One of the fun sessions at FOO Camp today was David Hornik's discussion on viral marketing, subtitled "What can we learn from syphilis?" More specifically: What are the characteristics of good viruses in epidemiology?
- Highly communicable. Of especial note are viruses that prey on conventions, such as the handshake. The convention of the handshake enables one sneeze to infect people all day long.
- Prey on vulnerabilities. As Hornik says, "Not all orifices are created equal." Those that rip more easily are more vulnerable to blood-borne infection, and so AIDS made its early threat upon the gay community.
- Align with essential consumption. The bacterial contagion that causes diarrhea comes from fecal matter, and when people don't (or can't) wash well, viral agents spread via food preparation.
- Super contagions don't need vulnerabilities. Worms don't need to access blood in order to infect you; they simply dig right into your skin and take up residence in your organs.
- Piggyback onto pleasure. An overwhelming number of viruses are transmmitted sexually, and taking drugs is essentially mainlining viruses.
- Don't be lethal. Dead or really sick organisms (such as people) are less mobile than others, so if you kill the host, you can't propagate.
- Be asymptomatic. The "good" viruses are silent but deadly, and since you don't know that you have one you will go around spreading it. Herpes is a more benign example and often lies dormant. Syphilis is a dangerous example, gaining the strength to kill you during its dormancy.
- Efficient distribution. Viruses need people; to spread effectively, they go to where the people are. Enclosed spaces such as hotel conference rooms and airplanes are wonderfully efficient in spreading Legionnaire's disase.
- Inject into carrier genes. Viruses mutate the rest of your cells; they blend in with your own DNA, and it's hard to separate out the good from the bad.
Viral marketing delivers benefits from multiple views - the control of marketing, combined with the free/low cost of PR. Spreading a virus is superior to spreading the word, as the virus attaches the experience to the message, as versus simply spreading the idea. Adopting viral characteristics in a marketing effort - or even better, in product design - will help to drive exposure without driving costs.