Ever wondered how agencies & clients alike are completely nuts about the “viral” phenomenon? Agency cant produce enough and clients can’t ask enough – anyone with an iota of an online marketing budget never fails to mention “can we have a viral along with the banner campaign”?!

What’s the deal here? How can you possibly “create” a viral? Aren’t virals supposed to be “ideas”, rather than brand communication? I thought a good communication “became” a viral basis its spread-quotient – and if its an eDM or a video, its just easier to spread around…

Anyway, so there is Webchutney, the supposed “viral pioneers” as they love to call themselves…with this new Center Fresh viral

While the overall concept is nice..crass, but funny nevertheless, the funniest part that definitely is viral-able is this:

Notice the URL?! I mean just obvious do they want it to be? Or are dumb customers expected to appreciate the fact that there “exists a viral”…a sure sign of “creative brilliance” & “amazing campaign roll-out”!

Ahem..don’t miss the “Kitne Aadmi the..” question in the Q&A session..going by their liberal use of the concept, it seems Webchutney must be paying a retainer to Mr. Sippy!

Webchutney and Center Fresh aren’t the only ones…there are a million campaign landing pages that have URL stating the obvious…”www.xyz.com/campaign/microsite”-like URL’s are pretty common..

I do hope that better sense will prevail sooner than later as far as such freaky phenomenons are concerned!

Aditya Srivastava at Solutions|Digitas came across an interesting concept – "But Why"..that has a whole site dedicated to it…www.butwhy.in

Simple and addictive, it showcase three kinds of Butwhy’s:

Butwhy board: Ask your "but why" questions. e.g. Washing liquid contains real lemon, while a lemonade contains artificial flavor..But Why?

Butwhy photos: same concept in photos..e.g.

Butwhy stories: tell a story and ask the reader-butwhy? visitors can them offer interesting answers to a given situation.

There even is a contest on – post your butwhy to win exciting prizes. I do not think this is an individual’s attempt..and in any case, given their massive showcase of a popular model, it seems something is cooking.

Overall, pretty interesting..Looking forward to find out more..

Guerilla marketing is an unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results from minimal resources.

Coined by Jay Conrad Levinson, Guerilla marketing is more about matching wits than matching budgets. Guerilla marketing can be as different from traditional marketing as guerilla warfare is from traditional warfare. Rather than marching their marketing dollars forth like infantry divisions, guerilla marketers snipe away with their marketing resources for maximum impact.The term has since entered the popular vocabulary to also describe aggressive, unconventional marketing methods generically.

Levinson identifies the following principles as the foundation of guerrilla marketing:

• Guerrilla Marketing is specifically geared for the small business and entrepreneur.
• It should be based on human psychology instead of experience, judgment, and guesswork.
• Instead of money, the primary investments of marketing should be time, energy, and imagination.
• the primary statistic to measure your business is the amount of profits, not sales.
• The marketer should also concentrate on how many new relationships are made each month.
• Create a standard of excellence with an acute focus instead of trying to diversify by offering too many diverse products and services.
• Instead of concentrating on getting new customers, aim for more referrals, more transactions with existing customers, and larger transactions.
• Forget about the competition and concentrate more on cooperating with other businesses.
• Guerrilla Marketers should always use a combination of marketing methods for a campaign.
• Use current technology as a tool to empower your business.

It was an attempt to get people to vote in the ‘Worlds Sexiest Women’ poll. The results were outstanding – all down to the stunt creating huge public awareness. For a small business, this would probably be a little too extreme, but you get the picture.

[slideshare id=297004&doc=304052-guerilla-marketing-1204913133402532-2&w=425]

This one apparently is a school project, and DHL isn’t involved. But considering its viral potential, they should happily endorse it!

While there is an intense cyber-debate regarding it’s authenticity and the unrealistic task (too many loopholes – did he fly over Iraq or drove thru it? etc), and DHL continues to deny participation, the most I can ask of you is to appreciate the idea!