Read the article and discuss these questions. 1 Why are marketing companies excited about viral ad campaigns? 2 The article says viral ads are ‘infectious’. Why is this a good description? What other things can be infectious? 3 Why do companies usually combine marketing methods? 4 What is a general trend in video advertising? 5 What is the difference between the various forms of targeted marketing mentioned in the text? b Viral ads or targeting the customer? The internet has revolutionised a plethora of pastimes: the way people communicate, find dates, commit crimes, you name it. But the business of selling stuff and of building brands continues to see radical transformations. At the cutting edge is the viral campaign: the short video clip that is so compelling that much of an advertiser’s work is done for them when their prospective customers forward it to their contacts, quickly building up an audience of millions. A whole industry has sprung up, dedicated to unravelling what makes viral ads infectious. Specialised companies use search engine optimisation or launch viral campaigns – in part by ‘seeding’ clips on the internet, where they are picked up by the online populace. What once was much a matter of luck has been transformed into a science in order to ensure virality. The ideal viral campaign is edgy, surprising, original and emotional – and taps into popular culture. It is easy to see why businesses would want to embrace viral marketing. Not only is it supposed to create stellar growth rates, but it can also reduce the marketing budget to approximately zero. Against this too-good-to-be-true backdrop, though, is the reality: viral marketing only works when the user is in control and actually endorses the viral message, rather than merely acting as a carrier. Consequently, companies tend to spend huge amounts on marketing that reduces the users’ control. Among others, video advertising and personalised advertising are widely used. The shift to mobile devices has rendered many types of traditional marketing campaigns ineffective. Email newsletters or long sales pages are more difficult to read on a mobile screen, and since video is a format capable of conveying a message consistently across different platforms, it has become a marketing staple. Nowadays consumers have all the videos they can watch at their disposal any time. This affects the amount of time that people are willing to spend in watching advertisements, which resulted in video ads becoming shorter, more appealing, concise, and direct. Targeted marketing is not confined to a single form of advertising. Marketers have various options for making sure that only relevant audiences receive their ads. Finding out who to show a particular ad to and the right time to show them is crucial. There are different approaches when it comes to this. Database Marketing, for example, revolves around the collection of relevant customer data. Search Engine Advertising (SEA) utilises search engines to provide businesses with opportunities for ranking higher in search results. Geofencing, on the other hand, allows real-time targeting of users based on their current location. Finally, display targeting provides people with very specific display ads by taking their interests and the keywords they use into account. Look at these highlighted words from the article. What do they mean? What mental image do they suggest? A the video clip is compelling F businesses want to embrace viral marketing B dedicated to unravelling G stellar growth rates C a whole industry has sprung up H to render marketing campaigns ineffective D ‘seeding’ clips on the internet I targeted marketing is not confined to just a single form of advertising E taps into popular culture J it revolves around the collection of data Discuss these questions. The highlighted terms are all connected with marketing. 1 Think of a large company in Austria or an international company. ■■ How does it promote its products? ■■ Does it have a particular slogan? ■■ Who is their target audience? ■■ Do they have the biggest market share? ■■ Do they use a particular kind of marketing campaign or sales pitch? ■■ How effective are they? ■■ Who are their competitors? ■■ What brand image do they present? 2 “There’s no such thing as negative publicity.” Do you think this is true? c Language focus Marketing words 12 48 Language skills Extras Explore 4 It’s all about advertising Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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