Swine flu goes viral using convergence marketing
Everybody’s talking about swine flu! This small outbreak has enjoyed more buzz than Miley Cyrus eloping with Amy Winehouse…online forums are jumping, the blogosphere is lit up, and digital billboards in Times Square are blaring! The television media is talking about swine flu 20 times an hour, per channel, at the minimum.
I am not saying that it isn’t important to know about the swine flu outbreak, or that it should not be talked about, but when it comes to something like alarming people about infective diseases, why can’t we just have the facts and leave out the hype?
However, as a marketer, swine flu gets it: With a good marketing plan, even something small can get big recognition. Start big: New York, the media capital of America is a good place to break a story.
This phenomenon also exposes the dark side of all marketing methods, that when a story gains momentum, it can lose control and become a runaway train. The message loses perspective.
It should be: “Be concerned about swine flu, stay alert.”.
Instead it has become: “THE (possible) SWINE FLU PANDEMIC!!!!”
What lesson can we learn from the swine flu media blitz?
Lesson 1: From a marketing standpoint, viral marketing is incredibly powerful and if you want the world to take notice of your message. Going viral is inextricably tied into Convergence Marketing.
Lesson 2: Settle down and filter the messages coming in. Don’t allow the media to whip you into a frenzy. Decide for yourself how urgent and important a message is!
Kenneth Fisher
[...] I hope will be an informative blog about convergent marketing slowly but surely. I posted about how swine flu has gone viral and I got a big boost from the search engines. I don’t think being timely is necessarily [...]