Viral can deliver exceptional impact on brand image and consumer engagement, but as a marketing tool it remains unpredictable and highly challenging to get right. Viral is an effect rather than a media channel. Brands don't create virals - they simple create the content. What happens next is up to consumers. While one in a thousand campaigns may gain real traction, the majority of web marketing is either not arresting enough or motivating enough to earn a viral effect. However, for the brands that get it right, viral can deliver complex brand messages and generate fast distribution among both the mass market and niche audiences. Against a landscape of media saturation they can achieve cut-through because they arrive with consumers through the endorsement of their friends. Planners can use the viral effect particularly well to pass messages through communities that otherwise are hard to pin down. If those audiences don't naturally come together around online media content then there may be no way of reaching them through conventional web advertising approaches. The viral effect inside a community can ensure the message finds the people who are most receptive.
Viral messaging can also extend the period a campaign is in market because it continues to live long after a paid for advertising campaign has passed. Viral marketing can self-select its audience and in the hands of an experienced planner, the half-life of a campaign can betracked and anticipated
