INTRODUCTION

Marketing is used to increase an organisations success, by promoting its products of services to

targeted potential consumers (Hill and OSullivan, 1999). It is essential therefore, that marketing
evolves and is redefined, in accordance with consumer behaviour, enabling organisations to remain
successful.
One recent development is that consumers have become more sophisticated and individually
focussed, which is related to the introduction of new technologies such as the Internet. It is
estimate that the total size of the global online population is currently over eight hundred million,
and this figure continues to rise (OConnor, Galvin and Evans, 2004).

This is resulting in developments in online advertising, with organisations identifying the potential
in targeting this new online market (Nunny, 2000). Online advertising formats such as the press,
television and outdoor media can be said to help create brand awareness and encourage consumer
product preference (Nunny, 2000). However, a new technique being implored by some businesses is
the use of viral marketing which can be used to generate brand awareness among a large populous
extremely quickly, and uses the consumers themselves to encourage product preference to others
(Meerman-Scott, 2007).

1.1 Pitfalls in viral marketing and how can one avoid themProblem: Breaking netiquette
Phonefree.com, a free long-distance-by-web company, recently got involved in a lawsuit over a
netiquette fiasco. The viral campaign involved getting people to register for the service, then
downloading their address books, and contacting everyone in there with the message "Register for
free long distance with us, and you can talk to so-and-so who just signed up!"
In this extreme case, not only were they spamming all the people on the lists they lifted (by
contacting them without permission), they were violating the privacy of the voluntarily registered
user, too. Not only did they incur the wrath of anti-spam factions, they also were sued.
Solution: Know the rules, and educate your minions.
1.

Remember the basic premise of viral marketing: You are motivating your users to evangelize for
you by offering something positive. "Motivation" does not mean force, threats, dishonesty or stealth.

2.

Remember the basic rule of business: Build a customer base through good service, good
products and trust. Whatever tactics you try, dont violate the trust of customers youve already won.
When you evaluate a viral campaign, ask yourself if it violates these basic tenets, or if it asks the
participants to violate them. Is the prize so large that it motivates false entries and spamming? Is the
tactic so aggressive that you will saturate the message? Is it gaining new customers in such a way or
at such a rate that you will alienate your previous customers?
Problem: Too much of a good thing.
Viral tactics are designed to grow exponentially. You tell two friends, then they tell two friends, then
they tell two friends, and so on and so on. On the web, the growth is instant, as well as the reaction. A
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good joke can spread to thousands of people in one day because it's so easy to click "Forward," add
ten addresses, and hit "Send." Behold, the power of viral marketing.
When you are dealing with web promotion, the action might involve the respondents hitting your web
site, registering, downloading a large file, requesting a freebie, or buying something.
If the promotion is big enough and response strong enough, you might see a ten- or 100-fold increase
in traffic within a day. Is your web server ready? Is your response staff ready? Is your budget ready?
Solution: Keep the spread of the virus properly valued, paced and targeted.
Target, target, target. Again, viral marketing works best as a community-based event. Visitors should
be spreading the word to friends that will be interested in the topic, not to everyone in the world.
How can you make sure your visitors properly target their word-of-mouth, when they may not even
know what targeting means? The reward should be relevant to your market. The reward shouldn't be
so large that it motivates cheating or over-spread. The reward should have your message or brand all
over it, so that everybody knows this is about you.

