As a marketer, there's nothing less cool than being seen trying to promote a viral campaign and failing. On the other hand, there's nothing cooler than a viral campaign taking off through no effort of your own.
It's a bit like having a flat stomach: There's much more cachet if you have good genes as opposed to constantly hitting the gym. Marketers can curse the gods for this profoundly unfair happenstance or they can get creative and release fake viral videos that are actually ads. That's the approach the following have taken, and in each case, they've been caught. (A shout out to Mark Book of Digitas for bringing some of these to our attention.)
So, a few questions: Is it actually better to try to orchestrate a viral campaign in which you distance yourself from the campaign? Are there well-known viral videos out there that are actually ads and we just don't know about them? Why are so many Australians involved in these things? Discuss -- in the comments below.