Viral marketing has become the defining marketing trend of the decade. Brands big and small launch viral videos via YouTube, post new product information on their MySpace pages, court the blogosphere and send forth armies of evangelists to spread the gospel by word-of-mouth (WOM). But
without customer identification and access to customer data, are viral marketers just blowing smoke?
The buzz about viral and WOM has transformed marketing, as marketers eschew the hard work of building customer relationships through loyalty and database marketing in favour of distracting them with such shiny baubles as YouTube videos and interactive adver- games.