Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing

Company History: Launched in 2000 as a hybrid of creative and distributive company to leverage
combination of traditional and emerging media positioned as a one stop digital shop for campaigns
involving digital content for social media.
Game Changer: TiVo allowed users to skip ads, thus shifting the trend towards viewing of online ads.
Viral videos began to surface, targeting more audience at a fraction of the cost.
Criticisms on virality: Majority of the attempts failed (E.g. only 3% of YouTube videos got more than
25000 views)
Mekanism consistently created viral video ads (9 out of 12 campaigns crossing 1 million views)
Engineering Virality: 3 main approaches:
1. Storytellyng Focus: Engaging consumer on a deeper level and involving the consumer in the
process.
2. Platform Management
3. Influencer Networks: Identify, Engage, Value Exchange, Distribute Message & Optimize.
Measuring Success: One of the goals stated in its mission was to inspire measurable brand loyalty that
would last beyond the campaigns end. These measures provided useful tools for adjusting and
improving upon the campaign during its course:
1. Reach
2. Engagement
3. Buzz and mentions
4. Brand sentiment
Survey of 38 clients found viral social media to be of great importance to clients, but was used
experimentally. There was a need to develop better analytics to show quantifiable results.
At the crossroads: Company had to decide whether to continue with viral marketing only or embrace
other traditional content and media as well, thus becoming an ad agency.
Clients requesting other complimentary services to viral marketing, converting Mekanism from a
specialized production shop to a full service ad agency.
Upsides of digital marketing
Downsides of traditional marketing
SWOT Analysis