Viral Marketing
I’ve been thinking about marketing lately because the two high publicity chess event coming up, namely, KL-Singapore Super 8 Challenge and 2ND MBSSKL CHESS OPEN TOURNAMENT 2007.
Of course these are traditional methods of marketing, where you go out to the public and expose your product (in this case - chess) to as many people as possible.
There is however, another form of marketing know as viral marketing. Wikipedia defines it as such:
Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness, through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can often be word-of-mouth delivered and enhanced online; it can harness the network effect of the Internet and can be very useful in reaching a large number of people rapidly.
I’ve seen the power of viral marketing and what it can do. For example, I’ve seen a dead and cancelled US TV series brought back to life again in the form of a movie called Serenity. A group of avid fans form a website and made regular Internet radio (podcasts) about the dead Sci-fi series. They went on with Guerilla Marketing such as spreading the show via word of mouth and encouraging friends and family to watch the DVD they purchased. This went on for about a year and Fox, finally brought back the show as a movie. Needless to say the website and podcast made me a fan and I’ve bought the show as DVD as well as watched the movie.
Perhaps chess can benefit too in this way. If more people are ‘converted’ to accepting chess as a sport and healthy activity, we would have more sponsors and the game will prosper.
According to Britopian Marketing Blog, Communities create viral marketing:-
..And of course online, you have Myspace, Facebook, Linkedin, Digg, Stumbledupon and hundreds of other social media sites jumping in the scene daily. Within each of these online/offline communities consumers are talking and having conversations with each other. And, they are sharing opinions, experiences, advice, recommendations and commentary about products, services and companies usually based on real personal experience. This is viral marketing.
It’s a quiet Friday night, so it’s nice that I can find time to read this Viral Marketing blog by Michael Brito. Food for thought..
PS: Anybody here a fan of FireFly?
The crazy FireFly fans are at it again, trying to push not for just another movie but a trilogy!! If that becomes a reality, it speaks volume for viral marketing.
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