Guerilla vs Virile Marketing

POSTED BY: WildHeavenFarm
UPDATED: Friday, August 26, 2005 12:09
VIEWED: 4658
PAGE 1 of 2

1 2 NEXT PAGE

WILDHEAVENFARM

Thursday, August 25, 2005 7:45 PM

I'm thinkin' on the difference between these two. Examples: Putting Firefly dvd's in front of everything else in the store - guerilla. Releasing peculiar clips onto the internet without fanfar or even adequate identification - viral. I imagine there's a lot of overlap. I'm not even sure I've seen instances of this fascinating thing called "viral marketing" before, and I never knew there was a name for the rabid fan behavior others call "guerilla marketing".

Does anyone have a good working definition of these?

Mary
Always a beast, never a burden.

SPINLAND

Thursday, August 25, 2005 7:50 PM

I'd never call my impressions definitive, but I see guerilla marketing actions as initiated by fans, while viral ones are still initiated by official sources. Whatcha think?

----
I can see you.

CEDRIC

Thursday, August 25, 2005 8:00 PM

I'm not really worried about drawing distinctions between the two--but a good start is realizing that the clips are "viral," not "virile."

Viral = spreading in the manner of a virus

Virile = manly and energetic

I guess bungee-jumping with a Firefly tee-shirt on, or perhaps climbing a mountain to plant a Serenity flag, would be virile marketing.

I guess viral marketing would be any kind of marketing that relies on one person passing the information to another, kind of like that Ballad of Joss MP3 postcard that's mentioned in my sig. (See how subtly I worked that into the conversation?) In some ways, telling your friends is a form a viral marketing.

Guerrilla marketing is more like the example you cited, or putting up 11th Hour posters at the local bookstore, or putting address labels with the Serenity website printed on them in public bathrooms.

Of course, the two forms overlap a lot. Whenever I'm out putting up posters, I inevitably end up telling people about Firefly and Serenity. (That usually doesn't happen if I'm putting a sticker in a public bathroom--not that I ever do that, of course.)

I'm sure that someone out there has more specific, official-sounding definitions, but that's my take on it.

"You can't take my show from me,
Because I've got the DVD."
www.BedlamBards.com
Ballad of Joss: http://mp3-postcards.com/listen/?888

WILDHEAVENFARM

Thursday, August 25, 2005 8:20 PM

D'oh! What a peculiar goof on my part. Thanks for pointing that out. Leave it to slashy ol' me....

Mary
Always a beast, never a burden.

CEDRIC

Thursday, August 25, 2005 8:25 PM

I think it's a pretty funny concept. If Universal put out clips of Fillion, Baldwin, Maher, and Glass without their shirts, the marketing would be both virile and viral.

"You can't take my show from me,
Because I've got the DVD."
www.BedlamBards.com
Ballad of Joss: http://mp3-postcards.com/listen/?888

WILDHEAVENFARM

Thursday, August 25, 2005 8:41 PM

Are we spurning surprisingly-muscluar Alan Tudyk?

Quote:
Originally posted by Cedric:
I think it's a pretty funny concept. If Universal put out clips of Fillion, Baldwin, Maher, and Glass without their shirts, the marketing would be both virile and viral.

Mary
Always a beast, never a burden.

R1Z

Thursday, August 25, 2005 10:00 PM

Viral marketing is a well known concept.

See http://www.viralx.com/

Guerilla marketing would be, I suspect, marketing done by small groups of unofficial partisans. In short, us.

To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites. Moderation is for monks. --Robt. Heinlein

SPINLAND

Thursday, August 25, 2005 10:03 PM

That's kind of what I was trying to say, R1Z, while babbling around the point in muddling fashion.

----
I can see you.

CEDRIC

Friday, August 26, 2005 12:14 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by WildHeavenFarm:
Are we spurning surprisingly-muscluar Alan Tudyk?

Ooops, that was totally unintentional. I lost track because of the superior numbers. :-)

As I always say, that show did not get cancelled due to any lack of good-lookin' cast. I had no intention of spurning the talented, handsome, and virile Alan Tudyk.

"You can't take my show from me,
Because I've got the DVD."
www.BedlamBards.com
Ballad of Joss: http://mp3-postcards.com/listen/?888

COSMOLINE

Friday, August 26, 2005 1:38 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by WildHeavenFarm:
D'oh! What a peculiar goof on my part. Thanks for pointing that out. Leave it to slashy ol' me....

Don't feel bad. I just confused browncoats and brownshirts. I'm the King of Idiots for today.

1 2 NEXT PAGE