prclass

A Brief but Informative Look into VIRAL MARKETING By: Mel Douglas

Prior to this assignment, I was not sure how viral marketing would be defined. I had a few ideas but I was not sold on my definition. Shorlty into my research, I found that viral marketing is a rapidly expanding new form of marketing. It is defined as “marketing techniques that seek to exploit pre-existing social networks to produce exponential increases in brand awareness, through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of a computer virus” (Wikipedia, 2006). With this knowledge I was then able to consider how viral marketing can be used in public relations.

One of the main goals for a public relations professional is to get their message across to large audiences. Viral marketing is an ideal way to obtain this goal. With the increase in technology (cell phones, blackberries, internet etc.) that has appeared over the last approximately twenty years, viral marketing is becoming more and more apparent. Text messaging is one of the key areas that I focused on. The youth of today always appear to be the owners of cell phones. The use of cell phones has greatly increased in usage in the last ten years. More recently, the use of text messaging has sky rocketed. Knowing that text messaging has increased so rapidly, proactive public relations professionals should begin utilizing this new fad.

In my paper, I focused on Fanshawe College increasing the awareness of on-campus events through text messaging. Many times this year, I have already missed events that have been held on-campus because of lack of advertisement. If a text message was sent to students weekly informing them of upcoming events I am sure attendance would drastically increase. Public relations professionals can take the skills of viral marketing and use them in their own personal campaigns.

The strongest example I came up with is Canadian Idol. Each summer people all across the country are encouraged after the show to vote for their favourite person by either calling in or sending a text message. Canadian Idol utilizes viral marketing by sending out a message to all Telus subscribers the day of the show airing to remind viewers to tune in. This is an ideal way to get your message out quickly, and to a massive audience.

Viral marketing is a rapidly spreading new form of communication. This new form is potentially one of the fastest ways to reach a large mass of your audience in the shortest amount of time. Although I only focused on text messaging, there are many trends that are all connected to viral marketing. Check out the attached links if you want to learn more. Or feel free to inquire about anything else!!

http://www.onedegree.ca/2006/07/31/the-meme-epidemic-a-case-study

Http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/1063.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_marketing

The word “propaganda” has an awful connotation associated with it.
As up-and-coming PR practitioners, we must be sensitive to the fact
that some of our work may be considered “propaganda” or “story spinning”
in the eyes of others. Propaganda can be defined in many different ways. Dictionary.com states that it is; “information, ideas, or rumours deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc.”

A PR agency called the Lincoln Group, claims their work in Iraq is not propaganda.They feel they must use deceit in their campaign for the Iraqis to listen to theirmessages. The Lincoln Group feels that if they tell the Iraqi people the advertisements they are watching are paid for by the United States, they won’t believe them, even if the message is one of hope and freedom. Their website www.lincolngroup.com states that they are
“a strategic communications and public relations firm providing insight and influence in
challenging and hostile environments.” Based on their website, they seem to be the best of the best in their field of work and that is why they won a $5 million contract from the United States government to help inform the Iraqi people about fighting the insurgents and accepting a new government. 

On the other side, many critics feel the work done in Iraq by the Lincoln Group is propaganda. Since the Lincoln Group is working closely with the Psyops division of the United States army,the critics feel their public relations campaign is crossing the line into manipulation. Psyops is a short form for “psychological operations” and an example of their work is airdropping
pamphlets in Iraq and Afghanistan. These pamphlets would tell the Iraqi people “not to resist the US troops.” The Psyops would also give out water bottles with a phone number on them, and tell the Iraqi people to report any suspicious actions that could be considered terrorist acts to the US authorities.
Another main reason why critics feel the Lincoln Group is using propaganda is because the US military is paying them to plant positive stories in Iraq newspapers. The campaigns in question were supposed to have disclaimers on them to show they were paid advertisements from the United States, but these disclaimers were usually not on the paid advertisement.
This is a case where there are many factors involved. I personally don’t know which side is right and which side is wrong.  My only goal is to show how one company’s public relations style can be seen in a totally different way than it was intended for. We must be aware that some critics might attack our style of public relations, especially if we are working within the realm of government or politics where everything that is said will be scrutinized. Hopefully this doesn’t happen, but if it does, we will be smart enough to have a plan in place to cover our actions.

To learn more about my topic, you can read the following articles;

Duke, L. (March 26, 2006) The Word at War.
www.washingtonpost.com
This article characterizes the difference in opinion over the word propaganda. The
Lincoln Group says they are not using propaganda; they are only “influencing” the Iraqi
people.  The article goes on to describe propaganda and it’s history.
Vest, J. (Nov 30, 2006). US: The Hazy Story of the Lincoln Group; www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=12840
This article describes the Lincoln Group and how they got their first campaign
from the United States to inform the Iraqi people of the “coalition’s goals.” It also
describes their transformation from “Iraqex” to the Lincoln Group.
www.lincolngroup.com (2006).
This website gives background information on the business, how they go about
their work and what services they do. It also describes their current news and their
partnerships.

Thanks for reading,

                     Monica Charron  Edited by Stacey Hunter

Trends are occurring all over the world when it comes to new technology. In order to fully understand an audience and its general public it is important to understand the way they communicate with one another. This of course can help marketing and advertising if a company understands these trends and especially if they know how to use them. 
 In Korea the cell-phone is an example of a massive trend which is not only taking over family interaction but interaction with one another.

Korea has become one of the world’s leading nations in the field of modern technology development; as a result,  information technology is becoming the country’s paramount ambition.  The primary beneficiaries of  Korea’s interest in “IT” are the nations internet users who now enjoy the fastest access on the planet.  For example, an mp3 file might take anywhere from 2 to 10 minutes in
Canada, while the same file in Korea will take about 30 seconds.  While most people in the western world feel America has solidified itself as a “super power” in most areas - including IT - it is clear that the technology sector is booming in the east. In Korea technology continues to boom with the latest, and most up to date in the world.  With the fairly recent integration of the cell phone, this ‘multi-purpose’ device, is leading the way in communications. Many facests on top of phone capabilities have been developed for the cell phone over the years.To date, it can act as a television, computer, an mp3 player and the digital camera.  Cell phones are the single most important piece of integrated technology in the world today, and no other country in the world exemplifies this fact quite like Korea.  In the last few years the cell phone has taken over in classrooms, on the streets, and now the boardrooms. For example: