Last week, Joseph described how word-of-mouth translates to the Web. This week he offers up more examples that shatter the contrived refer-a-friend paradigm.

I’ve had a tremendous amount of feedback from last week’s Best Practice of the Week on Viral Marketing. It seems like everyone wants to know more, with very few people able to cite great examples of this practice in action.

In this light, I wanted to share a new case study from a company called DEI Marketing, which specializes in viral solutions. The example in question is for Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts.

Campaign Background:

Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts brand sponsored the 2003 “American Idol” summer concert tour (AKA Pop-Tarts Presents American Idols Live!). This sponsorship gave the brand the opportunity to pre-sell tickets for the tour three days before tickets went on sale to the general public. Users who wished to purchase tickets during the one-day pre-sale period were required to enter a “secret” password that was only available on the Pop-Tarts Website.

Kellogg needed to reach out to “American Idol’ fans, ‘tweens, teens, and parents, and let them know about the ticket pre-sale FAST. The ticket pre-sale was only available for one 24-hour period, and to take full advantage of this asset, Kellogg had to create an explosive buzz about the pre-sale that would ensure that the people most likely to purchase tickets heard about it.

Campaign Goals:

• To increase target’s overall awareness of the pre-sale
• To drive people to www.PopTarts.com to find the password in order to purchase pre-sale tickets for the event
• To gather candid market feedback from the people in Kellogg’s target market.

Approach:

Five days before the pre-sale, DEI launched an Interactive Product Placement campaign to stimulate buzz and excitement about the pre-sales ticket opportunity. Over this five-day period, hundreds of thousands of carefully targeted “American Idol” fans were reached.

The tactics utilized included chat and IM, which leveraged online communities where “American Idol” fans were already exchanging ideas, thoughts, and insider tips.

Campaign Results:

Over the course of the five-day campaign:

• Overall awareness of the pre-sale increased from 5% to 19%
• 37% of the people who interacted with the program went on to purchase pre-sale tickets through www.PopTarts.com.

Now let’s go back to Honda’s Cog commercial for a moment. How a two-minute UK-produced commercial could circle the world faster than Phineas Fogg in his wildest dreams is a product of viral mastery. I’ve replayed the commercial close to about 20 times now and I’m pretty sure if I had to be surveyed in a brand tracking study, my views of Honda would be consistent with the original objective of the campaign, namely to position the brand is more modern, up to date and in touch with the market.

Let’s assume the powers that be had nothing to do with the online distribution of the spot. If so, then props should go to the clients who allowed the message to spread. But what if it was planned all along? Is it a coincidence that “The making of the Cog Commercial” is now available? I recently downloaded the four-minute 100 MB Quicktime version of this advermentary (consultant’s editorial buzzword license taken here) thanks to Steve Bell, a Connector second to none. You can view it here.

I’m inclined to believe this latter theory, especially when reviewing another Honda online case study which played to the exact same word-of-mouth heartstrings.

Background:

• To mark the launch of the new five-door Honda HRV ‘JoyMachine’, Honda Motor Europe (HME) created several small films that were designed so that viewers would pass them on, and in so doing, maximize exposure to www.hondajoymachine.com, which was featured at the end of each film.
• The films helped communicate the sense of fun associated with both brand and Website, without neglecting some product and purchase information.

The twist:

• E-mails, complete with attached films, were sent to the primary audience –- employees of HME and its agencies only – 500 e-mails in total.
• No e-mails were sent to prospective customers, and absolutely no spamming of any kind took place.
• The key to this experiment was whether or not the initial recipients would keep the e-mails to themselves.

Results:

• Within the first week of the initial 500 e-mails being sent, the Website achieved 2,779 user sessions.
• By week three this number had soared to over 35,000. And the number is still rising –as many as 4.5 million people are now estimated to have seen the Joy Machine films.

Looks like someone beat BMWFilms to the punch as this case study comes from way back in 2000.

The same tactic is goING around right now for a certain progressive financial services brand.

A portion of ING DIRECT’s customer base was sent a sneak preview of the company’s new TV commercial before it launched on air (click the hyperlink to view). They were also given the opportunity to rate it and forward it to friends.

• Over 20% of invited customers viewed the ad, with over 13,000 of those rating the new ad; 65% rating it a four- or five-star commercial.
• The campaign has generated close to 100,000 views so far with approximately a 1:1 ratio between existing customers and those who received a forwarded e-mail.
• 30% of people who opened the forwarded e-mail viewed the commercial.
• Two weeks later ING DIRECT is still seeing 500 to 2,000 incremental new views each day.

“We realized our brand loyal customers would appreciate a sneak preview of our new TV ad,” says Jurie Pieterse, Web Channel Director for ING DIRECT. “We decided to remove all strong sells and basically de-commercialize it in order for it to be more acceptable to forward and thus increase the chances of it propagating through viral means."

“We’ve really been surprised by the degree to which the ad has circulated beyond our own customer base,” Pieterse adds. “Sure, we could have reached 100,000 viewers in a heartbeat on TV. But imagine the branding and awareness value generated by an e-mail ad endorsed by a trusted friend and then actively viewed and interacted with. Ultimately, getting people to share a ‘cool’ experience with others (as opposed to a hard sell) helped to spread the message virally.”

The stakes are just getting interesting and in the case of Honda, you’ve seen a completely fresh approach to viral marketing which not only shatters the contrived refer-a-friend paradigm, but more importantly introduces a profound new perspective on how television advertising can be leveraged and extended (and dare I say, saved) through the power of the network.