Welcome to the Digital Viral Marketing Academy

Welcome to Digital Viral Marketing Academy

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:30:17 +0000

This online learning resource is where you can discuss the issues from your Academy and download the outputs of our workshops.
Your Academy Director and lead tutor is Danny Meadows-Klue: Danny@DigitalStrategyConsulting.com

Welcome to Digital Training Academy

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 17:44:44 +0000

Welcome to your Digital Training Academy: a great way to boost your knowledge and skills, helping you and your team get the most from digital marketing, publishing and communications.

All of us here at Digital hope you'll enjoy your Digital Training Academy, but we also hope you'll instantly be able to achieve more in your firm.

Find out how Digital Training Academy works

Digital Viral Marketing Academy Classroom

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:24:29 +0000

Here is the place you can discuss issues with your tutor and other Academy participants

Is there something you did not understand on the Academy? Is there a new point you would like to make? Are there any new issues that you have discovered now you are applying your knowledge? Use this space to make your comments and to ask your questions.

Try to include the title of the Academy Lesson that your question relates to (if there is one). Putting this at the start will help other participants find the topics they are interested in.

The classroom is open for three weeks following your Academy

What rocks and flops in online advertising?

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:23:00 +0000

In this space we're listing things from the Academy that we feel 'Rock' in online advertising, and things that, if we're honest, 'Flop'. By helping our clients harness the rocks and steer away from the flops they'll produce more powerful communication and enjoy even better results. Remember, it's still a new media for many people and this can help marketers make smarter decisions...

Add your comments here

Nokia

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:14:59 +0000

The latest viral from Nokia shows how one consumer electronics brand is achieving cut-through in a crowded market.

Note: This video clip may take a few moments to load

Getting viral marketing to work effectively for your brand

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 12:51:07 +0000

Digital Viral & Buzz Marketing Academy (Advanced)
Writing your viral marketing plan

23rd June 2008 | London

Why do some campaigns gain a life of their own on the web and others never get talked about? Why do some marketing budgets stretch much further than others on the web? Why do some firms fail to unlock the value of their existing websites, content and messaging? Viral and buzz marketing are powerful sets of tools and in the right hands they can transform a web marketing presence. In the early days of the web, viral was confined to emails and video clips, but today’s rich landscape includes the range of social media, widgets and rethinking the design of your own website. Digital marketing veteran Danny Meadows-Klue leads this intensive Digital Training Academy (advanced level) which includes a marketing planning workshop that will help you turn these ideas into a structured plan for your business. If you’ve always wanted to learn how viral marketing works, then this is just what you’ve been looking for.

Materials: Materials are restricted to participants.
Bookings: To apply for a place email our events team.

Tea Partay: Diageo

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:25:35 +0000

Consumer package goods firms are often seen as being conservative when it comes to internet marketing. The Tea Partay viral video was one of those ground-breaking creative executions that triggered a stepchange in the way the sector saw itself and the possibilities of marketing drinks on the web. Created for Diageo, it wasn’t long before millions of downloads had taken place and the entertainment content was getting the big buzz on YouTube. Today may be well past the campaign’s target end date but it’s still getting audiences and traffic: take a look – it’s not hard to see why.

Shift happens: Did you know?

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 15:55:19 +0000

We’re living in exponential times. Created by a North American teacher, the Did You Know video is a marvellous way to explain to kids how society is changing and the scale of media and technology change. Sometimes in the digital media industry we are so close to the change and the technologies that we fail to appreciate the scale of the change happening around us. This little video is a great reminder of the scale of change.

ArmyOnEverest.mod.uk

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 15:18:10 +0000

FitchLive | Army recruitment | Content creation and event amplification

When the Army planned their assault on the West Ridge of Everest in 2006, there was an opportunity to engage young potential recruits by letting that story be told. Climbed only once in 30 years, only one group had ever made it to the top. PCIFitch were supplying the raw materials from the field back into the mainstream media as well as the web. The intention was to touch audiences through streams on the web, podcast downloads, iTunes and the broadest range of touchpoints. Over a million viewers enjoyed streamed content, blogs were posted to the site from the mountain and to feed into the recruitment processes, schools were targeted with lesson plans created for teachers and games for their students. Integration included downloadable posters and images, text alerts and more than a dozen different channels. The campaign went on to win the “Best digital campaign of 2006” at the Campaign awards. When we interviewed Peter Cowie, Managing partner at FitchLive who were behind the work, said “great work comes from the chemistry of the teams working together. The effect of the campaign included attracting 1m people, 30,000 of whom claimed they were ‘interested’ in joining the army. 3,500 are likely to be recruited as a direct result of the campaign”. For Peter it’s clear that “the future of advertising is about using all of these new channels together”.

