A recent landmark Advertising Standards Authority ruling (The ASA oversees all advertising in the UK) has highlighted that brands need to rethink how they use viral marketing to promote their brands digitally.
The ASA ruled against a viral campaign by Metrodome Group PLC to promote the film “Shifty” called ’stitch up a mate’. On visiting the website for the film, consumers were presented with the option to “Stitch up a mate” by entering a friend’s e-mail address. An e-mail was subsequently sent to that friend from the address communitydrugsteam@ukgov.org.uk. The subject headline of the e-mail stated “CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION” and was followed by a reference number that included the recipient’s name. The e-mail was in the form of a letter personally addressed to the recipient, and text at the top of the letter stated “N.B. A copy of this notice has been sent to the postal address at which you are currently registered under the electoral roll.”
Further text in the body of the e-mail stated “In a recent operation a subject was arrested with a quantity of class A drugs in their possession. During the post arrest interview the suspect supplied your name to us as a habitual narcotics user. As such you are now at risk of a criminal prosecution based on the information supplied. However, as part of the Community Drugs Team initiative we are attempting to work with and help people who may have issues with drug use. Under this new initiative it may be possible to prevent further investigation if you are willing to participate in the newly launched ACT AGAINST DRUGS campaign, and submit to counselling and weekly drug testing. If you wish to participate please click on the link below to arrange a date, time and location for your initial interview and first weekly test [the website www.community-drugs-team.org.uk was given]. If you feel information has been wrongly supplied or wish to appeal against this notice click on the link below [the same website address was given]. If you fail to respond to this e-mail within 7 days of receipt please be aware that this will then become an official matter and there will be a strong likelihood of criminal investigation. It is our aim to help you in the most discreet way possible, however we will require your full co-operation”. The letter was signed on behalf of the “London Community Drugs Team.”
When the recipient clicked on either of the links in the email they were directed to the website for the film, which stated “You have just been stitched up by your friend.
Unsurprisingly the ASA objected (no doubt very strongly), to the promotion being run:
- On the basis of the potential distress caused to recipients – especially those where the email was sent to a work email address.
- That the email appeared to have been sent from the address communitydrugsteam@ukgov.org.uk – this was considered very misleading
- That the website did not explicitly seek to obtain the explicit consent of the recipient to receive e-mail marketing, or ask the friend who initiated the hoax e-mail to confirm that they had the consent of the recipient. The ASA also noted that the website stated that the sender’s e-mail address would be withheld – so the recipient would have no idea which of their ‘friends’ initiated the communication.
Clearly, the issue here is that the whole campaign, frankly was very ill-conceived. Financial marketers reading this article should not however immediately dismiss viral marketing as an option. The reality is that within our social spheres of influence we are likely to know friends, family and colleagues that we respect and look to for advice. As an advertiser, if you can engage with these key influencers or mavens (a term used by Malcolm Gladwell in his book The Tipping Point (Little Brown, 2000), it is possible for your own email communications to go viral naturally i.e. by these communications being forwarded on to other people the recipients know.
I have previously posted an article detailing how I used this approach to viral marketing to great effect while Head of Internet for Investec Asset Management. Rather than worry about how the message will go viral, my recommendation is that financial services marketers should focus on the quality of the content instead. I saw this recently with a client I am working with. The marketing collateral that they produced was perfect for their B2B adviser audience. It was:
- Timely & pertinent
- Not overtly and sales oriented, in nature but sought to support the adviser conduct their day-to-day business
- Freely available
As a result, the initial email communication resulted in over 10,000 PDF copies of the associated campaign documentation being downloaded – clearly a success in anyones book given the UK audience for financial advisers is around the 25,000 mark.
In summary therefore don’t discount viral marketing as an option. Digital communications, especially email, are highly transportable in nature. They can be easily forwarded by friends and colleagues to one another – just make sure you are producing content that is worthy of being forwarded.
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