The Value of Viral Marketing

The theory behind the value of Internet viral marketing is that the message can be received by
exponential numbers of potential customers. For example, if I forward your message to 10 friends and
each of those 10 friends forwards the message to 10 other friends, the message could spread very
rapidly.
Google's YouTube is probably the best example of Internet viral marketing. If a video is very funny,
unusual or provokes certain emotions, it's likely that the video will become popular quickly. Links to
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the video will quickly multiply as viewers share the video with others. Many may even decide to
embed the video (if permitted) in various places on the Internet, drawing even more attention.
How Effective is Internet Viral Marketing?
Viral marketing can be a very effective and inexpensive way to generate lots of interest in your
business. Getting the attention of the masses is not as easy as it used to be, but it can certainly still be
done. The other factor to consider with viral marketing is its ability to actually increase your sales.
Many campaigns that do "go viral" may attract a huge amount of attention and website traffic but
generate very little in the way of sales.
Also Known As: word of mouth, word of mom, viral advertising
Examples:
Google's YouTube video service is an important Internet viral marketing tool today. If a groundswell
notices a specific video on YouTube and then shares it with others, the number of persons viewing the
video can rise exponentially in a very short period of time. This form of viral marketing can increase
website traffic dramatically, but the traffic surge is often short-lived and the effects of Internet viral
marketing can fade quickly.
Another example of viral marketing is Hotmail, which offers free web-based email. Each time a user
emails someone, there is an embedded advertisement to the recipient to sign up for a Hotmail
account. While the practice was much more widely used in the early to mid-2000s as new internet
businesses were being created in extreme numbers, it is still common among internet based businessto-consumer (B to C) companies.

1.2 Aims and Objectives

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The study investigates

1. To understand the reasons why viewers liked the Gangam Style Video

2. To examine why people share messages and videos with others

3. To find out what factors contribute to the success of a viral marketing campaign with special
reference to the video

4. To investigate the effectiveness of viral marketing on the internet in promoting sales of products or
services.

About PSY
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Park Jae-sang (born December 31, 1977), better known by his stage name Psy. is a South Korean
singer, songwriter, rapper, dancer, record producer and television personality.
He received education in the United States from both Boston University and Berklee College of
Music. Psy is known domestically for his humorous videos and stage performances, and
internationally for his hit single "Gangnam Style." The song's refrain "Oppan Gangnam Style" was
entered into The Yale Book of Quotations as one of the most famous quotes of 2012. On December
21, 2012, his music video for "Gangnam Style" exceeded 1 billion views on YouTube, becoming the
first and currently only video to do so in the website's history. Psy was subsequently recognized by
the media as the "King of YouTube".
In December 2012, MTV noted Psy's rise from little-known to "global superstar", and, for being first
in the YouTube-era to secure a place in pop-culture history, hailed the singer as the "Viral Star of
2012"

"Gangnam Style" is a Korean neologism that refers to a lifestyle associated with the Gangnam
District of Seoul, where people are trendy, hip and exude a certain supposed "class." The song talks
about the perfect girlfriend who knows when to be refined and when to get wild. The song's refrain
oppan Gangnam style has been translated as "Big brother is Gangnam style", with Psy referring to
himself

People who are actually from Gangnam never proclaim that they areit's only the posers and
wannabes that put on these airs and say that they are "Gangnam Style"so this song is actually
poking fun at those kinds of people who are trying very hard to be something that they're not.Psy

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Marketing for Business

Marketing is essential for businesses as it allows them to make their products or services known to
the consumer and persuade them to invest in them (Hill et al,
1999). It has been noted that the use of marketing will improve a businesses performance
(Jobber and Fahy, 2006). For instance, in a study carried out by Narver and Slater (1990) the use
of marketing within a business had a significant effect on how profitable a business was deemed
to be, with businesses that did more marketing having the highest levels of profitability. This
therefore suggests that to enable a business to be successful it needs to have a high level of
market orientation. There are many ways for businesses to begin marketing themselves, these
include television campaigns, national and regional newspapers adverts, billboard posters, radio
adverts, business and consumer magazine articles, or more traditionally through direct mail
campaigns. (Zimmerman, 2001)

2.2 E-Marketing
The introduction of the Internet and the World Wide Web created an opportunity for businesses to
reach a wider audience (quickly and easily) in their marketing campaigns. Advertising over the
internet via pop-ups in websites, or banner adverts, became an effective way to market in the mid
90s and is known as emarketing (Jelassi and Enders, 2005). As a result of this, new marketing techniques have been
implemented into business marketing strategies. One example would be e-mail campaigns, where a
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company sends out an e-mail detailing their latest product offers to a range of consumers, hoping
that they will get an increase in business. However, this can be problematic as the company must
first gather email addresses from prospective customers, and they must also design their e-mail
campaigns according to target the audience they wish to sell to. Also, when marketing material is
sent to a list of email addresses it is hard to target the preferred audience. This is because often
businesses do not have any other information to link the email address to an actual person (Chaffey,
2003)

