Re: How effective is viral marketing?
I do not think viral marketing is effective anymore at all, except when it includes some tongue-in-cheek reference to the institution of viral marketing, and even that is getting a little old.
Almost every technique is recognized immediately by average people, and the potential for resentment is now high as the prevalence of virals has now caused many people at least once or twice to feel foolish, or to get their hopes up about something which turned out not to exist.
The first example that comes to mind is the phony "crypto-zoology" sites which were used to promote the game Shadow of the Colossus with phony discoveries of skeletons & fossils which seemed to have been left by enormous monsters. These were awesome for the day or two that no one understood them, then when the prank was revealed it was pure disappointment for all but the people who were already looking forward to the game.
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