Viral marketing campaigns are, in my opinion, extremely compelling, especially those involving complex storylines meant to be slowly uncovered. Even if the product of the campaign itself turns out to be not that interesting, the process leading up to finding the ‘answer’ can be extremely gripping and entertaining.

The ilovebees promotion built for the release of Halo 2 became one of the more successfully executed viral campaigns. Embedded in this marketing campaign was a compelling, almost heart wrenching, one I still sit down and listen to on occasion. This type of campaign is classified as an alternate reality game, or ARG. It involved users visiting websites, answering payphones, and sending emails in an attempt to ‘save’ a lost artificial intelligence. Every so often, an audio clip would be released, moving along a story that bridged the gap between the first Halo game, and the upcoming Halo 2.

Hotmail, one of the top email clients on the internet today, managed to get that way by simply placing a small ad in each email sent out from Hotmail. This eliminated the need for any other form of advertising, saving both time and money.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilovebees

http://lars-christian.com/internet-marketing/5-succ …

Nick.