Viral Marketing and Alternate Realities- Changing the Way We Play?

Viral marketing is defined as "any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message's exposure and influence". For example, if anyone can has ever owned a hotmail email account, especially in the late nineties, at the bottom at every message you sent out there was a little signature that advertised hotmail by stating "Get your free e-mail address today at hotmail.com". Viral Marketing has three very simple goals in mind. The marketing campaign must be low-cost/very cost effective, successfully advertises the product, and adds to a possible fan base/stick out among the rest of the competition.

Financially speaking, you can't go wrong with a viral marketing campaign, especially when the use of the internet is involved. According to Gaebler.com, the average 30-second television commercial costs approximately $350,000.00. Why spend that kind of money when you could buy a domain for $20, host it on the company's server, hire two to three web designers and developers, a few writers and create a possible cash prize for much, much less? The only cons to this plan are a possible lower recognition rate compared to placing your promotion on, say TBS. In the past three to four years, multiple companies have used the viral marketing approach from Doritos to Sun Microsystems to Guinness.

From this idea, a new form of media emerged. Viral media is taking the internet by storm with the newly dubbed Alternate Reality Games. Alternate Reality Games is a form of viral media that can (but it not limited to) promote a product or cause through social networking. For example, in a trailer for the Bungie Studios game Halo 2, at the last second a website flashed at the bottom of the screen in very small text giving a website, www.ilovebees.com. At first glance, the website looked like a site created in the mid-90's about this woman's bee farm. Right after that conclusion was given, however, the site began to change before your eyes. Pictures would blur, random images would pop up and the real story began. The story told of an AI from the future who was using the website as a sort of distress signal and in fear of her messages being intercepted by "the enemy". Players created websites, fan pages, wikipedia articles and social networking means to spread the word about this game. Why just advertise though normal means when you could spend less money and create an experience fans will remember for the rest of their lives? It ensures a fan base and is fun and smart at the same time.

At the same time, however, Alternate Reality Games can be used to promote awareness of certain causes. For example, Dr. Jane McGonigal who is highly revered in the art of viral media, created a project titled World Without Oil. WWO gave players a situation which stated "What if we ran out of oil in the world? Better yet, what would happen if we ran out tomorrow?" The response was phenomenal. Players created videos, comics, blogs and documentaries about the subject. They were only asked to not play a fictional character they create, but play themselves and be themselves. Last year, the British Red Cross created an Alternate Reality Game titled Traces of Hope which was created to show off their family-tracking system, used to track relatives of war-torn families.

Critics of the internet, and the younger generation, like to state that the internet is only isolating people. What I'm proposing is that while that very may very well be, Alternate Reality Games are also bringing people together whether the game is for fun or product or cause. In 2008, Dr. McGonigal, along with McDonalds and the Olympic Committee created The Lost Ring, the first ARG that was played on almost every continent (minus Antarctica) and brought players together from across the globe to compete in games to gain the title of world record holder, just like the olympics were created for.

Viral media is growing exponentially by the year and it makes me wonder if it will become the new norm of media. Videos are posted at the bottom.

Sources:

"Alternate Reality Game." Web. .

“Viral Marketing.” Web. .

Wilson, Ralph, . "The Six Simple Principles of Viral Marketing." Viral Marketing Today (2005): n. pag. Web. 26 Sep 2009. principles.htm>.

"Year Zero Case Study." 42Entertainment.com. 08 January 2008. 42Entertainment, Web. 26 Sep 2009.

"Red Cross Launches Cutting-Edge Family Search Game." Reuters (2008): 7. Web. 26 Sep 2009.

"How Much Do Television Ads Cost?." Web.