Unleashing the Ideavirus

Unleashing the Ideavirus
184
 www.ideavirus.com
Harvey was a fairly primitive cartoon, a bit better drawn than Kilroy. But he was also a
drink, a drink that coincidentally used a lot of Galliano.
Dorf then set out to teach the newly-counterculture 1970s drinking crowd about this fun
(hey, it was a cartoon) drink. He printed T-shirts, taught bartenders how to mix the drink
and even sent people into popular bars and had them order the drinks (loudly).
The result was an ideavirus. When one fashion-forward powerful sneezer in a group ordered
one, he’d have to stop and explain to everyone else in the group what it was. That group
took the news to the hive, and the virus spread.
The virus wasn’t particularly persistent (from what I’m told, a Harvey Wallbanger wasn’t
that good) but it was extremely smooth. After someone told you about the drink, all you had
to do to get one was say, “I’ll have one too, please.” High velocity, the virus did exactly what
Galliano had asked for… it put the drink on the radar screen.

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Unleashing the Ideavirus
185
 www.ideavirus.com
The Power Of Parody
The sequel to Mission: Impossible had a huge opening this summer. People talked about the
trailer, and more important, told their friends to go see the movie after they’d been.
But how was Warner going to encourage people to see it two or three or four times? How to
get to the hive of media-friendly, time-wasting teenagers just sitting around looking for ways
to spend money? Most important, how could they cost-effectively remind people that MI:2
was out there and worth seeing again?
They decided to unleash an ideavirus that parodied their own movie.
Mission: Imp is a five minute long web film designed to go viral. It features almost famous
Hollywood stars, better than usual production values (for a web virus) and best of all, a “send
to a friend” button.
Unfortunately, it’s not very funny—so while the foundation is there, it’s not as virusworthy
as it might have been if it were made by someone who wasn’t nervous about offending Tom
Cruise. Either way, though, it’s a smart and aggressive way to get out there and start a virus
to keep a product in the public eye.

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