Viral marketing will spread

I was interested to read of “Viral marketing losing its edge” and think it poses one of the key challenges facing the evolution of digital communications.

Viral marketing totally depends on the desirability of the message or content – you’ve got to really want to pass it on.

As the bigger, mainstream brands begin to see the value in viral marketing, it is essential that their campaigns have that “must-pass-on-ability” without which they flounder. Viral marketing simply will not tolerate ho-hum content or execution like other media; a problem for the lazy, larger brands used to the passivity of TV.

So, it’s not viral as a medium that’s at fault but the “catchability” of the virus itself. And that takes work and skill.

Viral is still an incredible tool, harnessing the ease and speed of the medium upon which it depends. But it depends on the potency of the virus itself and therein lies the challenge to us all.

Greig McCallum

Planning director

TBWAGGT DIRECT

London W1