Minty-Fresh Explosive Marketing

One of the coolest things about the Web is that when an idea takes off it can create tons of buzz for free. Most viral marketing is started by accident for amusement, not marketing. Remember the "dancing baby" from the mid-1990's? It was low-tech and a bit sketchy, but it was cool and instantly became viral.

The majority of campaigns created specifically to go viral fail. Worse, some companies set up fake viral campaigns with an approach that feels forced and advertisement-like. They don't understand that it's all about luck and timing.

There's a formula for creating an explosive viral campaign. This formula combines great (and free) Web content that is new, exciting or funny and may even include a celebrity. It also needs fuel - that's why you need a network of people to spread the message (thus the name viral).

My favorite example is the Mentos and Diet Coke experiment that turned viral by accident. The video clip shows what happens when you combine 200 liters of Diet Coke and 500 Mentos mints. The reaction was explosive - and it caused a classic viral phenomenon.

In only three weeks, millions of people had seen the video and the blogs were buzzing. The creators of the experiment even appeared on Late Night with David Letterman and The Today Show. Needless to say Mentos and Diet Coke marketing were excited from all the free exposure!

This is why companies need to be monitoring the Web for any content, good or bad, which is related to their products. And if an awesome viral explosion begins (and you didn't create it), don't just sit on the sidelines - get into the game!