We're often asked to include considering 'viral' as one part of our integrated campaigns. But viral isn't a channel, it's an effect. It's just easier to refer to it in that way.
And it's simple and cheap right? Just film a movie, stick it on YouTube and watch it spread all over the world. Easy!
Wrong.
Due to the popularity of YouTube it's often assumed that viral=video but this is far from the case. These days 'viral' can be pretty much anything, from videos and Twitter competitions to augmented reality and 20% off booze vouchers.
And because it can be anything that's why an integrated approach is often best.
These days the easiest way to pass any content on from one person to another, or preferably to many, is using digital channels. But that doesn't mean that digital folk are necessarily the best people to come up with the original idea. In fact, you're probably going to get a more cynical response to an average idea because we tend to have more exposure to these channels and therefore more viral campagins than the average person. It's just the way we are.
Take the T-Mobile dancing in the station. Your average digital person would probably have said they'd seen flash mobs 100 times before. Been there, done that. I think it originated in New York and the first was in a carpet shop much to the displeasure of bemused sales assistants. It was nothing to do with a brand or product, just a bunch of pranksters having a laugh. Then there were the singers in the airport advertising the theatre. And so on....
However, with the backing of a TV campaign, the Liverpool Street dance has achieved nearly 14m views on YouTube. Now that's impressive!
But it's not a digital idea and sometimes the best virals aren't. In fact nearly every successful video viral is a good piece of film-making rather than a great piece of digital. The power of viral is usually in the digital method by which it's passed on.
As with any campaign a mix of channels works best. While I'm no fan of the advertising, Oasis pushed the boat out with the Cactus Kid. There was a website to vote on your preferred ending to the advertising series, Facebook and MySpace pages for the characters, behind the scenes making of content, even a fake find the kid campaign site. It wasn't my cup of tea, but then again I'm not the target audience. But I'm not sure they got it either.
It's not always about video. Websites can be viral too. Swedish Armed Forces is a spin off the traditional game route, presenting intriguing tests in such a creative and cool way that you want to send it on, well I did anyway.
And SAS Globe of Fortune is a clever hook up with your friends on social networks to win a free flight.
When you start to mix video content with creative digital technologies that's when things can really hot up.
Amongst the first to start customising video content online and sending it on were Audi (with their DNA campaign) and Mini with this viral classic produced by Glue.
Now this has spread to include video content and even voiceovers. Have a look at this from the Know the Signs Campaign from Heineken.
or this from ICO...
So what makes a successful viral? It really comes down to two key things, content and exposure.
1. Content
The general rules are that your viral needs to be;
- interactive (challenge your friend game)
- shocking (VW Polo suicide bomber or Diesel safe for work porn)
- sexy (Kylie for Agent Provocateur)
- funny (Old Spice)
- cool (Quiksilver)
- inquisitive (TFL or Samsung)
- or the latest trend, to have a feel good factor (Evian)
Sounds easy, but it's harder than it seems. It's difficult getting one of these that works hard in a way that your client's brand will be happy with. And it's always easier with B2C. It's got to have standout. So if you're going for comedy then make sure it's funny.
2. Exposure
If you are Nike then you're likely to have a database of customers and the traffic to your website to get your viral passed on. Nike didn't even need to release their Kobe LeBron adverts online, their fans did it for them, and then they parodied the ads, gaining even more exposure. Then again a good script, two megastars and a few Henson creations go a long way.
If you're a lesser known brand and are looking for impact, then you have to seed your content. And it's definitely worth working with seeding specialists rather than trying to join in the conversation cold. Your target blog will see right through any impostors and the damage you inflict could go more viral than your intended content.
Remember you can't control viral. It might spread around the world to audiences you never expected. With both positive and negative effects!
To sum up, always ask yourself, would you forward it to a friend or colleague? Would your target audience? If the answer's no then it's not going to go viral. Easy :-)
This last example ticks a number of boxes. It's a topical, clever, shocking, interactive video from the Metropolitan Police. Brilliant. If you're only going to click on one link in this post make it this one.
Barnaby Ellis
Head of Digital
Showing posts with label viral marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label viral marketing. Show all posts
Monday, 28 September 2009
Friday, 5 December 2008
Viral Games in Marketing
Companies throughout the web are finding online games a valuable addition to the marketing mix.
Appealing to your customer’s playful side has been shown to have a number of tangible benefits. Popular games spread awareness of your brand or product, and games can include a company message. Keeping ‘hi-scores’ not only increases a game’s popularity but allows you to build a database of interested leads. Customers brought to your site via a game spend on average 10% more and are 40% more likely to return.
