Question

Topic: Student Questions

Opinions Needed Viral Marketing/generation Y!

Posted by Anonymous on 1/13/2006 at 9:52 AM ET 420 Points
Hi there,

I’m a final year student studying for a BA Hons in Marketing and as part of my course I have to produce a 10,000 word dissertation on an area of marketing which I see fit. I am studying this year part time in Spain, even though my university is in England; I had to move here for job commitments (very complicated situation, lol). As a result I cannot see my supervisor when I like to ask for his help and guidance and he hasn’t replied to my recent emails, so I was wondering if you could help give your opinion on my project.

I have chosen to study viral marketing, and in particular peer to peer video sharing such as that of Trojan condoms, Trojan games. Furthermore, I have decided to investigate generation y’s (those born after 1981) relationship with viral marketing. Generation y, often referred to as millenials are often very skeptical of traditional advertising and with the rise in new digital interactive communications I want to look at their affiliation with viral marketing.

There are two areas I have decided to investigate so far and I would like to hear your opinions on them. Firstly, I would like to explore generation y’s usage of the internet, to gauge how susceptible they are to viral marketing. For example, I am looking to ask
• how many hours on average do they use the internet in a week/day,
• what is their primary reason for going online (work, shopping, email, entertainment, news,etc),
• how much time do they spend on other forms of media such as television, newspapers, radio, magazines, etc
• If they ever surf the net for entertainment purposes? If so what for, music, videos, games, etc

Basically I am trying to prove or show that generation y spend more time on the internet than exposed to other types of media and that they is a lot of people that use the internet as a source of entertainment, and not just as a source for work, shopping etc.

The second part I am looking more particularly into viral marketing and asking the question of what type of viral video messages would they pass on. For example, I am going to show them around 6-8 viral videos that have surfaced over the last few years, each of them using a different tactic to arouse interest, some of them using humour, some of them using sex, some using shock factor, some use amazing tricks so that you are in awe, some use a “cool” factor. I am looking to investigate which ones the generation y sample are more likely to pass on to a friend. The viral videos I am considering include Reebok Terry Tate one, Nike Ronaldinho skill, Napster Strip tease one, Trojan Condoms Trojan games, etc. All of the viral vids used will be from brands whose target market will be within the generation y bracket of those born after 1981. Do you think that this is ok, or maybe I should try exploring other issues of viral marketing, please let me know your opinions.

I am hoping to set up a website where males (as many of the virals I aim to use sport, beer etc) born after 1981 (that are above 18, however) could take the survey; I feel as this project is dealing with viral marketing, that it is appropriate that the survey should take place online.

Please let me know what you think about this project and how it could be improved (please don’t hold back, be vicious, lol). For example, if you think that I should compare generation y susceptibility to that of people born before 1981 (those 24+), etc etc, please let me know. Also do you think that I should find out about generation y’s experience with viral marketing, do they pass on videos, pictures games, etc etc to their friends??

Sorry for this long winded explanation,

Many thanks in advance.

Babac Vafaey
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Deremiah *CPE on 1/13/2006 at 11:04 AM Accepted
    Hi Babac,

    although your viral marketing concepts above are stuck within the visual context a great deal of viral marketing I am most aware of has to do exclusively with email marketing.

    Some of the leading email marketers online use the power of viral marketing to influence their online launches of e-books, software products and pdf documents. This may be a third area where you could point to the effectiveness of email marketing but most of these marketers are not limited to generation Y, X or Baby boomers.

    Viral email marketing is a very powerful and influential campaign you might be wise to examine closer. I'll keep following the post but there are other ways that viral marketing is working and having huge impact. And I would think viral email marketing is most important overall because it contains your above concepts with in it. Is there anything else I can do for you?

    Your Servant, Deremiah, *CPE (Customer Passion Evangelist)
  • Posted on 1/18/2006 at 3:43 PM Accepted
    Viral marketing is an interesting topic, not just because it is getting a lot of press, but also because it sits within a much bigger frame called "influencer marketing." The idea that you can actually market, using traditional or new media, to people who influence the ones you actually want to reach is gaining more proponents every day.

    Unfortunately much of what goes on with viral marketing at present is gimmicky, tactical, and new-media-based. So I think your topic is an excellent choice, and what you have proposed would yield meaningful information. However, what is missing from most work so far is "why." Why do people engage in this? So I would add the following to your project (see next paragraph).

    Determine what the relationship is between the viral marketing parties. Not all gen y are built alike (the response above is an example). Some relationships are peer-to-peer and entertainment based. So having them trade a raunchy video might work. But it won't work if the relationship is a follower-to-leader type. The follower doesn't have the standing in the relationship to send something like that. But perhaps they will send something that will make them look good in the leader's eyes - like a discount/coupon. There are many other examples - I hope you get what i mean.

    So, in your surveying and trials, I would add research that tries to define the different types of relationships within the gen y cohort, and what DIFFERENT viral marketing techniques would apply to each.
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