While the humor of a viral in its mysterious disclosure of the brand/product cannot be entirely denied, it is not mandatory to have the communication hidden till the end in case of all virals. In certain cases a brand can also be treated as an integral part of the communication since the beginning. And that’s upon the agency how well they can crack it. In such a case a brand is not only the ultimate thing but instead plays as an integral character inside the communication. In India, somehow, a viral is still considered as only a humurous way to advertise a brand’s communication where the identity is hidden till the end, rather, the charecteristics which it carries alongwith.

As of now, most of the virals in the Indian diasphora are not known becaue of the brand presence, rather a funny piece of communication which a Webchutney or any other agency is doing. I have come across numerous people who recall the viral very because of the humor it carries but donot remember the brand or the product behind it.
Without any offences to anyone, I believe that somewhere we have restricted our thoughts about a viral to a mysterious piece of communication which discloses the brand at the end. its high time that agencies need to give new definition to the term ‘viral’.

Now that sounds mighty opinionated…says who virals are supposed to be mysterious! VIRAL is the nature of the media, not content.

AND if you like an advertising communication – you TALK abt it – normal people DONT think they shouldnt popularize a brand – when we as consumers (not pseudo media intellectuals) like a VODAFONE or FEVICOL or whatever ad, we say we like it..WE dont shy away from praising it just because its an AD”)

Sorry to break it to you but ALL agencies are in the business of creating online campaigns which clients PAY for – not good samaritans who will waste billable hours for general amusement – actually we do that in house – but for internal consumption only

PEACE!

In my opinion the best way to put it is to say that ‘an online interactive communication for Centerfresh was created, that was propagated via refer-to-a-friend and mass mailing techniques’. The scale that it ultimately reaches will define whether it does become a viral.

DISCLAIMER: This is entirely my individual opinion and does not reflect the views of any other individual or organization.

WC, in this campaign’s case, started off by labeling a campaign “viral” (refer URL) – hello! you don’t begin with a “viral” in mind…any good campaign become viral via popularity and “spreadability”! So agency statements are “we created a campaign that became a hot viral” instead of “we created a viral campaign!!”

What was this – a response to the client’s “pl create a viral for us – or better – chief, we shall create a viral element in the campaign!” What is WC – an flu-ridden sneeze or a creative agency??

Also, virals are considered a “stealth marketing” weapon as people in general have aversions towards spreading the brand “word” at their expense. The lust for bust example is an online campaign that was released using SN as a platform to enable spread. You cant call it a pure viral!