Viral games are, depending on the size of your company, relatively inexpensive to make, and almost free to maintain.
Plentiful benefits and low costs make viral games an enticing option but you will only gain these benefits if you make a successful game. Successful games are infectious, they make you want to play it over again then tell your friends to get them playing. They must also fulfill their marketing role be that raising brand awareness, sending people to your site or distributing coupons.
To make a successful viral game follow our simple tips:
- First of all ensure that it is fun! People won’t play or spread the word if it is not a fun game.
- Ensure access is easy: don’t over-complicate the rules or make people register before they play.
- Keep the message simple. People are there to play the game, their concentration will be focused on the game and not on some complicated background message.
- Incentivise responses. Use game-related incentives (extra content or competition) to urge people to click your link or submit their email.
- Finally, make sure the game is noticed in the first place. Build a complementary microsite, leverage social media and email the game to everyone in your database and ask all of your employees to do the same. There are also professional seeding agencies that can help spread the word for you.
Playing games is serious business!
If you’d like to find out more about how we can help you with viral games, give us a call on 01252 70 11 11.
If reading this has got you in the mood for an online game, why not give our Pancake Panic viral game a try?
Mark
Multimedia Developer
Appealing to your customer’s playful side has been shown to have a number of tangible benefits. Popular games spread awareness of your brand or product, and games can include a company message. Keeping ‘hi-scores’ not only increases a game’s popularity but allows you to build a database of interested leads. Customers brought to your site via a game spend on average 10% more and are 40% more likely to return.
Viral games are, depending on the size of your company, relatively inexpensive to make, and almost free to maintain.
Plentiful benefits and low costs make viral games an enticing option but you will only gain these benefits if you make a successful game. Successful games are infectious, they make you want to play it over again then tell your friends to get them playing. They must also fulfill their marketing role be that raising brand awareness, sending people to your site or distributing coupons.
To make a successful viral game follow our simple tips:
- First of all ensure that it is fun! People won’t play or spread the word if it is not a fun game.
- Ensure access is easy: don’t over-complicate the rules or make people register before they play.
- Keep the message simple. People are there to play the game, their concentration will be focused on the game and not on some complicated background message.
- Incentivise responses. Use game-related incentives (extra content or competition) to urge people to click your link or submit their email.
- Finally, make sure the game is noticed in the first place. Build a complementary microsite, leverage social media and email the game to everyone in your database and ask all of your employees to do the same. There are also professional seeding agencies that can help spread the word for you.
Playing games is serious business!
If you’d like to find out more about how we can help you with viral games, give us a call on 01252 70 11 11.
If reading this has got you in the mood for an online game, why not give our Pancake Panic viral game a try?
Mark
Multimedia Developer
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Viral Games *cough*
Games can be a tremendous pull if done right (xkcd - would a web comic lie?). “Right” is subjective, and can differ substantially depending on your goals and who you are targeting. This rambling post will attempt to discuss my thoughts on planning a game.
Some maintain that people are far more vocal when unhappy – if you are extremely clever, you could probably capitalise on this with a really dire game. However, it is far more likely that a when a user doesn’t enjoy a game they will simply forget it. On the other hand if they like the game they will come back, or recommend it to a friend, or both. So above all we want our game to be fun.
How does one make a game fun? The quality of both the design and implementation is important – a brilliant design can be spoiled by poor execution, likewise a mediocre design is likely to struggle in spite of flawless execution. With a good design, implementation of most viral games should be fairly straightforward (we are professionals after all!); so while there may be some balancing and tweaking of the working product here I will focus more on the design considerations.
One such is complexity: while this will vary depending on the target demographic, typically the most successful viral games are simple. It could be the best game in the world but if your users need to read a page of text to learn how to play first then you will lose a substantial fraction of potential players (“too busy now, maybe later”), and you might struggle to regain momentum. This is not to say that the game itself must be simple, rather the way the user interacts (and probably the visual interface) should be as efficient as possible. For example, a very popular viral game from yesteryear involved whacking a penguin, and has since spawned many clones and variations. Interaction is very simple – click the mouse (some versions incorporate holding the mouse or dragging to supply power or angle, but nothing overtly complex.