2.3 Viral Marketing

Viral marketing can be used for passing along adverts, animations, photos, hyperlinked promotions,
newsletters, games, press releases, petitions or whatever else will advertise your business. This type
of marketing encourages individuals to pass on information that they receive in a hypermedia
environment to friends and acquaintances (Moore, 2003). The way in which data and information is
sent between users in viral marketing creates a chain effect that spreads the message, or purpose, of
the sent content onto the next user, and therefore the cycle continues onto the user after that. As
Mohammed and Fisher (2003) suggest, viral marketing generates a buzz around a product or
service, created by user-to-user recommendation. It has been noted by Mohammed et al (2003), that
users are more likely to trust recommendations made by friends or acquaintances on a product or
service, rather than the company themselves. This is one reason why products that are part of a viral
marketing campaign tend to take off in popularity very quickly. Evidently, this is the reason that
businesses are now starting to understand the possibilities and opportunities that viral marketing can
create for them.

2.3.1 History

Viral marketing was first recognised in 1997 following the rapid growth of the email service
Hotmail through the invite friends request. Hotmail is a key example of how quickly business
may become successful using viral marketing, as Simonsen (2008) states its users grew from
500,000 in 1996 to 12,000,000 users just a year later. The film The Blair Witch Project is also
considered to be a pioneer for viral marketing techniques, with its use of the Internet to communicate
leaked information to the wider audience (Mohr, 2007). Marketing in this way had not been seen
before on the Internet. Previously, companies who decided to use the internet to advertise
themselves rarely produced material that created a viral buzz. Instead, corporate video about a
company, which often was mundane and predictable, was produced. For example snippets of a
Managing Directors Speech may have been uploaded. However, this is not something that would
excite viewers, and certainly wouldnt encourage them to tell others to watch the material (Stern,
2001).

2.3.2 Viral Marketing Techniques

As described by Smith and Chaffey (2005) there are four viral marketing techniques available for
businesses to use.E-mail plays a key part in these techniques as it provides the portal for
communication exchange to take place.
Pass-along email viral is one technique. It is where one email is sent containing a link or attachment
to view the marketing material a company wishes you to. The viewer is then prompted to email a
friend, spreading the message in the link or attachment further.
Another technique is web facilitated viral, where a link to email a friend is placed on the company
website to gain additional email addresses to use in other marketing campaigns.
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A popular viral marketing technique is incentiviezed viral, where an award or offer is made
available to an individual once they have provided the company with an email address, or addresses
of friends or colleagues. This technique often works well because individuals are far more likely to
participate if theres something in it for them.
Finally, the last viral marketing technique being discussed is web-linked viral.This is where links in
articles, chatrooms or even social networking sites, sent by friends or colleges direct you to a
businesses website. This technique relies on the word-of mouth (or rather word-of-mouse) of the
every day web user, and so it is much harder for businesses to manipulate in their favour. This means
that if their products and services are good, then people will advocate this. However, this is also true
if the products and services are bad.

