Hello Viral Enthusiasts!
Welcome to the latest instalment of Viral Intelligence. November was quite an eventful month for us at Rubber Republic. Amidst viral creation and seeding we have been spending a considerable time engineering cool new distribution channels for our content. Unless you want to join us for a sushi lunch we can’t tell you too much about this; it’s top secret stuff. However, we are more than happy to tell you about all of last month’s viral action. Enjoy!
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News Round-up:
CGC + Ads + Youth = @*%^ Off!!!
The American Marketing Association (AMA) has conducted a survey that will be of great interest to those in the world of viral marketing. The most striking conclusion of the survey suggests that children don’t like consumer-generated content (CGC) in ads. It also appears that older people aged between 25-64 find that CGC campaigns make a company appear more innovative and customer-friendly. Those between the ages of 18-24 felt that a company that uses CGC is less trustworthy, less socially responsible and less customer-friendly. Another surprise that we read recently was that 50% of YouTube users were over the age of 34. In light of this, it could be suggested that younger audiences dislike CGC in ads because they are losing a sense of ownership over the content which they are largely responsible for creating. One can imagine this group feeling that they are the victims of corporate high jacking. A cumbersome invasion of their cool territory.
Zango Finally Gets Stung
Zango, the prominent but highly manipulative viral site, finally got it's comeuppance in November. The site had became one of the world’s largest distributors of adware. It did this by using alluring but deceptive banner ads which encouraged users to download almost un-removable software so that they could view enticing video clips. The well known banners said "click here to see what happens next" and most commonly featured a guy about to jump under a bus. Thankfully, they’ve had to pay $3m to the Federal Trade Commission for their underhand tactics. Tactics which have clearly been making them serious amounts of money in advertising revenues.
A Biblical Plague?
Probably a first, The United Church of Canada has launched a viral to support its WonderCafe web campaign. The £5m campaign aims to encourage discussion on issues such as gay marriage and sinful sex in an effort to increase membership to their church. The decision to encourage discussion is a good one, with today's youth shying away from the dogmatic elements of spirituality. If this campaign proves to be a success we may well see virals from other denominations. Although its hard to picture Benedict XVI bashing down the Rubber Republic door.
5 of the best
November was quite an active month in terms of the volume and variation of virals created. Below are some of our favourites.
