Viral Marketing: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

Originally, viral marketing referred to word of mouth advertising. In theory, one person tells all their friends, who in turn tell all their friends, and so on. In practice, this rarely worked out well. Ask anyone who tried to make money with Amway.

 

 

See also [[Alternate Reality Game]], [[Forced Meme]] and [[In-Universe Marketing]].

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* [[Kyoto Animation]] is particularly well known for this, especially with regards to their breakout hit ''[[The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]''.

* Although not directly related, ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' has a character ''actually named 'Viral''', leading to much [[Memetic Mutation]].

** [http://cdimg3.crunchyroll.com/i/spire1/01172008/0/5/c/9/05c91a99e9e1a0_full.jpg So easy a Beastman can do it.]{{Dead link}}

 

== Comic Books ==

* [http://twitpic.com/6h5e6 Here] is a pic hilariously failed example of attempted viral marketing, where said marketer accidentally copies part of his DC Comics marketing standards into his posted messages.

** Or just a hard-working troll pretending to be an incompetent marketer. It's impossible to tell with 4chan.

 

== Film ==

* ''Iron Man 2'' promotions included commercials for Stark Expo (even one from 1974).

* The ''[[Tropic Thunder]]'' stars parodied this in a skit for the MTV Movie Awards in 2008: [[Ben Stiller]] brings [[Jack Black]] and [[Robert Downey, Jr.]] to his office to make a viral video to promote their new movie. Via Stiller's invocation of [[Role Association]] and the suggestions of his sullen nephew, most takes involve [[Kung Fu Panda|Po]] taking [[Groin Attack|groin attacks]] from [[Iron Man (film)|Iron Man]].

* Weeks before ''The Virginity Hit'' came out, billboards were spread out asking "Are you virgin? Call [[555|[some 555 number]]]". The billboards also looked legitimate for those not catching up with movies.

 

* ''[[Lost]]'' did not invent viral marketing, but it did popularize the idea of making fake websites about fictional companies which were then tied into massive online games (including several held between seasons). Fictional websites for Oceanic Airlines, the Hanso Foundation, the DHARMA Initiative, and Ajira Airways have all been created and tied into alternate reality games.

** The first viral game was the Oceanic Airlines website (now defunct), which had a biography of the company and a full seating chart of Flight 815. Clicking on specific seats or combinations of seats would allow the reader to access pictures, short video/audio clips and background documents. This later led to the "Find 815" campaign (below).

*** Now the first website is just an ad for the [[Defictionalization|defictionized]] Tru Blood blood orange drink.

* [[The Muppets]] put a series of videos on Youtube in a rather blunt form of this. And it's hysterical.

** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-PkQRh3QXA Cookie Monster is trying to make his SNL audition tape go viral so he can become a host].

** The viral campaign for ''[[The Muppets (film)|The Muppets]]'' in 2011 revolved around an entirely fake romantic drama called "Green With Envy", which was promoted (with stars Jason Segal and Amy Adams, and none of the puppets) as a legitimate project, which even had a fake press release and poster drawn up for it. The official trailer was even credited as "'Green With Envy' Movie Trailer", and seems to focus on a pair of star-crossed lovers...until the announcer suddenly starts introducing Muppet characters halfway through, and Segal (in-character) stops the trailer to break the fourth wall and ask if this is a Muppet film! Later online commercials parodied various popular films and shows that were all being released around the same time as ''The Muppets'', and the project got some serious viral promotion.

* ''[[Dollhouse]]'' had an [[Alternate Reality Game]] (it consists of a single website) titled R-Prime Lab. It is about Hazel, a girl trapped in a container being shipped by sea. The container is fitted out with equipment dating back to what was presumably the experimentation that led up the creation of the Dollhouse technology. Video messages from players are read by Hazel on a daily basis, taking hints from the players on how to solve various puzzles that may lead up to a way for her to escape from the container. There is a ''lot'' of backstory for the show revealed. Here's a [https://web.archive.org/web/20090513092046/http://www.rprimelab.com/ link.]

* In universe, ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' had a technology savvy religious fanatic posting videos of his murders on the Internet. The internet promptly assumed it was Viral Marketing for a movie or game of some sort, and asked for more videos. The Unsub didn't exactly take it well.

* The book ''Heat Wave'' written by fictional author Richard [[Castle]] from the show of the same name was published as an actual book, written under the pen name Richard [[Castle]]. The book actually made the ''New York Times'' bestseller list, and a published version of the fictional author's second book, ''Naked Heat'', is currently planned.

* Italian network "Italia Uno" has recently aired bumpers such as [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJVN6QjETCU&feature=related this one] (see the others in the related videos). [[Glee|GLEE-talia Uno!]] Evidently Mediaset wants to surprise [[Viewers are Morons|anyone who doesn't have internet and/or anyone who's never heard of Glee.]] It's almost sickening.

* ''[[Psych]]'' has the [https://web.archive.org/web/20130926125430/http://htk.clubpsych.usanetwork.com/story_assets/HTK/index.html Hashtag Killer] game, a seven week-long mystery where Shawn and Gus, along with the player acting as their new office assistant, must track down and stop the titular serial killer, who is targeting random followers of Psych's Twitter and Facebook pages. Shawn and Gus communicate with the player through a simulated Facebook feed, and each week, the moderators pick someone from the top of the game's leaderboard to become Hashtag's newest victim.

