(The Turkish Online Journal of Design Art and Communication, 2012-04) Binay Kurultay, Ayşe; TR142697
Digital technologies have heightened the debate on convergence where technologies,
corporations and people [target audiences] meet. New media has become a new meeting place
and a social platform for people. As more brands choose to employ relationship marketing
strategies that emphasize consumer’s experience with the brand, it is inevitable that they
explore opportunities to connect with their target audiences in this new meeting place. Thus,
user-created content and electronic word of mouth [eWOM] have become important concepts
for influential and noteworthy advertising campaigns in this new medium. The aim of this
study is to understand the dynamics of viral marketing campaigns and to identify the
strategies that make viral advertising successful. International cases, such as brand
applications of 3D Mapping Projections are used to understand the relationship between
cutting-edge digital art and their use in advertisements. Recent Turkish viral ad campaigns
such as Profilo’s “O Tabak Bitecek!” [Finish everything on your plate] and Turkish Airlines
Miles and Smiles’ “İnanılmaz Evlenme Teklifi” [Unbelievable Proposal] disseminated
through social networks are used as cases to identify the message strategies used in making
these advertisements successful.
