Society - Written Tuesday, November 17, 2009 by Jeff DeChambeau - 1 Comment

H1N1 isn’t the only pesky virus going around

Unfortunately, the world is not ending any time soon — but some people seem to believe it is. The Guardian is reporting that the viral marketing campaign for 2012 (a movie about the end of the world) has caused some panics in the states by people believing that the end really is near, so much so that NASA has put up a FAQ page about 2012 and the end of the world. Clearly the viral marketing worked, just not for the movie. Yes, it’s bad that people bought the story about the world ending, but I don’t think that’s the real story here.

Viral marketing is about making people curious, and getting them to talk amongst themselves. If done properly, an idea or campaign can be seeded very cheaply; word of mouth then does all the heavy lifting, getting the message to a large group of people at no (or very little) additional cost. It also has the benefit of turning people into advertisers; you’re more likely to pay attention when a friend tells you about a product or service than when a commercial tells you about the same product or service (by the way, kudos to McDonalds on their coffee, which they’re giving away for free this week). Continue…