2.3.5 Successful Viral Marketing Campaigns

Creating material that others wish to view and ultimately send on for others to see is essential for
viral marketing to work. There are many ways that businesses can create successful viral marketing
campaigns to aid the growth of their business and get it known world-wide. This is because, in some
ways, successful viral marketing campaigns are heavily influenced by luck, meaning that someone
has found the information interesting enough to pass on to another.
The businesses need to be aware of negative feedback that appears online, as well as the positive
(Scott, 2007). If positive comments are made businesses should then step in and encourage them to
snowball using viral marketing techniques.It is generally advised that viral marketing campaigns
should be kept simple in concept (Baily, 2006, Morrissey et al, 2008).
Mohr (2007) explains that to make a successful viral marketing campaign, it must include something
that is interesting, clever, catchy or remarkable that will create a buzz and propel the subject into
being a key talking point with people.
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Recent studies have shown that the majority of people who receive some kind of email
advertisement will forward it on. A study by Zimmerman (2009) found that 81% of recipients will
forward a message to at least one other person and 49% will send it to two or more others. When
considering those percentages, it becomes clear how quickly these viral messages spread, and
therefore why businesses need to harness them to aid their marketing objectives. Thus, digital world
is the place in which a brand communicates with its young market, with one in four people aged
between seven and sixteen estimated to have replaced watching television with online activities in
recent years. It is evident that businesses can use the internet to reach this younger audience, but this
is too often overlooked and undervalued by most companies. Instead these companies opt to stick to
more traditional marketing methods. However, a changing to new marketing methods is required to
ensure businesses are targeting the most current markets. This is because businesses cant afford to
lose the interest of the young.

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METHODOLOGY

An effective promoting medium is being outlined in this study as a tool which is able to generate
interest in videowatching . In order for the aims and objectives of this study to be realised, The
method of questionnaire designed is used to find out if participants have themselves been part of
viral marketing, and the feelings they have towards viral marketing techniques.

3.1 Questionnaire

A questionnaire has been designed to establish the effectiveness of viral marketing in generating
awareness of a video (gangnam style) in a real-world environment
A method of obtaining data through a questionnaire was chosen as it allows many potential
participants to be targeted quickly. Also, as questionnaires were sent via email and
surveymonkey.com

This style of questionnaire is a self-completion questionnaire, which as Brace (2005) suggests is

effective in gathering data from participants as they allow the participant to respond to the
questions in their own time, and so there is no pressure put on them that may result in any
unnecessary anxiety or stress. In addition, as the questionnaire was anonymous, the participant is
more likely to be truthful in their answers, so better results can be obtained (Brace, 2005)

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3.2Questionnaire Design

The questionnaire has been designed to ensure participants are clear on the information they are
required to provide, making it as easy as possible for them to complete. This is important because
a poorly designed questionnaire is not likely to gain many results, and for the results that are
recorded, their reliability should be questioned (Brace, 2005).

The questionnaire, therefore, had a logical structure and was split into three defined parts.
The first area the questionnaire explored was whether participants had been involved in viral email
marketing campaigns, as previously mentioned this is one technique used in viral marketing.
The second area the questionnaire investigated was if participants have been aware of a recent viral
marketing campaign for the video Gangnam style by PSY , and assessing the effect this
had on them.
Finally, the third area that the questionnaire covered was the use of web-linked viral for product
reviews and how participants respond to them.

There were a total of twenty-two questions asked in the questionnaire, however all questions in each
section were not related to one another. The questionnaire included closed questions, that force a
choice to be made. Thirteen questions required the participant to select either a yes or no
response. This was designed to enable the results obtained to be as clear and defined as possible. In
only giving participants a choice of two possible answers, it ensures they make a considered choice.
This method was reported to minimise discrimination against the less literate as the answers
categories are easy to understand.
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3.3 Questionnaire Sample

An opportunity sample will be used to gain results for the questionnaire. This questionnaire will be
sent to one hundred prospective participants.It is essential for the questionnaire to be sent out to as
many prospective participants as possible,this is to ensure that enough responses are sent back to be
able to asses the results successfully (Brace, 2005).

3.4 Data Collection Method

The questionnaire will be distributed via email, which will contain an attachment to the blank
questionnaire in the form a word document. A cover letter is contained within the email as a
participant can be influenced by this, and therefore it provides a means to persuade the participant
to complete the survey .
The participants were not obligated to answer all questions, although ideally this was preferable.
Therefore, areas that a participant felt uncomfortable in providing information for, could be left
unanswered. The received email was then immediately deleted from the
system to ensure that the participants anonymity was upheld. It is important that any identifying
information is destroyed in this way and the participant is notified of this procedure to reassure
them that their anonymity will be maintained.
The data was also collected through the online questionnaires that each participant completed. The
responses to these questionnaires are stored online on the surveymonkey.com server and are
accessible via the researchers login details for the site.

