Finally, online marketers use viral marketing, the Internet version of word-of-mouth marketing. Viral marketing involves creating a Web site, video, e-mail, mobile message, advertisement, or other marketing event that is so infectious that customers will seek it out or pass it along to their friends. customers find and pass along the message or pro- motion, viral marketing can be very inexpensive. And when the information comes from a friend, the recipient is much more likely to view or read it.
For example, P&G's Old Spice brand created a now-classic viral sensation with its "Smell like a man, man" campaign featuring Isaiah Mustafa. The campaign consisted of TV ads and made-for-the-Internet videos designed to go viral on YouTube, Facebook, and other social media. The initial campaign garnered tens of views.
A second campaign ‘which consisted of nearly 200 videos in which Mustafa responded personally to digital inquiries from users, including Ellen DeGeneres and Alyssa Milano, scored 21 million views only first week. It increased the brand's Facebook interaction by 800 percent and OldSpice.com traffic by percent. After the introduction of these videos, old Spice's YouTube page became the all-time most viewed channel on the site.
Sometimes a well-made regular ad can go viral with the help of targeted "seeding." For example, using a pint-sized Darth Vader using The Force tart VW Passat, turned viral after a team at VW's d agency seeded it to selected auto, pop culture, and tar Wars sites the week before the sporting event. By he time the ad aired during the Super Bowl, it had received more than 18 million hits online. By the end the year, "The Force" had received more than 80 mil
following year's Super Bowl with an ad called "Matthew's day off." The ad, which paid homage to the classic 1980s film Ferris Bueller's Day Off, drew 18.4 million views by the 33 morning following the big game .
However, marketers usually have little control over where their viral messages end up. They can seed messages online, but that does little good unless the message itself strikes a chord with consumers. why did the seeded VW Darth Vader ad explode virally? Because the sentimental ad appealed to parents--the car's target demographic who want a responsible suburban family ride. And it appealed to the child inside the parent, who may have once been wowed by Star Wars and now wanted a car with a little bit magic. Says one creative director, "you hope that the creative is at a high enough mark where the seeds grow into mighty oaks. If they don't like it, it ain't gonna move. they like it, it’ll move a little bit, and if they love it, it's gonna move like a fast-burning fire through the Hallwood hills .