Does The Future Look Bright?

With virals firmly established as part of the 24 hour media bombardment we live through, what does the future hold? The general consensus amongst those in new media and advertising is that virals look set to develop in two areas: technology, and approach.

Mass entertainment

Let’s deal with the technological side first, as it’s pretty straightforward. Essentially the whole development of the viral phenomenon has paralleled the growth and development of the internet. As more people in everyday office jobs, as opposed to specifically IT, creative, or research jobs, can access the internet at their desk, so the amount of word-of-mouth content to help you get through the day has grown.

“People now realise that virals are not just the preserve of the few but entertainment for everybody,” says Harry Cymbler of Hot Cherry PR. “Audience expectation of viral entertainment has increased. These days, you have to have a good, original idea to get the whole world talking.”

At the same time, widespread take-up of home broadband has meant easy access to bigger files for films and sound, and better interactive games, as well as the impetus for people to create this content themselves.

“The internet is becoming more and more important,” says Henry Cowling of The Viral Factory. “The potential exists for it to eclipse all other forms of information/entertainment; the future of viral is tied up in how this develops.”

The technology to make content is also getting cheaper, and easier to use. More expensive equipment doesn’t necessarily produce better online content: it’s one of the great levellers when it comes to making virals.

In essence, the potential exists for very good quality virals to be made by anyone interested, and accessed by anyone interested.

Big business

One area that everyone agrees on is the rise in 3G mobile use to access content. Again, this is simply to do with the quality/price ratio of the technology. The trend in using handheld devices to get online is sure to develop.

“You’ll see virals spreading even faster than they are now,” reckons Chris Hassell of DS. Emotion, “– people passing them on whilst down the pub and things.”

Changes in the approach to making, seeding and tailoring virals are partly the result of these developments. Virals are big business, and increasingly central to marketing campaigns.

“Brands realise that virals are a seriously powerful medium to communicate with a mass audience,” explains Harry Cymbler. “They have invested more in viral campaigns and become a lot cleverer and subtler with the virals they produce.”

Rather than simply put content out there and leave it, a lot of the current thinking around commercial virals centres around ways in which to target certain groups, and creating content with that in mind. The perception of virals as a guerilla medium is increasingly being exploited by brands and agencies as a way of giving their products an underground kudos.

Strengthening the link

Industry scrutiny and recognition of commercial virals is also on the increase. 2004 saw the inception of the Viral Awards, which this year has been incorporated into the wider-reaching Future Marketing Awards. March 2005 saw the world’s first WOMMA (Word-of-mouth Marketing Association) conference in the USA. In the UK, there is now the Viral Advertising Association, which collates agencies and clients.

Although this might all seem a typical business response to a grassroots phenomenon, there are suggestions that companies take the intuitive creativity of the best of viral content seriously.

London’s The Viral Factory will liaise between the best creatives and potential clients. In the diversified world of the internet, the link between consumer and creative marketer is one that companies are keen to strengthen.

“We are seeing more and more professionally made virals these days,” says Henry Cowling. “However, the great leveller is still the quality of the content and its relevance to the audience.”

A more fluid relationship between a product, its potential audience, and its marketing strategy could be the result, with multiple viral campaigns taking off or dying out in a form of natural selection.

Beyond control

As with any medium, a by-product of this is likely to be a backlash from those unwilling to let the internet get as ad-savvy and homogenised as the rest of the media.

The homegrown nature of virals has always been part of their strength: essentially, they’re cheap. “There are loads of virals out there that look really crappy,” says Cowling, “but the idea is so powerful that it just doesn’t matter – though this rule generally only works for non-commercial stuff.”

The internet has always been lo-fi at heart, and tactically resistant to attempts to police it, quality-control it, or fence off bits as hospitality areas.

The original viral aesthetic has spread to music video, and now film. It’s visible, and potent, and above all fast: it still can keep one step ahead of the game. After all, online content is there to be tampered with, right?

Links:

DS. Emotion: www.dsemotion.com
Hot Cherry: www.hotcherry.co.uk
The Viral Factory: www.theviralfactory.com
WOMMA: www.womma.org
Future Marketing Awards: www.futuremarketingawards.com (incorporating viral awards)
Viral Advertising Association: www.viraladvertisingassociation.com