As a general rule, sex always seems to work when it comes to viral. So it makes sense therefore for Ann Summers to use viral to push its product – sex.
Nothing really worth talking about so far then. However, what is definitely worth talking about is the fact that Ann Summers have decided not to get an agency to come up with ideas for their viral marketing campaigns, but instead is getting the general public to develop ideas for them – with the prize being to see their idea produced with a budget of up to £25k.
The campaign concept they’ve developed around this is called “Viral Academy” (OK-ish name), and the idea’s been done before – most famously by Virgin who got massively slated by the B3TA community for being lazy cheap-skate exploiters of the free ideas labour of the net.
However, unlike for Virgin, Ann Summers may actually get this “brand participation” idea to work for them. This is mainly down to the fact that Ann Summers still has some of that small brand appeal that consumers love to get involved, whereas Virgin is now seen part of the brand establishment
Posted By
ChrisQ