “Hands” by auraneurotica photo on Flickr

People are beginning to understand the difference between genuine trends and artificial ones.

Photo: “People” by Kenny Teo on Flickr

The End!May 17, 2013

Film 260 Sydney Eve

Matrix Photo: “cat” by  CubaGallery on Flickr►

Sources Ashston, Kevin. "You Didn’t Make the Harlem Shake Go Viral-corporations Did." Quartz. N.p., 28 Mar. 2013. Web. 17 May 2013.

Tesseras, Lucy. "Gangnam Style Marketing." Marketing Jobs & Marketing News. N.p., 11 Apr. 2013. Web. 17 May 2013.

"Why the #HarlemShake Is Disruptive Innovation to Social Media Campaign Marketing."Social@Ogilvy. N.p., 19 Feb. 2013. Web. 17 May 2013.

Walters, Eka. "The Rise Of Visual Social Media | Fast Company | Business Innovation." Fast Company. N.p., 28 Aug. 2013. Web. 17 May 2013.

Smalley, Eric. "Are We Immune To Viral Marketing?" Wired.com. Conde Nast Digital, 17 Dec. 0011. Web. 17 May 2013.

Chatfeild, Tom. "Cute Cats, Memes and Understanding the nternet."Http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120222-cats-memes-and-internet-schemes. N.p., 23 Feb. 2012. Web. 17 May 2013.

Wilson, Ralph. "The Six Simple Principles of Viral Marketing » Web Marketing Today." Web Marketing Today. N.p., 10 May 2012. Web. 17 May 2013.