Fine and good, but what about ones where more complexity is required? Physics puzzles seem to be becoming more popular such as this one. Again, I am a professional so can resist the lure of mindlessly playing games for fun. However, I did spend some time on this one, purely for research purposes you understand. Many, many hours of research. It’s not rocket science, but it is certainly more complicated than the previous example. And yet, interaction is just clicking, and later 3 or 4 keys. This apparent simplicity helps make it more fun.
Another difference between these two examples that might be very obvious is length. This is heavily dictated by the structure and style of your game. In the case of the former, it seems designed to be as simple and quick to restart as possible. This makes it very easy to retry, and a game that encourages a “one-more-go” mentality is more likely to be passed on to friends (a little more on that later).
The latter example (while definitely providing a large amount of scope for retrying levels) offered, for me at least, more of a “what’s next” drive to replay. Multiple levels are more costly, but are a classic and easy way of providing variety in a game where the basic mechanic may itself bear multiple retries but not in an unchanged form. To clarify - in magic pen, once you have completed a level and achieved the best score there is little to entice you to replay that level; however the other levels mean the game still has more to offer.
That last sentence touches on another consideration – score, and by implication, competition. Competition is a great way to encourage not only replay, but sharing of a game. I first heard of the penguin game from someone who was bragging about the distance they were able to propel the unlucky vertebrate. Likewise, magic pen was initially a race to later levels, and then a painstaking attempt to use fewer shapes than everyone else. Competition significantly extended the lifespan of both games, as well as being a primary motivator in their distribution. Scoreboards or other similar means of tracking progress help this enormously.
In considering this, it is also fairly important that one considers the difficulty of the game. Something that is too difficult will alienate players, while something that is too easy will be quickly discarded. This is one of the areas that is most susceptible to tweaking late in the development process, and can be hard to get exactly right. Ideally, a game will be easy to pick up, but more difficult to master – repeated play shows steady progress, but there is always room for improvement in all but the most hardcore.
This might not be true in all cases – I have written a game (no longer online), completion of which allowed the player to enter a competition. In this case, completion provided a sense of achievement but had the additional draw of a possible prize. Here, it seemed best to scale down the difficulty (in part owing to the older demographic targeted), which resulted in the game being shared by people proud of their accomplishment, but also wanting to inform friends and colleagues of the competition.
If people are to share your game, for whatever reason, you want it to be instantly recognisable. Clones of games can rival the original if they are imbued with sufficient personality (and a suitable legal distinction, of course). Be this the style or humour, it is important that it is distinct and recognisable in a medium where there is no shortage of entertainment.
There is much to consider in creating a viral game, and consequently a lot of room to differentiate between a good and a great game. So, while wooshy noises are all well and good, it is important that thought goes into the game to get the core mechanics and design right. A truly great game will have many people playing it, but very few aware of the work it required.
Nick
Some maintain that people are far more vocal when unhappy – if you are extremely clever, you could probably capitalise on this with a really dire game. However, it is far more likely that a when a user doesn’t enjoy a game they will simply forget it. On the other hand if they like the game they will come back, or recommend it to a friend, or both. So above all we want our game to be fun.
How does one make a game fun? The quality of both the design and implementation is important – a brilliant design can be spoiled by poor execution, likewise a mediocre design is likely to struggle in spite of flawless execution. With a good design, implementation of most viral games should be fairly straightforward (we are professionals after all!); so while there may be some balancing and tweaking of the working product here I will focus more on the design considerations.
One such is complexity: while this will vary depending on the target demographic, typically the most successful viral games are simple. It could be the best game in the world but if your users need to read a page of text to learn how to play first then you will lose a substantial fraction of potential players (“too busy now, maybe later”), and you might struggle to regain momentum. This is not to say that the game itself must be simple, rather the way the user interacts (and probably the visual interface) should be as efficient as possible. For example, a very popular viral game from yesteryear involved whacking a penguin, and has since spawned many clones and variations. Interaction is very simple – click the mouse (some versions incorporate holding the mouse or dragging to supply power or angle, but nothing overtly complex.
Fine and good, but what about ones where more complexity is required? Physics puzzles seem to be becoming more popular such as this one. Again, I am a professional so can resist the lure of mindlessly playing games for fun. However, I did spend some time on this one, purely for research purposes you understand. Many, many hours of research. It’s not rocket science, but it is certainly more complicated than the previous example. And yet, interaction is just clicking, and later 3 or 4 keys. This apparent simplicity helps make it more fun.
