The Fractal Pattern of the Web

Much has been written about the "Long Tail" concept in connection with audience interest in materials placed on the Web. The long tail is sometimes modeled with the Poisson or Pareto distributions.

Here's a look at about 10 months of viewership data for a short video that I posted on YouTube and then left for observation.


Notice the long tail pattern for the entire time period. After a period of initial interest the pattern settles down to a lower level. Notice also the Pareto distributions in the fashion of fractals (self-similar patterns).

The onset of each fractal was occasioned by different blogs that briefly featured the video. In many ways bloggers can be viewed as gate-keepers taking us back to Katz and Lazarsfeld's "two-step model of mass communication."

The "Theory of Least Effort" provides one psychological explanation for the fractal pattern. "Marketing influentals" are willing to expend more effort and are more motivated to share what they have found. In the early phase, they make finding a source easier for those who are unwilling to expend the same levels of effort in seeking and sharing.

Copyright © 2009 by John Eighmey. All Rights Reserved.

High Definition and High Elaboration

A Samsung viral is challenging YouTube viewers to figure out how they made the viral with no edits using the latest Samsung High Definition camera phone.


To meet the challenge, of course you have to closely examine the high definition picture.



As of today, over 630,000 have viewed this viral, with 1,500 making comments on how it was done.

Great advertising should make you think. That's an important lesson shared by the Elaboration Likelihood Model of attitude change and advertising professionals.

This work was done by the:viral:factory, the agency based in London and Santa Monica.

Copyright © 2009 by John Eighmey. All Rights Reserved.

Eighmey's Viral Sharing Index

Susan Boyle's performance on Britain's Got Talent has become a viral video phenomenon. It is by far the most viewed video this year.

As of today, the Viral Video Chart reports over 88 million views and 8,500 blog postings of this video.


Why have so many sought and shared this video? What conceptual lessons can be learned about public response to viral communication?



Clearly there is a reversal of expectations. An unknown person stands alone and vulnerable on the great stage. The audience takes her measure, and then she takes them away.

Therein lies the basis for sharing. People want others to have that same feeling of unexpected joy.

A combination of psychological responses underlies the desire to share. The figure below identifies six factors commonly associated with how we respond to what we see in media.


Susan Boyle's viral video exemplifies high performance on all six factors in my Viral Sharing Index.

For further reading, see my article "Profiling User Responses to Commercial Websites" published in the May-June, 1997 issue of the Journal of Advertising Research. It has been cited by 230 articles and books about Internet advertising and provides the conceptual basis for thinking about information distributed on the Internet, whether by websites or viral sharing.

Copyright © 2009 by John Eighmey. All Rights Reserved.

It's off to work we go!

Walt Disney saw how new communication technologies could be used to share simple human truths more widely and more deeply.

One of those basic truths is enthusiasm for work. Nothing expresses this better than the classic work song of the Seven Dwarfs in the animated movie Snow White. "Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go!"


This joy is brought to life in the latest commercial for Hershey's Kisses. They've named the commercial "Off to work we go!"



One would hope that people might see more than a joyful commercial about an enjoyable product. It is a charming commercial, but it is also the needed outlook of our times.

When I worked in New York City, there was a New Jersey Transit conductor who whistled this tune as he walked up the aisle taking tickets. I am sure his sense of humor was noticed by more than a few, and the lesson was not lost as they went off to work in the Big Apple.

And, let's be sure we remember the lesson of Walt Disney. The media business is always about human truths, successfully communicated with the latest technology.

That is exactly what Walt Disney did. And there is a future in it.

Copyright © 2009 by John Eighmey. All Rights Reserved.

The Energy to Remember

Idyllic romance is always a charming setting for advertising. It can help reinforce a brand's core value relationship with its followers.

But, what might bring energy and memorability to such advertising?
I wonder.



Boursin comes to us from Normandy. The work was done by the London agency Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe / Y&R.

Copyright © 2009 by John Eighmey. All Rights Reserved.

Crisis Communication and the Domino's Incident

For consumers, brands serve as risk reducers. They help simplify decisions in a world of complex choices and increasingly busy lives. Consumers depend on brands to deliver on their promises.

For companies, the brand itself can become the most valuable asset. The number of “brand followers” and the strength of their loyalty is where wealth resides.

Today’s Domino’s incident is a powerful demonstration of the importance of these principles and the risks to both consumers and companies. Two Domino’s employees made and posted on YouTube a video of themselves nastily contaminating what appear to be two sandwiches being prepared for a customer.


What will happen to public perceptions of the Domino’s brand? Indeed, what will happen to public perceptions of all organizations that provide prepared food to the public?

Domino’s has moved swiftly to bring charges against the two people involved. But, this incident is now about crisis communication with proactive action to restore consumer confidence. The restoration of trust involves material actions that consumers will see as an effective response to their risks so vividly demonstrated in the employee video.

Twenty-five years ago, the OTC drug industry took a substantial proactive step in response to a series of product tampering incidents. The packaging was improved to remove the tampering risk and restore public confidence.

Accordingly, going forward, the Domino’s incident points to the vulnerability of both food service practices and the public communication environment. Food preparation can be trusted to the extent that it is transparent. Therein lies the long-term solution, for consumer trust in brands and protection of brand value.

Copyright © 2009 by John Eighmey. All Rights Reserved.

Inspired Work

Jotun is a world-wide manufacturer of paints and coatings based in Sandefjord, Norway. The company's latest advertising for washable interior paint will "take you away."



It's so easy even her significant other could do it. But it took the family dog to call attention to the goings on.

My students know this genre of advertising as what I have named "When in doubt, rock it out." Popular music provides a vast realm of what I call "emotive narratives," many quite germane to positioning the core values and selling propositions of brands all over the world.

In this case the band was a-ha (from Norway of course) and the song was "Take on Me." Here's an "a-ha moment" for those who recall the highly popular 1984 video for this song.


The Jotun advertising was done by Try Reklamebyrå, an Oslo agency.

Copyright © 2009 by John Eighmey. All Rights Reserved.