Mekanism :

Engineering Viral Marketing

Distinguishing Features of Digital Media

• Product & Services Offers (Customization)

• One-to-One Communications (Personalization)
• Interactive (Two-way communication)
• Networking
• Measurability (Reach, Engagement, Response)
 Key Questions
• Product-Centric Strategy vs. Client (Brand) -
Centric Strategy ?
• Size of the market – Mainstream versus
Niche ?
• Value to End-client – High or Low?
• Competitive Advantage – Yes or No ?
Viral Production Vs. Ad Agency?
(a) Internal Factors
• Scope of Services – Broad vs. Niche
• Type of Customers – Ad Agency vs. End-Client
(Advertisers)

(b) External Factors

• Changing its Business Model
• Mainstream versus Niche?
• Client will prefer One-Stop-Shop agency for all its
needs or prefer specialized suppliers?
 Media Comparison
Offline Media Vs. Online Media Vs. Sharing

• Traditional (Offline) Media

– TV, Print, Radio, Outdoors, etc
• Online Media
– Display Ads, Search Engine, Social Media, Online
Videos,e-mail, etc
• Viral Marketing
– Online & Offline Viral
Viral Marketing Concepts
• Word-Of-Mouth (WoM) - Offline
• eWoM - Online
• Viral Advertising – Online Sharing
 Viral Ads – Pros and Cons
Viral Ads - Pros Viral Ads - Cons
Higher Engagement Reach Uncertainty
Persuasiveness Lack of predictability
Lower Cost Lack of Control over message

Better Targeting Uncertain Target Audience

Easy to Create Difficult to engineer

Q: Which Brands are likely to gain from Viral Marketing ?

Large brands are shifting Brand Building to digital media
with fragmentation of media.
Mekanism Process of Viral Advertising
• Storytelling Format (Contents)
- Contents creater as well as sharer gets credit :
Building social capital
• Social Platforms Management
– Distribution
_ Reducing the cycle time
• Influencers (Reduce Risk & Uncertainty,
Increased Cost) – Increased influencer
relationships
– Initial kick-start is most important to viral to
get benefit of multiplier effect;
Social Platform Management:
Community vs Influencer vs Seeding
Production House versus Ad-Agency
Production House Ad Agency

One Content Many Contents

One Media Many Media

Lower Fees Higher Fees

Many Clients Few Clients

Product Focus strategy Client Focus strategy

Increased reliance of wide array of media versus one or

few media by clients.
Influences to Viral Advertising
• Individual-level Factors (Sender)
• Category-level Factors (Context)
• Brand-level Factors (Brand)
Mekanism Influencers Management
Model – Reducing early diffusion risk

• Identify ( Reach & Relevance)

• Engage
• Value Exchange
• Distribute Message
• Optimize
Metrics
Effectiveness and Efficiency Measure
• Reach – Unique Visitors, Repeat Visitors,
Impressions
• Engagements – Clicks, Video Viewing,
Comments, Likes, Sharing, Time spent, %
of Contents Viewed
• Buzz & Mentions
• Brand Sentiments
Thank You
Viral Marketing- You Tube
Viral Marketing Concept 2 (SNA)
• Social Networks (User Associations)
• Product Networks (Product Associations)

Propagation of Messages across-network

and also beyond direct network.
Online Brand Building
Strategies
Shifting Landscape of Branding
• Threats to traditional advertising include
shrinking audiences, rising costs and
competing technologies
• Ad blocking (TV) and the Do-Not-Call-
Registry (DM) restrict marketers reach
• Fears of the chaos scenario: a drop in
mass media effectiveness with no equally
effective marketing alternative
Building Brands Online
• Build “Keyword search” associations
• Brand Content Development
• Improved technology gives “rich-
media” and omni-channel options
increasing ad effectiveness
• Forging Brand-Consumer Relationships
Build “Keyword search”
associations
Online Branding by Domain Name

• Reinforce branding
• Build traffic
• Predict consumer behavior
• Memorability of brand and website
• Simplicity counts in online
• Ownership of keyword
Branding by Domain Name
Alternate names should help drive traffic to main site
Brand Content Development
The Challenge of Multiple Brands

• Multi-brand companies must determine

whether each brand stands alone or is linked
by the common firm
• A branded house treats all products as an
integrated brand (Walls’ ice cream)
emphasizes user specific marketing.
• A house of brands emphasizes product-
specific marketing with few ties to other
company brands (Amul)
 The Challenge of Multiple Brands
(Walls’ Example / Amul Example)
BRANDED HOUSE HOUSE OF BRANDS

Branding Efficient use of resources Avoids confusion

Advantages Lower cost of product introductions, Dominance in product
brand extensions category
Focus on key users Reduces or minimizes
channel conflict
Online Traffic steered to single page Focused content
Advantages Authority status of site through shared Simplified imagery
in-bound links Better measurement of
Easier user tracking brand-specific campaigns
Online Complicates content choice Hinders cross-selling
Challenges Potential navigation problems opportunities
Difficult to measure advertising “Content fatigue” reduces
effectiveness per individual brand likelihood of frequent
customer visits
URL Choices Homepage as umbrella Separate URLs per brand
Virgin.com/books www.tide.com
Virgin.com/travel www.pantene.com
 The Challenge of Multiple Brands
(Walls’ Example / Amul Example)

• www.amul.com
• www.amuldairy.com
• www.amulicecream.in
• www.amulonline.com

• www.kwalitywalls.in
• www.cornetto.in
Rich-Media and Omni-Channel
options
Enhancing Brand Meaning

• Online images and content reinforce brand

personality and imagery
• Digital content transforms a brand into an
authority
– The “Stain Solutions” at Tide.com
– “Daily pollen counts Experiment” at
Allegra.com
• Online responses offer a swift, and lasting,
response to brand crises
Enhancing Brand Meaning

• Pairing traditional media campaigns with

Web advertising helps drive customer
response to a brand
– Billboards, television have wide reach but
limited information
– Internet lacks wide reach but provides deep
content, elaboration, reinforcement
– A “handoff” strategy recognizes strengths and
weaknesses of each media type
Enhancing Brand Meaning

In Apple Computer’s “Switch” campaign, TV ads

and billboards steer users to the Web
Forging Brand Relationships
• Online content can deepen consumer
attachment to a specific brand
• Legacy drives brand connections and
can be highlighted through online and
multi-media content
• Brand communities place special
emphasis on a brand or product and are
powerful purchasers
Forging Brand Relationships
Brands as socially negotiated constructs
Thank You