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3.5 Method of Data Analysis

There are two methods of data analysis used in this study; one used for the questionnaire and
another for the experiment. Although, both methods analyse data obtained from questionnaires,
they do so in differing ways.

3.6 Sample Size

Sample size is n=100

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Findings and Analysis

4.1 Questionnaire Results

The data obtained from the questionnaire produced some interesting results, which were then
analysed with the aim of the questionnaire in mind, to investigate the effectiveness of viral
marketing in generating awareness of Gangnam style by PSY .

Exihibit: 01

Age
7%

<20
27%

20- 30
30- 40
>40

55%

10%

This shows the age of the surveyed. They range from the teens to the middle aged highest
being the age group of 20-30 yrs with 59% and lowest is 3% in the 40 above age goup.the
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sampel size was 100 which include equal number of females and males.

Exihibit: 02

How long do you usually spend on the internet per day ?

22%

16%
>1 hour
1-2 hours
3-4 hours
<4 hours
24%

38%

The chart above shows most of the participants do spend ( 38% ) spend an average of 3-4 hrs a
day surfing the internet, followed by 24% respondents spending 1-2 hrs a day.22% of the
participant spend more than 4 hrs on internet whereas only 16% of the participants spend less
than 1 hr on internet.

Exihibit: 03

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How likely are you to watch videos ?

6% 2% 8%
Extrememly Likely
Likely
Neutral
Unlikely
38%

Extremely Unlikely
46%

This shows that most of the participants (46% ) are likely to watch videos whereas 38%
preferred to stay neutral in this response. Only 2% respondents are most unlikely to watch
videos. Thus, we can conclude that most of the participant prefer watching online videos.

Exihibit: 04
18

How likely are you to watch music videos ?

4%

14%

16%

Extremely Likely
Likely
Neutral
Unlikely

14%

Extremely Unlikely

52%

The analysis shows that 52% respondents are likely to watch music videos whereas only 4%
people are not at all attracted towards music videos. Thus making a music video famous is
more easier as compared with any other kind of video.

Exihibit: 05
19

Which type of music video do you prefer? (select all that apply)

38%

40%

Funny
Serious
Romantic

22%

The exhibit shows that, 38% respondents prefer watching Funny videos over Serious and
Romantic. And 40% people like to watch Romantic videos and least preferred are watching
serious videos with 22% of the respondent.

Exihibit: 06
20

Which of the following videos have you watched in the last few months?(select all that apply)
20%
PSY Gangnam Style
Baby (Justin Beiber)
On the floor (jennifer
Lopez)

51%

Kolaveri Di

21%

9%

In the last few months the video of PSY Gangnam style has been watched the most with a
percentage of 51 followed by On the floor and Kolaveri Di.thus this shows that
participant liked gangnam style more as compared to any other video mentioned above.

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Exihibit: 07

Have you seen the video of PSY gangnam style?

4%

Yes
No

96%

The exhibit shows that there are not many people who have not watched the video of PSY
Gangnam Style whereas 96% of the participants have seen the video on internet.

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Exihibit: 08

If yes, from which source did you get to know about Gangnam style music video?
4%

34%
31%

Friends
Facebook
Youtube
Newspaper

31%

Gangnam style has mostly been spread by word of mouth followed by Facebook and Youtube
holding the same percentage and the least been spread by the newspaper

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Exihibit: 09

How well the video visually appeal you?

14%

16%
Very well
Somewhat ok
Not at all

70%

This shows that most of the participant (70% ) liked the video whereas 14% and 15%
found it very well and not at all appealing respectively. This suggests that the video
would not be used in terms of product recommendation but instead as a form of
entertainment amongst viewers.

Exihibit: 10
24

Why did you like the video ?

30%

Funny
Special
Exciting
50%

Catchy beat

14%
6%

The exhibit shows that, the video is most widely liked because of being Funny attracting
50% and having a Catchy Beat attracted 30% of the respondents. 6% and 14% of the
respondents did not find the video very Special or very Exciting respectively.

