13
Oct
In an attempt to improve the plain old viral, many companies are now turning to reality marketing. We’ve all seen it but what is it?
In its simplest terms, reality marketing involves the production of something, typically video, in which the content is seemingly real and not the product of a several million pound media campaign.
The essence of reality marketing is to remove the ‘corporate’ entity from the equation at the onset, and in so doing, liberate the viewer from preconception.
Without this burden the viewer is watching for pure interest alone. When the reveal is made the viewer is intrigued by the curious juxtaposition of the natural content and the novelty of it actually being an advert. The YouTube example below is from the Sony Twilight Football Campaign.
Of course the obvious question is - “Is this not just like any other advert, filmed using a camcorder?”. The short answer is yes, but as it’s not delivered by conventional mass media and instead quietly seeded across the internet in an entirely non-commercial way, it’s not immediately clear - and this is what creates the intrigue.
The concept keeps the primary features of a viral, in that the novelty, interest and perhaps comedy value are compelling enough to tell your friends about it. The clever twist of corporate affiliation has people saying things like ‘have you seen the really cool Sony video for their twilight camera’.
This is a far more potent force than, ‘have you seen the advert for that camera’, which for the most part invites a ‘no’ and ‘I’m not that interested’.
For a more in depth look with examples head over to Campaign website and look at the article From Branded Content to Reality Marketing.