Going “Bacterial”
Filed under: General Marketing, Social Marketing on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 by John Rhea
So, I got to thinking this week about what going “viral” really means…
Viral - adj. from the English virus meaning of or like a virus.
(I know, I’m a human lexicon. You should see me play Scrabul- errr… WordScraper.) But, being the product of pop-culture that I am, when I think of viruses - I always think of Agent Smith’s classic speech to Neo in The Matrix: “…[humans are] not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area, and you multiply, and multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. A virus.”
Viruses consume everything they can on their mission to spread as far and as fast as possible. They move so fast because they’re on a limited time frame. They are the original twenty-four hour bug. So, they spread as far and as fast as they can because they know they will die out shortly. Their purpose seems only to spread, disrupt, destroy, and in the process survive. (Viruses will even infect other viruses.)
Are viral marketing campaigns much different? Their purpose is generally to “infect” as many users as possible to spread the brand/product as quickly and as far as possible. Most viral marketing campaigns also seek to deceive or at least trick the user into thinking this viral marketing campaign is something other than a marketing campaign.
If it’s well done, it can be an engrossing, award winning experience. But, most viral marketing campaigns, like pyramid schemes, fall far short of their promised revenue for the client and can sometimes cost millions in backlash. Viral marketing campaigns in general, particularly the bad and/or thinly veiled ones, are a detriment to the landscape. They add nothing to a conversation except a deceitful attempt by a marketer to con the consumer out of a buck.
On the other flagellum, there are bacteria. Some bacteria cause sickness, disease, and death. But, if you’ve ever seen a woman over-sharing her digestive problems on TV, you probably know that there are some good bacteria out there too. They help us with digestion and a wide variety of other things. Yet, they can also spread quickly.
We should add something to the conversation online rather than sneakily weaseling our way into marketing something. We should create campaigns that are funny, heartwarming, or weird simply for the sake of the consumer and not to exploit them.
Arguably, there must be some business model behind why and how we do this so that we can at least break even. But, if we care more for our customers than their pocket books, we will have created long-term customers. And to take the analogy farther than it probably should go, the bacteria will live forever in their gut rather than quickly dying out after controlling the whole body.
Let us then devise bacterial marketing campaigns that interest, engross, and help the average person. Let us not just chase the almighty dollar, but let us build the community and, by extension, all of mankind through our marketing. Let us be at the forefront of a new marketing strategy that invites customers into a better way of living rather than forcing a product down their throat.
If nothing else I think we’ll all sleep better at night.