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Exihibit: 11

Why do you think the video became so popular?

26%

27%

Easy Dance Steps

Humor
Celebrity Collaboration
Music

7%

41%

The video became popular among the respondents due to Humor majorly followed by
good music and Easy Dance steps. 40% participants stated that they found the video to be
humorous and therefore would forward it to friends to friends

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Exihibit: 12

On the scale of 1- 5 ; what score would you give to the to the video of gangnam style? (1 being the lowest & 5 the highest)
13%

10%
4%

1
2
3
21%

4
5

52%

The exhibit shows that 52% of the people rate the video as a 4/5 and being rated 3/5, 5/5, 1/5,
and 2/5 by 21%, 13%, 10% and 4% respectively. 5/5 being the highest and 1/5 being the
lowest.

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Exihibit: 13

What do you remember about the video ?

4%
14%

Dance steps
Song beat

6%

45%

Costume
PSY himself
No idea

31%

The USP of the PSY Gangnam Style video comes out to be its Dance Step as 45% of the
participants remember the dance steps that were made in the video . This was followed by the
Beats of the Song that attracted the participants .least concentration was made on the costume
that were worn in the video.

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Exhibit: 14

What was the reason behind forwarding the link?

Wanted to share link

Appear cool

Liked the video

Normally share link

26%

50%

21%
3%

The exhibit portrays that 50% respondents shared the link because they wanted to, 3%- to
sound cool, 21% shared the link because they liked the video and the rest 26% because they
normally shared links. This also shows that if a person find the video to be interesting , he is
more likely to forward the link similarly if the participant dint find the video to be
interesting, then he would be less likely to forward the link.thus , viral marketing success is
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influenced by online reviews.

Exhibit: 15

How often do you forward/share links with others?

Quite often

Sometime

Rarely

20%
30%

50%

This exhibit shows that 50% of the people share links sometimes whereas 30% and 20% of
the respondents share links rarely and quite often respectively

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Exhibit: 16

How often would you watch a link from a friend ?

Often

If interesting

After knowing about it

Ignore

5%
24%
30%

41%

This shows that 41% of the respondents view a forwarded link only if they find it to be
interesting, 30% respondents viewed a link only after knowing what it was about, 24%
watched links often and 5% ignored it completely. Through this we can also conclude that
participants prefer receiving email recommendations from friends.
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Exhibit: 17

How often do u open a link from a stranger?

Always

If virus free

Never

13%

50%
37%

This shows that majority of participant (50%) of respondents never open a link from a
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stranger which shows that they dont trust the information containing within online link
whereas 37% of the respondent do open the link if the find it to be free from virus and only
13% open links from strangers always.

INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSION

After Interpreting the analysis I found thatAs shown in exhibit 1, the surveyed population has maximum 58% of people lying in the age of 2030 followed by 22% of people ranging from 30-40 years. The next set being of 16% people less than
the age of 20 and the rest 4% lying above 40yrs of age.
40% females prefer watching videos compared to 60% males doing the same.
38% of people spend an average of 3-4 hrs a day surfing the internet followed by 24% respondents
spending 1-2 hrs a day. The next slot is another 22% and 16% of people spending <4 hours and >1
hours a day respectively.
8%, 46%, 38%, 6% and 2% respondents watch videos in the order of liking ranging from extremely
likely to extremely unlikely respectively.
14%, 52%, 14%, 26% and 4% respondents watch music videos in the order of liking ranging from
extremely likely to extremely unlikely respectively.
38% respondents prefer watching Funny videos over Serious and Romantic. And 40% people like to
watch Romantic videos n least preferred are watching serious videos with 22% of the respondent.
The video of PSY Gangnam style has been watched the most with a percentage of 51 followed by 21%
33

