VIRAL: MSN Search's Viral Fake Out

MSN like so many folks just don't seem to get the point of a viral campaign. Viral advertising is not an ends, it is a means. Viral should work toward creating conversions for the product or campaign, not for the ad. Viral should create buzz, not hype. An organization should market consistently across all its touch points to create a meaningful brand experience. Unless you are phishing or pulling a telemarketing scam you can not create this meaningful experience if any of your touch points lack AUTHENTICITY. Buzz, according to David Lewis, 'is the infectious chatter that spreads from consumer to consumer about something of genuine interest to them.' If viral marketing is to survive and thrive as a tactic it must be trusted and genuine. If not, it's just so much hype.

MSN Search Incorporates Past Virals Into New Viral
Instead of coming up with its own viral content, MSN Search's new campaign, MSNfound, takes existing virals and weaves them into a six-character narrative. Each character has a video lead-in and lead-out to an already-popular viral clip, including the stylings of David Bernal, one of the dancers in VW's "Gene" ad, and Virgin Mobile's Dog Judo.

To get to the clips, the user runs a search for a pre-detemined keyword, which yields a results page with the next piece of content embedded at the top. Ultimately, the viral clips lead the user back to each character's "journal".

Maureen McHugh, a freelance writer who worked on this campaign, wrote about the site in her blog, but the entry has mysteriously disappered. [ Adland ]