Another difference between these two examples that might be very obvious is length. This is heavily dictated by the structure and style of your game. In the case of the former, it seems designed to be as simple and quick to restart as possible. This makes it very easy to retry, and a game that encourages a “one-more-go” mentality is more likely to be passed on to friends (a little more on that later).
The latter example (while definitely providing a large amount of scope for retrying levels) offered, for me at least, more of a “what’s next” drive to replay. Multiple levels are more costly, but are a classic and easy way of providing variety in a game where the basic mechanic may itself bear multiple retries but not in an unchanged form. To clarify - in magic pen, once you have completed a level and achieved the best score there is little to entice you to replay that level; however the other levels mean the game still has more to offer.
That last sentence touches on another consideration – score, and by implication, competition. Competition is a great way to encourage not only replay, but sharing of a game. I first heard of the penguin game from someone who was bragging about the distance they were able to propel the unlucky vertebrate. Likewise, magic pen was initially a race to later levels, and then a painstaking attempt to use fewer shapes than everyone else. Competition significantly extended the lifespan of both games, as well as being a primary motivator in their distribution. Scoreboards or other similar means of tracking progress help this enormously.
In considering this, it is also fairly important that one considers the difficulty of the game. Something that is too difficult will alienate players, while something that is too easy will be quickly discarded. This is one of the areas that is most susceptible to tweaking late in the development process, and can be hard to get exactly right. Ideally, a game will be easy to pick up, but more difficult to master – repeated play shows steady progress, but there is always room for improvement in all but the most hardcore.
This might not be true in all cases – I have written a game (no longer online), completion of which allowed the player to enter a competition. In this case, completion provided a sense of achievement but had the additional draw of a possible prize. Here, it seemed best to scale down the difficulty (in part owing to the older demographic targeted), which resulted in the game being shared by people proud of their accomplishment, but also wanting to inform friends and colleagues of the competition.
If people are to share your game, for whatever reason, you want it to be instantly recognisable. Clones of games can rival the original if they are imbued with sufficient personality (and a suitable legal distinction, of course). Be this the style or humour, it is important that it is distinct and recognisable in a medium where there is no shortage of entertainment.
There is much to consider in creating a viral game, and consequently a lot of room to differentiate between a good and a great game. So, while wooshy noises are all well and good, it is important that thought goes into the game to get the core mechanics and design right. A truly great game will have many people playing it, but very few aware of the work it required.
Nick
Monday, 18 February 2008
A Viral Game Review - Pancake Panic in the Spotlight
As a multimedia Developer/Designer building a game is something that can be both fulfilling graphically and mechanically. So when I was asked to design and develop a game for Shrove Tuesday I was “flipping” (sorry) excited.
The idea was to make it viral and simple, with the motive of grinding businesses across the UK to a halt (plus getting traffic to bluhalo.com and increasing brand awareness). It does give me immense satisfaction when people pop their head over a monitor to inform their colleague that they have just beaten their top score!
As with most projects the deadline was tight. However, I was pleased with the final outcome. I was particularly pleased with the look and feel of the game, giving it a sense of fun and humor. As for the technical side I am quietly content as this has been the first game I have created independently of others.
In hindsight (what a wonderful concept!) there are a couple of functionality features that may have improved the Pancake Panic experience. I believe a hi-score table would have added an extra depth of competition, not only with your colleagues but with the nation. Another idea which may have hindered the concept of a quick click and play was to take an accumulative score from three flips.
Overall the campaign was a success with a high volume of traffic playing Pancake Panic (bluhalo.com visits actually doubling over the couple of days when the game was launched). I look forward to making the next festive game for Bluhalo and future clients and although Shrove Tuesday has left us behind, feel free to have a play at www.bluhalo.com/pancake_panic - enjoy!
Fenn
The idea was to make it viral and simple, with the motive of grinding businesses across the UK to a halt (plus getting traffic to bluhalo.com and increasing brand awareness). It does give me immense satisfaction when people pop their head over a monitor to inform their colleague that they have just beaten their top score!
As with most projects the deadline was tight. However, I was pleased with the final outcome. I was particularly pleased with the look and feel of the game, giving it a sense of fun and humor. As for the technical side I am quietly content as this has been the first game I have created independently of others.
In hindsight (what a wonderful concept!) there are a couple of functionality features that may have improved the Pancake Panic experience. I believe a hi-score table would have added an extra depth of competition, not only with your colleagues but with the nation. Another idea which may have hindered the concept of a quick click and play was to take an accumulative score from three flips.