people watching on the floor and 19% respondents seeing Kolaveri Di and the least watched being
9% and that of Baby by Justin Beiber.
4% people who have not watched the video of PSY Gangnam Style.
Gangnam style has mostly been spread by word of mouth in about 34%, followed by Face book and
YouTube holding the 31% each and the least been spread by the newspaper.
70% of the respondents liked the video whereas 14% and 15% found it very well and not at all
appealing respectively.
The video is most widely liked because of being Funny attracting 50% and having a Catchy Beat
attracted 30% of the respondents. 6% and 14% of the respondents did not find the video very Special
or very Exciting respectively.
The video of PSY Gangnam Style became popular majorly about 40% due to Humor, followed by 27%,
26% and 7% respondents being attracted due to Music, Easy dance Steps and Celebrity Collaboration
respectively.
52% of the people rate the video as a 4/5 and being rated 3/5, 5/5, 1/5, and 2/5 by 21%, 13%, 10% and
4% respectively. 5/5 being the highest and 1/5 being the lowest.
45% respondents remembered the dance steps, 31%- the song beat, 6%- costume, 14%- PSY himself
and 4% people did not really find anything memorable.
50% respondents shared the link because they wanted to, 3%- to sound cool, 21% shared the link
because they liked the video and the rest 26% because they normally shared links.
50% of the people share links sometimes whereas 30% and 20% of the respondents share links rarely
and quite often respectively
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 41% of the respondents view a forwarded link only if it is interesting, 30% respondents viewed a link
only after knowing what it was about, 24% watched links often and 5% ignored it.
50% of respondents never open a link from a stranger whereas only 13% open links from strangers
always and 37% respondents see a link only if it is virus free.

Summary

Our summary of the main findings of our project are as below in accordance with our questionnaire.
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Our study reveals that Viral Marketing significantly increases the awareness of consumers but does
not have a significant impact on consumer viewing decisions. This finding will be vital for marketers
to perform further research on how Viral marketing can lead to generate more awareness about any
video.
Our study also shows that consumers attach different levels of trust to the different Viral marketing
platforms found n on the Internet. Any link send by a known person has more chances to be viewd as
compared to those which are send by strangers.
As we predict that more platforms will arise in future, it may be necessary to conduct even more
research into this area. through our studies we also conclede that Viral marketing takes place within
social spheres and passed on from peer-to-peer, thereby gaining a certain level of trust .our study also
shows the motivators behind consumers in wanting to become efluentials and spread messages to
friends and family. Our results conclude that monetary incentive is not the top motivator. In general,
consumers are more inclined to spread contents which are funny, entertaining or interesting.
Companies might take this into consideration in their marketing plan and if Viral marketing is
employed as one of the strategies, they might adapt the advertisement or message and add a
humorous touch to it.

We believe that while the questionnaire findings are the primary findings of our paper, other
insights that we have generated from both the quantitative and qualitative research methods
are also useful in gaining a fundamental understanding into the topic of consumer perception
and response towards Viral marketing .

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Recommendations

The study highlighted two recommendations for further work:

The first area to be looked into further is the relationship between the content of viral marketing
campaigns and the number of potential sales that are generated as a result. This relationship should
be analysed, possibly by categorising the type of content used in viral marketing. For example the
differences in sales resulting from viral marketing campaigns containing humorous content
compared with content generating different user emotions, could be assessed.

The second area where further work is recommended is the effect viral marketing has on brand
awareness. The differences in viral marketing campaigns that generate positive consumer
attitudes towards a brand, should be analysed against those that generate negative consumer
attitudes, and the results should be concluded.

