"Tell a friend" is becoming the most used sentence on the Web. Every marketer wants us to spread the word for them... the situation is becoming rather oppressive or, better, inflated. Everyone is talking about viral marketing! Marketers, advertisers, publishers, every online player has something to say on the topic, even the press which is dedicating more and more attention to the "buzz word". The latest article has been published on the NZ Herald that starts its analysis from Burger King's "Subservient Chicken". Fortunately the article adds something new to the ongoing discussion: viral marketing is risky. As Stephen Pearson CEO of the advertising agency Lowe New Zealand says:

most of the experiments that marketers have tried (eg subservient chicken, sky high airlines) get WOM because they are humorous. marketers need to take it to the next level and engage customers in the their product development and evangelism. Then customers will talk about their product the way they want them to.

On a sort of related note, check out this tell-a-friend bookmarklet I made (with help).
http://worcester.typepad.com/pc4media/2004/06/tellafriend_boo.html

Posted by: pete caputa iv at June 18, 2004 03:55 AM

I agree... In the viral marketing efforts we undertake with clients, it's often a challenge to make users into "product evangelists"...

For every successful viral campaign, there are hundreds of unsuccessful ones.

The other misconception is that viral marketing is all "send-to-a-friend" email. That's BS... There's a lot of work seeding sites online, getting exposure through "press", link sites, message boards, etc... Email is just a tiny part of all that.

Posted by: John at June 21, 2004 02:20 PM

Wedgewise has just published "The Irresistible Outbreak of Trust", The Wedgewise Viral Marketing e-Brief, a summary of the first 100 search engine results for "viral marketing", check it out at http://www.wedgewise.com.

Posted by: Michael Sarnefors at July 18, 2004 03:48 PM