Viral Advertisement- Shifty

What is Viral Advertising?
Viral advertising is the act of promoting a product which will then be passed around. It is also known as 'word of mouth'. This is usually done through the Internet (email/website). It engages the consumer in a variety of ways and is a quick, easy and a low cost technique of advertisement.
What is it's strategy?
1. Gives away a product.
2. Provides for effortless transfer to others.
3. Scales easily from small to very large.
4. Exploits common behaviours.
5. Utilises existing communication and/or social networks.
6. Takes advantage of other resources.

Shifty is a typical British film. It was filmed with a shoestring budget and has become one of the most successful independent, British films yet.

Shifty was distributed by Metrodome. To advertise the film they used TV ads on pirate radio and fly posting. The posters that they used were designed to be eye-catching and suggest danger which is why the main colour theme is black and yellow. The yellow stands out from most other posters and the black contrasts with the bright yellow. It was a show-off poster which was simple but effective. 





Shifty's viral campaign was banned by Watchdog which was a huge advantage for the company as it was free advertisement. The viral campaign 'Frame a friend' encouraged people to 'stitch up a mate' which could be sent to anyone by email. People could put a photo of their friends face into a CCTV picture as a warning of carrying drugs. The address of the sender would be 'community drugsteam@ukgov.org.uk' rather than the real senders name.  This could also be uploaded to Facebook enabling anyone to see. 

The email stated: "If you fail to respond to this email within seven days of receipt please be aware that this will then become an official matter and there will be a strong likelihood of criminal investigation." After this, the advertising agency decided to ban the campaign because it could cause distress and alarm for receivers. 

After getting banned, the campaign was discussed on talk shows, and on the news and so almost everyone knew about the film which was a massive success for the company because they were getting free advertisement for their film which even got the attention of an Australian distribution company who wanted to distribute the film internationally. 
If we could create a viral campaign similar to this but one that links to our film then it will be recognised by many more people meaning our audience will expand because people will be talking about it. 

The poster and viral ad for Shifty uses the strategies for a viral campaign as they have used yellow and black as the main colour to catch the eye of people. Furthermore, the viral campaign is fun and easy for people to send to their friends as the just have to forward it in the email expanding the amount of people who see it as you can send it to as many people as you want at one time.It exploits common behaviours of 15-20 year old males as they will find it entertaining and funny to frame their friends and make them believe they have been caught on a CCTV camera and so they are more likely to send it on. Furthermore, Shifty had a Facebook page where people could find out more information about the film, taking advantage of social networking.