37

Bibliography

1. Bailey, M. (2006) Viral Marketing Gone Wrong [Online], Site Logic Marketing, Available from:
<http://www.sitelogicmarketing.com/blog/04-viral-marketing-gone-wrong>, [Accessed on 24/03/013]
Boswell, Boswell, K. (2002) Telling Good Stories: How the AI online kicked viralmarketing over the
fence

to

us

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Marketing

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<http://www,marketleap.com/report/ml_report_23.htm>, [Accessedon: 24/02/13]

2. Brace, I. (2005) Questionnaire Design, London: Kogan Page LimitedBusiness Link, (2008) Reach
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[online],Business

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<http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?
type=RESOURCES&site=181&itemid=5000673746>,[Accessed on: 24/02/013]Chaffey, D. (2003)
Total E-Mail Marketing, Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

3. Hill, E. and OSullivan, T. (1999) Marketing, 2nd Ed, Essex: PearsonEducation Limited.Leung, W.C
(2001) How to Design a Questionnaire [online], University ofEast Anglia, Available from: <
http://student.bmj.com/back_issues/001/education/187.html>, [Accessed on: 25/02/013]MeermanScott (2008) Viral Marketing: Let the world tell your story for free[online], Pragmatic Marketing,
Available from: <http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/publications/magazine/5/5/viral-marketing-letthe-worldtellyour-story-for-free>, [Accessed on: 28/02/13]Mohammed, R.A, Fisher, R.J, Jaworshi, B.J and
Paddison, G.J (2003),Internet Marketing Building advantage in a networked economy, NewYork:
McGraw-Hill/Irwin.9. Mohr, I. (2007) Buzz marketing for movies, Business Horizons, 50, pp.395403. Source:
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4.Science Direct [online].10. Moore, R.E. (2003) From genericide to viral marketing: on
brand,Language & Communication, 23, pp.331-357. Source: Science Direct[online].4. Morrissey,
Brian, Adweek (2008) The Rules of Viral Web Success, at Leastfor Now, 01992864, 49(1), Source:
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5. Narver, J.C and Slater, S.F (1990) The Effect of a Market Orientation onBusiness Profitability,
Journal of Marketing, 54, pp20-35

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Limited
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20/04/13]

QUESTIONNAIRE
39

Gender:

Male

Female

Age Groups :

1. How long do you usually spend on the internet per day?

a)
b)
c)
d)

>1 hr
1-2 hrs
3-4 hrs
<4 hrs

2. How likely are you to watch videos?

a)Extremely Likely
b)Likely
c)N L /Unlikely
d) Unlikely
e)Extremely Unlikely

3. How likely are you to watch music videos?

a)Extremely Likely
b)Likely
c)N L /Unlikely
d)Unlikely
40

e)Extremely Unlikely
4. If yes,which type of music video do you prefer?
a)Funny
b)serious
c)Either
5. Which of the following videos have you watched in the last few months?(select all that apply)
a)gangnam style
b) baby ( justin beiber)
c) jennifer lopez( get on the floor)
d) kolavari di
6. Have you seen the video of PSY gangnam style?
a)Yes
b) No
7. From which source did you get to know about Gangnam style music video?
a)
b)
c)
d)

Friends
Facebook
Youtube
newspaper
8. Did the video appeal to you? 5 scale

a) Yes
b) No
9. How well did the video catch your attention ?
a)very well
b) Somewhat well
41

c) not at all
10. Why did you like the video ?
a)Funny
b)Special
c)Exciting
d)Catchy beat
11.. Why do you think the video became so popular???
a)
b)
c)
d)

Easy Dance steps

Humor
Celebrities collaboration
music

12. On the scale of 1-5 ; what score would you give to the to the video?
(1 being to lowest & 5 the highest)

a) 1
b) 2
c) 3
d) 4
e) 5
42

13. What do you remember about the video ?

a)dance steps
b) song beat
c)costume
d)PSY himself
e) No idea

14 . Did you forward the video link onto your friends to watch?
a)Yes
b)No

15. What was the reason behind forwarding the link: (Select all that apply)
a)I wanted to share the link with my friends
b) I wanted to appear as a cool person who knows the trends
c) I liked the video a lot
d) I normally share links with my friends

16.How often do you forward/share links with others :a)Quite often

b)Sometimes
c)rarely
17. How often would you watch a link from a friend :a)I watch the video
b)I watch until it seems interesting
43

c)I open only aftr asking whats the link all about
d)I ignore it

18. How likely are you to open a video from someone who is not a friend ./family
a)I always open the link
b)I open until it is virus free
c)I ignore it

44