Published: September 17, 2007 in articles » management by Thomas Baekdal
I was recently pointed towards NSyndrome - a viral campaign for the new Nokia N95.
This site and the campaign demonstrate the typical behavior for advertising agencies. They know that viral marketing is extremely effective, but they struggle to get it working because the product does not sell itself.
The solution - and one offered by most agencies - is to create a fake story, with a fake message to get people hooked on a fake idea. The idea, which in this case is particularly lame, is a story that N95's somehow get embedded into people's physiology.
They created a fake site and filled it with fake content - even added fake comments to simulate interest from other people. And, everything is a lie.
The NSyndrome site is a site made by Nokia - or more precisely Nokia's advertising agency Lowe Brindfors. It wasn't started by Zep and Scott, they didn't first discover these phenomena in a Latino nightclub in New Mexico, there is no such thing as an NSyndrome - in fact everything is a lie and a desperate attempt to create a viral campaign.
This is just stupid.
A viral campaign is about trust - it really is. If a friend of yours sees something that he thinks is interesting, and forwards it to you. You then trust this information because it came from your friend and perhaps you forward it yourself to several of your friends.
If you lie, you not only disgrace your own brand, you also make me look bad because I forwarded it to my friends.
Effective viral marketing is always about sharing something people think is worth sharing - and for something to be worth sharing it has to be genuine.
If you base your campaign on lies and deception, you might get a short term result - but the long term effect on your brand is literally a disaster. How can anyone trust you again?
A good viral campaign is funny, cute, provocative and very interesting. But, it is also trustworthy, genuine and reliable.
Here are 5 "rules" that you should always remember - to go along with my last tips on viral marketing:
Writer, Project Manager and Interaction Designer
follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, or visit my website
Huphtur, Yes it is a joke, but it also a serious attempt to get people attention on false pretenses.
The thing that caught my attention and caused my to write this article was the that instead of exaggerating, they lie. Not only do they lie about the content, they also increase the deception by posting false comments.
How do you know which comments are from real people visiting the site, and which is from the advertising agency? How do you now what is real and what is part of the campaign?
What they should have done was to instead of telling a lie, they should created a number of unbelievable examples about what could happen. Instead of trying to make it look real - they should have tried to make look unreal. Then they should urge people to come up with even crazier ideas of what might happen.
Forget about the "real" press stories and TV commentaries. You don't want people to believe in a lie - you want people to know it is a lie, and try to make it even more unbelievable. Then it would be a challenge and provocative.
"We have made-up some of the most unbelievable stories that might happen to you when using the N95."
I wouldn't say it would be a perfect campaign - but it would changed the dishonesty completely.
They would not lie, they would not have to hide who they are, they would not threat people as if they where stupid (in fact, they would be marketing to smart people with creative minds), and it would have a sense of responsibility.
It is just plain stupid to base a campaign on lies and deception.
Actually Nsyndrome is not the only spoofed website brandishing the N95 - www.jealouscomputers.com/ seems to be a parallel campaign along the same idea.
Writer, Project Manager and Interaction Designer
follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, or visit my website
Pål, I didn't know about that one - I looks to be a specific strategy by Nokie. Jealouscomputers.com is actually run by http://www.thesedays.com/ - another advertising agency who lists Nokia as one of their clients.
But, I do not think Jealouscomputers.com is as bad as NSyndrome.com. The thing that really ticked me off with NSyndrome was that they also created false comments.
Still, I don't understand why Nokia want to hide their identity with either sites - why the dishonesty?
u really make me laugh, get a life
Hey Thomas,
Couldn't agree with you more- particularly if they're selling to the younger, technologically hip crowd- these are the exact same people that would uncover such a lie. The real viral effect here is the viral discredit this company receives as a consequence. Cheers!
Trav
This just in: Sometimes, in media, people will create a false reality in order to entertain an audience. This is called "telling a story".
Your anger over this would make more sense if it were being presented as an actual phenomenon, or an actual consumer choice (sort of like that PSP thing from a few years ago.) But...come on, now, cell-phones actually grafting themselves onto people's bodies? You honestly believe that people are going to take that seriously?
Baekdal.com is (nearly) everywhere. Check out our social profiles:
FaceBook
Twitter
LinkedIn
YouTube
FriendFeed
Delicious
Sep 17
2007
huphtur
visit my website
Thomas, I think you might be the one exaggerating a bit here. The site is obviously a joke, and I think most people will understand that. But I agree that it's done very poorly.