Best Practice #10: Send to a friend, viral sharing
Back in high school, I once saw teenage girls share a piece of bubble gum.
As a teen I thought, ummm, tres provocative! As a parent I think, disgusting.
But as an internet advertiser, it's the Holy Grail.
The only trick to creating send-to-a-friend virality is to create something so fun -- or shocking or provocative -- that the user will adopt the experience as his own and send it to a friend for bragging rights.
Throw in a competitive component and it gets even more interesting.
Last Valentine's Day, 1-800-Flowers wanted to differentiate their brand from the rest of the order-flowers online companies. Aimed squarely at the male market, they developed a strategy of empathy and understanding. What male adult between the ages of 18 and 35 doesn't like to play video games? And when they do send flowers, they want to send the right signal: "I love you, but I don't necessarily want to get married."
Enter the Cupid Shoot Out interactive ad unit. While the user is busy keeping pesky cupids away from the bouquets, 1-880-Flowers is displaying new bouquet inventory at every level and building affinity with their audience.
Pass along was a forgone conclusion.
Game
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To play the game just click on it.
Next: Conclusions and Recap
