VIRAL: Is It Effective...And Why Do We Have To Keep Asking?

Over the weekend Rex Sorgatz of Fimoculous fame was on MPR's Weekend America talking about viral marketing. Listen to the interview. It's a typical catch-up for the masses touching the usual viral bases of Subservient Chicken and the 'is it effective?' question.

As far as the Subservient Chicken goes I'm still on the skeptical side of the 'effective' fence. There wasn't much of anything in the piece that tied it to the product or the brand. I just don't understand how ordering around a man in a chicken suit makes one hunger for a new chicken sandwich. I think the Subservient Chicken did a great job of promoting the Subservient Chicken (and Cripsin Porter + Bogusky) and the Tender Crisp did a great job of promoting itself.

The crazy part of this whole debate is that we can't actually know the effectiveness of a highly interactive online marketing campaign. Why the mystery? Because, if sales was the ultimate goal of this campaign, nothing was built in to the experience that allowed BK to measure whether or not it worked. It may have helped sales and it may not have helped sales. We just don't know. This causal disconnect is the same problem gripping the traditional TV and radio advertising world right now. Knowing ROI fears are what's spurring the growth of viral marketing as a cheaper alternative, why are viral marketers taking their creative down the same immeasurable conversion path as traditional advertising?

The internet has huge natural advantages over TV and radio in interactivity and the measured metrics departments. The viral industry should be interested in promoting this difference and delivering on it. You can't download a coupon from a TV spot. You can't collect email addresses and zip codes from a radio ad and then do a targeted email promotion. At some point the hipness bloom will come off the viral rose and if marketers don't learn how to effectively tie the promotion to the brand and measure a return on the investment we will be leaving viral behind and moving on to the next trend in marketing.