Google urges firms to embrace viral marketing

Google UK MD Mark Howe

Google's UK managing director believes that companies need to go further than just having a website to truly embrace the internet, and must consider innovative ways to promote themselves online.

Mark Howe said that businesses increasingly need to use blogs and sites such as YouTube as marketing tools, and should be using TV campaigns more often to drive customers to their sites.

Howe claimed that around 63 per cent of people who search for a product online, and go on to buy it, do so in a physical store.

Some 17 per cent will buy it there and then and the rest will return later to buy it online. So engaging a company's potential audience online in new ways is becoming ever more important.

"It can go horribly wrong if you do not engage with the end user," said Howe, citing the example of H&M's launch of a Stella McCartney clothing range which resulted in a huge increase in Google searches for the designer, but not the retail outlet.

When the first video of Coca Cola exploding from its bottle after being mixed with Mentos appeared on YouTube, the drinks company distanced itself from the clip and the copycat videos that quickly followed.

Mentos, on the other hand, saw it as a promotional opportunity and posted the video on its site. It then encouraged people to make more videos by starting a competition.

The confectionery company told the Wall Street Journal that the online videos freely made by members of the public were worth $10m in extra revenue.

Coca Cola eventually had a change of heart and sponsored Experiment 214, the now famous dominos clip. 

In this way, Coca Cola and Mentos used online viral marketing and video to push their products, and did so with humour.

Coke exploding from bottles became an online sensation and a quick search on YouTube for Coke and Mentos now returns over 8,000 videos, all of it free publicity for both companies.

Innovative TV campaigns have resulted in a number of online videos and, if approached correctly, will enhance a company's brand and core values, according to Howe.