Buzz Watch: Google and the Power of User Generated Marketing

Authored by Jay Baage on August 30, 2007 - 4:14am.

This is creative viral marketing at its best - Google posted a video to YouTube giving a behind-the-scenes look at how Gmail messages "really" travel around the world. Then they invited the public to submit their own clips to continue the story. The response? Gmail fans from more than 65 countries submitted more than 1,100 videos.

Here is why this is an example of great marketing:
1.   It is not Google telling the public about how great Gmail is – it is the audience telling Google about how great Gmail is.
2.   Google does not just get the message across about the Gmail service, they also make use of two other Google services – YouTube and Google Maps (to show where geographically the submissions came from, see below).

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3.   Google manages to engage the audience to the point that they spend considerable time and effort to create these video responses.
4.   It is vital marketing in two ways - spreading the word on YouTube about the possibility to submit your own videos to show off your creative side, but also spreading the word about the finished product.
5.   The video is entertaining. Take a look and see for yourself.

Why spend a fortune to have an ad agency create a 30-second commercial when you can get something much greater for free? This campaign encourages social collectivity and cooperation; remix culture; and the closing of the gap between user and producer. Gotta love the Internet.

Joakim Baage