Overall the campaign was a success with a high volume of traffic playing Pancake Panic (bluhalo.com visits actually doubling over the couple of days when the game was launched). I look forward to making the next festive game for Bluhalo and future clients and although Shrove Tuesday has left us behind, feel free to have a play at www.bluhalo.com/pancake_panic - enjoy!
Fenn
Monday, 4 February 2008
Pancake day special - recipe for website success
We’ve done our top tens. We’ve given our views on our areas of expertise. We’ve listed our top tips….
So now you have it. We’ve taken the best of the best and put it together into a Pancake Day treat – our ultimate recipe for website success.
Mixed together and cooked up by a top website chef (that’s us), it’ll give you a pretty tasty website!
So, what ingredients make for a successful website?
For starters, it is important to remember that all businesses are different. What might be good for one business, might not work for another. So our recipe gives you a guide – use it cleverly, intelligently and apply it in a way that is relevant to your business and you’ll be glad you did.
1. Out with the old…
If your website hasn’t seen a new look in 12 months, it’s about time it did! Web trends can change faster than seasonal fashions – make sure yours isn’t looking too ‘last season’.
2. Embrace Web 2.0…
Web what? We’ve been banging on about Web 2.0 for a while now. Web 2.0 features are creating real benefits for website owners – at the very least getting customers interacting with you and with each other. Users expect them and it makes for a better user experience and ultimately (and what you’re most interested in!) a more successful website.
3. Enter the blogosphere…
It’s not sci fi and it’s not rocket science. Adding a blog to your website keeps your customers coming back for your latest news, keeps your content up to date (Google loves it!) and gives your brand a personality – what more could you want in return for a few words?
4. It’s all about the visual merchandising…
If you’re an online store, what makes you different to a high street store? Ok, so no bricks and mortar, but the principles are the same. Make it easy for your customers to find what they want, be tempted by related items and really really easy for them to checkout and you’re guaranteed to sell more. Simple really! Fat footers, tag clouds, clear signposting, multiple calls to action, trigger words – use them right and you’ll never look back.
5. And what about the footfall?
Back to the high street again and the principles are the same. Get more people past your door and you’ll sell more. You need to market, market, market… email newsletters, pay per click, a social strategy – pick the right digital marketing mix and coupled with a usable website (back to the merchandising), your competitors won’t see you for dust!
Ready for some fun?
And if this article has really got you in the mood for some Pancake fun - why not have a go at Pancake Panic - our pancake flipping game - it's great fun! See if you can beat your colleagues to the highest score!
So now you have it. We’ve taken the best of the best and put it together into a Pancake Day treat – our ultimate recipe for website success.
Mixed together and cooked up by a top website chef (that’s us), it’ll give you a pretty tasty website!
So, what ingredients make for a successful website?
For starters, it is important to remember that all businesses are different. What might be good for one business, might not work for another. So our recipe gives you a guide – use it cleverly, intelligently and apply it in a way that is relevant to your business and you’ll be glad you did.
1. Out with the old…
If your website hasn’t seen a new look in 12 months, it’s about time it did! Web trends can change faster than seasonal fashions – make sure yours isn’t looking too ‘last season’.
2. Embrace Web 2.0…
Web what? We’ve been banging on about Web 2.0 for a while now. Web 2.0 features are creating real benefits for website owners – at the very least getting customers interacting with you and with each other. Users expect them and it makes for a better user experience and ultimately (and what you’re most interested in!) a more successful website.
3. Enter the blogosphere…
It’s not sci fi and it’s not rocket science. Adding a blog to your website keeps your customers coming back for your latest news, keeps your content up to date (Google loves it!) and gives your brand a personality – what more could you want in return for a few words?
4. It’s all about the visual merchandising…
If you’re an online store, what makes you different to a high street store? Ok, so no bricks and mortar, but the principles are the same. Make it easy for your customers to find what they want, be tempted by related items and really really easy for them to checkout and you’re guaranteed to sell more. Simple really! Fat footers, tag clouds, clear signposting, multiple calls to action, trigger words – use them right and you’ll never look back.
5. And what about the footfall?
Back to the high street again and the principles are the same. Get more people past your door and you’ll sell more. You need to market, market, market… email newsletters, pay per click, a social strategy – pick the right digital marketing mix and coupled with a usable website (back to the merchandising), your competitors won’t see you for dust!
Ready for some fun?
And if this article has really got you in the mood for some Pancake fun - why not have a go at Pancake Panic - our pancake flipping game - it's great fun! See if you can beat your colleagues to the highest score!
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