From todays Sydney Morning Herald, by Greg Hassall:
Beware the Hype of viral campaigns Who is David Tench? Well, hes the host of an upcoming chat show on Channel Ten, produced by Andrew Denton's production company Zapruder's Other Films. But he's more (and less) than that.
For a start, he's probably not real - Tench is an anagram for "Ch Ten" - as the show is believed to include elements of animation and digital enhancements. He's also the latest example of viral marketing, whereby publicity for a product is generated by stealth, giving the false impressionit has evolved organically rather than through the standard PR channels.
Viral marketing has been around for ages, but it has been made easier by the internet, which allows rapid, widespread disseminationof material and the ability to disguise its source.
In this case, Ten has combined on-air promos, featuring lame quotes from Tench, with a sophisticated online presence. Websites have been established giving hints to his identity and that of the show, chat rooms are full of speculation and an entry has even been created for the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.
Unfortunately for Ten, Wikipedia twigged to the PR stunt last week. A truncated version of the original entry remained as we went to press, but it included a link to the following advisory: "The article was created to promote an as-yet-unaired television program on Australian television, and Wikipedia is being used inappropriately as part of a 'viral marketing' campaign"
Interestingly, this process was satirised in a 1993 episode of The Simpsons called Krusty gets Kancelled, in which ads start appearing for a mysterious television personality called Gabbo. As a result of the hype, the show is a hit, but Lisa and Bart see the campaign for what it is, a cynical ploy, and engineer its downfall.
Perhaps there is a lesson here for Denton and Ten. For now the Tench campaign is clearly working. People are talking about the show without Ten having to spend money on conventional advertising or even provide many details about it. But theres always a danger a viral campaign will backfire. The young, internet-savvy people the Tench campaign is aimed at can smell a gimmick a mile off. They dont like being used and if the show doesnt live up to expectations - which are already high, given Denton's reputation - they'll turn.
I thought that ad was hillarious. Can't wait to watch it.
Maybe this is Ten's replacement for Rove. Not saying Rove will get cancelled but say in a year or two Rove decides to stop, Ten has something to fall back on.
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