When viewers went to the multiplexes to watch “Rab ne Bana di Jodi”, they were greeted by ushers sporting the famed Ghajini hairstyle. King Khan frothed at the mouth and waxed eloquent about this hijacking, but the die was cast, Viral Marketing was here to stay in a big way.

Wikipedia describes Viral Marketing as “marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet. Viral promotions may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, or even text messages.”

Lets simplify that wall of text with the Ghajini example. The target audience was the movie going public, and what better place to capture them than at the point of sale and consumption itself. Traditional advertising at the movie theater consists of posters and standees. These media, tried and tested though they are, do not spark a conversation. No one, for instance, calls up their friends and says: “I just saw this really awesome poster!”. If, however, half a dozen guys in the cinema hall are sporting the Ghajini hairstyle, you are sure to mention this fact to your friends.

While on the surface, this extra excitement and word of mouth that these viral/guerrilla marketing campaigns generate doesn;t seem like much, after all, when we are bombarded by information 24/7. Indeed, most people who saw the guys in the Ghajini haircuts already knew that Aamir Khan was going to sport that hairstyle in the movie, and therefore, this campaign did not impart any information to the consumer (a cardinal sin!). However, this did send out a signal that the Ghajini experience was going to be truly unique (You should have seen them! I mean, come on man! They had those dudes specially cut their hair for this! Man, thats some awesome thinking!! I am definitely gonna watch that movie!!!)

In this case, the viral marketing campaign helped Ghajini break through the clutter of the other movies. Similar techniques have been used all over the world for different media, such as games, music and comics. Over the course of the next few days, I am going to examine the impact of Viral Marketing in much greater depth, taking examples from pop-culture, and explore how the rise of the web and integration of communication devices might helped Viral Marketing rise above traditional marketing.

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