TIPPING POINTS Viral Marketing Malcolm Gladwell’s best seller • Thomas Schelling (Nobel Prize winner) first introduced the concept of “tipping points” in 1972 • Malcolm Gladwell popularized the concept in his best seller Downside of traditional marketing/advertising • Cost: – TV and print ads are expensive • Media clutter: – It is difficult for products to stand out against the background of advertising • Cynicism: – Consumers, especially Gen X and Gen Y consumers, are jaded and cynical about “obvious” marketing • TIVO, DVRs: – Consumers can avoid TV commercials altogether • Segmentation: – Consumers aren’t heterogeneous, they are segmented into different markets Viral Marketing • Steve Jurvetson and Tim Draper coined the term “viral marketing” in 1997. • a.k.a. below the radar marketing, buzz marketing, stealth advertising • Relies on word-of-mouth (WOM) endorsements – like a virus, word about a product or service spreads from one consumer to another Examples, intentional and unintentional • Live Strong bracelets (and the whole wrist band craze) • Ipods, Iphones • accessory dogs • “Support Our Troops” stickers • Juicy Couture handbags • Hip Hop (culture as a commodity) More examples of buzz gone wild • • • • • • • JenniCam Razor scooters Harry Potter books Wii Fit YouTube MySpace, Facebook Blogs, blogging, the blogosphere Methods and techniques • Poseurs: “ordinary person at a bar, in line at a concert, at a soccer field – Sony Ericcson hired 120 actors and actresses to play tourists at popular attractions around the country.The “tourists” asked passersby to take their picture with a T68i cell phone that featured a digital camera • Trendsetters and early adopters – Use of “cool hunters” and “trend spotters” • Imitation, social modeling – yellow magnetic ribbons saying “Support the Troops” • Email, chat rooms, and blogs • Manufactured controversies: – Ambercrombie & Fitch sold thong underwear in children’s sizes, with the words “eye candy” printed on the front Malcolm Gladwell’s notion of “Tipping Points” • Tipping point: – the threshold or critical point at which an idea, product, or message takes off or reaches critical mass. • Viral theory of marketing: – ideas and messages can be contagious just like diseases • The law of the few – It doesn’t take large numbers of people to generate a trend – A select few enjoy a disproportionate amount of influence over the spread of social trends Tipping points--continued • The stickiness factor – idea, message, or product has to be “sticky” or inherently attractive – idea must be memorable, practical, personal, novel – hard to manufacture this feature • Power of context – must happen at the right time, place – for example, social networking (MySpace, Facebook) wouldn’t be possible without widespread access to the Internet – rule of 150: Groups grow too large and loose cohesion at 150 Key influencers • Connectors: know everybody, are networkers, have many contacts – “Connectors are social glue: they spread it.” (Gladwell) – Have large social circles • Mavens: possess information, expertise, and seek to share it – “Mavens are data banks. They provide the message” (Gladwell) – Are “in the know” • Salesman: are persuasive – Charismatic types – Often rely on “soft” influence • Note: All three types are needed for a phenomenon to take-off Other concerns • Scalability: message must be able to go from very small to very large without “gearing up.” – Wii couldn’t ramp up manufacturing and lost millions in sales. • Effortless transfer: message must be passed on for free, or nearly free, or “coast” on existing networks. The downside • Not that scientific – evidence is largely anecdotal – phenomenon isn’t that reliable, predictable – A bit of a “finger in the wind” approach to marketing • viral marketing” is something of an oxymoron. – The more viral marketing is planned or contrived, the less likely it is to succeed; • Momentum may not reach the tipping point – no guarantee the initial “buzz” will become contagious. – difficult to orchestrate word of mouth • Trends come and go quickly – like a contagion, a trend can die out quickly or be replaced by a new trend