Some times the hunch doesn't pay off (RIP Peter Falk)
The truth about viral marketing and a cautionary tale for ‘assumption based’ persona development
Came across this really insightful video on the latest Mckinsey Quarterly. There are some other good interviews on there but this one by Duncan Watts stood out.
People like Watts have both a data driven ethos and are steeped in a social science background. With so much noise in this field and gurus claiming they know how you can be ‘liked on Facebook’ its refreshing to remember that there is data and science behind the very real changes that are happening at the moment. His opinons on intuition are a further take on those built around John Kay’s ‘Franklins Gambit‘ central to his Obiliquity argument.
Of particular interest are Watts’ thoughts on viral campaigns and the requirement of mass media to take it further than ’1 degree from seed’. Looking more closely at hugely successful ‘viral campaigns’ like Old Spice backs this up. True it has phenomenal uptake across social networks, but it was launched at the superbowl – a prime mass media slot if ever there was one.
image credit: smeerch