Guerilla vs Virile Marketing by WildHeavenFarm

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Guerilla vs Virile Marketing

POSTED BY: WILDHEAVENFARM
UPDATED: Friday, August 26, 2005 02:09
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Thursday, August 25, 2005 9:45 AM

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.

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Thursday, August 25, 2005 9:50 AM

SPINLAND

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.

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Thursday, August 25, 2005 10:00 AM

CEDRIC

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

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Thursday, August 25, 2005 10:20 AM

WILDHEAVENFARM

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.

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Thursday, August 25, 2005 10:25 AM

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.

"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

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Thursday, August 25, 2005 10:41 AM

WILDHEAVENFARM

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.

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Thursday, August 25, 2005 12:00 PM

R1Z

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

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Thursday, August 25, 2005 12:03 PM

SPINLAND

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

----
I can see you.

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Thursday, August 25, 2005 2:14 PM

CEDRIC

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

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Thursday, August 25, 2005 3:38 PM

COSMOLINE

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.

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Thursday, August 25, 2005 7:27 PM

WHEDONESQUE

Guerilla marketing is direct marketing (exposing the public to the product) through non-traditional/unconventional channels (i.e. not tv commercials, print ads, trailers, etc). It is not necessarily fan-driven, though. If you google 'guerilla marketing' (I did, because I was trying to find ideas for promoting the movie in my community) 90% of what comes up is marketing companies who use 'querilla marketing' techniques as part of comprehensive marketing campaigns.

Viral marketing refers to ad campaigns that are deliberately obtuse/mysterious in nature. They avoid any direct reference to the product itself, but just disclose little snippets of information that they hope will raise the curiosity of the public and get them to seek out the identity of the product themselves.

So, in essence, guerilla marketing is bring the product to the attention of the consumer and viral marketing is getting the consumer to seek out the product, both generally using non-traditional vehicles.

Does that help?

Kathleen
Whedonesque

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Friday, August 26, 2005 2:09 AM

WILDHEAVENFARM

Great definitions, Whed! See you at the Virtual Shindig on Sunday. (hint, hint to all of you who haven't come yet)

Mary
Always a beast, never a burden.

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