ArmyOnEverest.mod.uk

Fighting for kisses

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 17:22:58 +0000

The latest advertiser generated video to get that viral effect is this adult animation from Wilkinson Swords that pits baby and guy head to head in romantic warfare. A cracking production with just the right kind of high end values that make it both clickable and forwardable. This one has a real neat fusion of blockbuster cinema tone of voice and sassy Pixar style art direction. Watch for the bandwagon; many more to come...

Fight for those kisses | BMWFilms did it first | Dove: Evolution or Revolution?

BMW films: When brands become media

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 17:18:20 +0000

The multi award-winning BMW Films project was one of those rare moments when an advertising campaign is so powerful it succeeds in changing the medium it works within. High budget, all-action and with blockbusting stars like Madonna under the stewardship of A-list directors like Ang Lee, the movies were an instant cult success. They showcased the best in movie-making, and delivered it in the context of a message of brand associatiosn BMW had carefully crafted. By creating compelling media they generated their own self-selecting audiences without the need of heavyweight media spend.

More from BMW Films: Ambush, still clocking up clicks

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 17:18:20 +0000

In 'Ambush' (Dir John Frankenheimer), Clive Owen plays a driver who gets a passenger with some rather dangerous extra baggage. Written by Andrew Kevin Walker, it’s a classic in short movies with a powerful story, a compelling thread and in spite of the length, strong character development. The hero? The BMW of course.

Exercise: Dove - new models for advertising

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 17:18:19 +0000

Since 2000, the Dove brand has been an online pioneer. Their work with the IAB and MSN in North America created landmark research in optimising the media budgets in a campaign between the web and TV. In 2007 their integrated marketing work in the "Campaign for real beauty" saw the brand repositioned as it triggered a massive wave of discussion and debate about what beauty is all about. Dove's ownership of the space, and the extensive reach of their viral messaging, is a great model for other brands to consider. This video clip was at the heart of the effort and it is an excellent example of how the web could be used by a consumer brand to build community, debate and discussion. It’s also creating challenges for regulators who are considering how online advertising works.

Watch also Dove Evolution Parody 1 | Dove Evolution Parody 2

Exercise: Digital marketing - dialogue, not monologue please

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 17:16:13 +0000

The digital networked society is a great leveller. The relationship between brands and consumers has shifted. The structure of communications has undergone this massive leap. While the smart thinking in marketing is leaping to embrace a whole new way of doing things, much of the practice in marketing still clings to the past. That's why it wasn't just gutsy, but a strategically brilliant move for Microsoft to use a television style commercial to make the point for them. It's a TV style commercial that challenges the conventional way of marketing thinking. It's from a firm promoting internet advertising, and it's being seen mainly as a viral. We've been using it here at the Digital Training Academy since it launched.

Exercise: Apple and iRack - parody or flattery? But the message gets spread...

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 17:08:13 +0000

Many marketers fear a loss of control when it comes to the digital spaces. The music industry was the first to feel the crunch at the hard end of piracy in the mid nineties, and since then, pretty much every sector has had to learn that in these new places marketers cannot control the message the way they have in the past. Arguably the risks are there regardless of whether the brand is making an effort in digital marketing, but remember that customers have loud voices and some will have no qualms about speaking their mind. A tiny minority may also have the tools to create content, or take content from other media and make it widely accessible; hence the viral effect... This North American comedy sketch was aired about the same time as Apple launched the iPhone. It's a great sketch, but through the web it's had the kind of super-distribution that many brands could never even dare dream of. At the Digital Training Academy we want your learning to be fun, so take a look at this link on YouTube, enjoy the film, and then reflect on the implications.