* FOX Television used a very interesting form of viral promotion during the promotion of the first season of ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]''. Online ads and episodes of several different FOX shows had a barely-visible pair of glowing red eyes that could briefly be seen before disappearing. These glowing eyes appeared directly after the commercial break for several series, and the appearances were eventually posted online by fans, fueling speculation and driving viewer interest.

 

== Music ==

* Nashville [[chiptune]]s musician [[Makeup and Vanity Set]] created a thread on [[The Protomen]] forums under the [[Significant Anagram]] 'tastyvein'. It claimed to have found a tune similar to the Will of One in an old NES game, with an mp3 as proof. It took about 20 pages for the forumites to figure out that it was a plug for M&VS's chiptune version of Act I, with Protomen member Heath Who Hath No Name having to point out the anagram.

* Adverts for with the slogan: "Your own personal Jesus" were placed in British newspapers, with no indication that it was a song (until a number was also printed which when dialed would let you listen to the song) to advertize the [[Depeche Mode]] single "Personal Jesus".

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[BioShock (series)]] 2'' was promoted in-universe style via a complex ARG known as [http://www.somethinginthesea.com Something In The Sea] The website updated daily and went through three phases; in the first, the protagonist, a man named Mark Meltzer, attempted to solve the mystery of a spate of kidnappings of young girls associated with mysterious underwater red lights (hence the site's name). In the second phase, Mark's daughter Cindy was herself kidnapped by the mysterious creature (revealed to be the Big Sister), and Mark became obsessed with untangling the mad riddles of a man named Orrin Oscar Lutwidge, who claimed to have found "True Rapture". In the third phase, Mark set to sea in search of Rapture himself. The game included voice recordings from multiple characters, riddles, puzzles, journals, and all manner of period-appropriate documents. Fans who wrote Mark a letter at the posted address could receive swag such as records of Rapture's anthem, and particularly interesting fan letters were posted on the website as correspondence received by Mark. Later phases upped fan involvement to include objects supposedly washed ashore from Rapture planted on beaches worldwide, book pages and postcards mailed to fans with instructions to get them to Mark, and later weekend-long events requiring the collaboration of fans in multiple states or in one case countries to solve puzzles. At the end, one such event led fans to the Bioshock 2 launch party. Fan response to the ARG was strong enough to prompt 2K to add Mark as a character in ''Bioshock 2.''

* [[bob's game|"What is 'bob's game'?"]]

* ''[[Metroid]] Prime 2: Echoes'' had two viral promo sites: "Orbis Labs", a weapons-designer creating a "battle sphere" which soldiers could roll up into (which was stated to be [[Samus Is a Girl|unsuitable for male body types]]), and "Channel 51", a conspiracy-theory site from "[[Sue Donym|Samantha Manus]]" of "[[Significant Anagram|Sumas]], WA" investigating alien footage which consisted of blurred-up clips from the game. A third, "Athena Astronautics", which advertised sending women into space, offered job positions for bounty hunters - 25 people who replied to the offer received a copy of ''Echoes'' as an "interactive training manual".

* 4Chan's /v/ board tends to be a frequent stomping ground for viral marketers. In the past, [[Atlus]] employees would frequent the site to advertise its lesser-known games, and Gearbox Software did the same for ''[[Borderlands]]''. This caused [[Memetic Mutation]] where talking about any hyped game meant you were a "viral marketer". Why anyone would try to advertise their game on a board populated primarily by pirates remains a mystery.

* ''[[Plants vs. Zombies]]'' had a rather successful Youtube campaign with their music video and videos of zombie cosplayers.

* To advertise the release of ''[[Angry Birds|Angry Birds Space]]'', Roxio hung a 35 foot wide Red Bird from a slingshot attached to the Space Needle. Residents of Seattle were encouraged to stop by the Space Needle and try the game for free. Images of this spectacle quickly spread across social networking.

 

== Web Original ==

* [[Word of God]] on the blog [[The Realms Of Neldak]] is that it was created specifically to hype the as-yet unfinished novel ''[[EHUD Prelude to Apocalypse|E.H.U.D.: Prelude to Apocalypse]]''.

* [[Sean Malstrom]] exhibits a tendency for believing that those who disagree with him are [[No True Scotsman|not true gamers]], but [[You Keep Using That Word|viral marketers]] who are afraid of their covert gaming forum marketing campaigns being jeopardized. He also notes how [[Fan Dumb]] and Viral Marketers are alike.

 

== Western Animation ==

* The infamous January 31, 2007 Boston bomb scare consisted of LED signs featuring Mooninites to advertise the upcoming ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]'' movie.

* ''[[The Secret Saturdays]]'' started out as a series of advertisements that consisted of homemade videos of cryptids showing up in otherwise mundane situations, with the URL for a website entitled "Cryptids Are Real", which posed as the website for a periodical of the same name, devoted to recording sightings of cryptids around the nation. Later, a website for a show called "Weird World", which would apparently reveal "the truth about Cryptids", appeared, with corresponding ads. The main characters of the show wouldn't appear in advertisements until about a month after the campaign began. "Weird World" turned out to be the villain's [[Show Within a Show]].

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Trivia Trope]]

[[Category:Show Business]]

[[Category:Advertising Tropes]]

[[Category:Pages with working Wikipedia tabs]]