ViralMentalist gets a register mark
July 26th, 2005
When we first started creating WOM and identity work for Rage Against the Haze over three years ago, a new term was born: ViralMentalist. Where did it come from? Well, from a combination of the teens that actually run RAGE and our own heads. The back-story that Geno Church, our resident WOM Guru, tells is this: “We really focused RAGEers as a potential virus. I remember the first advisory group meeting. We had adults making comments that the term bothered them. It sounded ‘promiscuous, dirty, etc.’ Then a teen - Courtney - spoke up. She said it talked her language. That’s where our mantra anti-adultism came from.”
We loved the idea that it stood for and lo and behold, after a couple years of the wheels of law turning, we just got the letter that we have the official rights to it.
What does this mean?
Nothing really. It doesn’t mean that, in the words of J. Jonah Jameson, we “want a nickel every time someone says it.” And it doesn’t mean that we don’t want anyone else using it. Please, be our guest.
Viral marketing, by the new definition that WOMMA helped create, is (and I loosely quote) “an attempt to deliver a marketing message that spreads quickly and exponentially among consumers. Today, it comes in the form of an email or video.”
It’s always been a belief of ours that a person can be a viral unit as well. Again, loosely quoted from Geno, “Viral marketing can also be infectious contact between real people. It takes an investment to enter into a relationship and then infect them to get their commitment, loyalty and passion. People want honest, untainted information that allows the TRUTH about your product/service to be found, connecting it with your employees, customers and non-customers. Giving your brand a conscience and a soul will truly lead you down the path of brutal soul searching.
Wikipedia, here we come.
Other posts by Spike.
Marketing Goddess says:
Okay, you have my attention. There is a lot of buzz about what makes a good brand, and I go along with the idea that there is soul attached to it. Persona, image, dedication and on occasion some good common sense all contribute. But it is more than one person who must build this soul, it is a collective of everyone and everything that stands behind a brand. So while I am all for the touch point of what a “ViralMentalist” can do, how do you suggest the soul might be built…from the collective “corporate” standpoint?
February 20th, 2006 at 2:31 pmSpike says:
Dear Goddess, Thanks for the comments and the question. Yes, it is more than one person who must build a brand’s soul. ViralMentalist is what we call the people who believe in that soul and willingly tell others about it - it’s word of mouth enabled. A soul of a company has to stand for something. It has to have a worldview that people can get behind. It has it’s own language. It’s own personality that attracts kindred spirits. How is it built? By internal people who believe and with the help of companies, well, like Brains on Fire. They have to Fascinate, Inspire, Reward and Engage. And that’s just the beginning.
February 20th, 2006 at 2:32 pmGeno says:
I want to throw my two-cents in too. The term ViralMentalist came from working with teens, and training them to understand they have power and the ability to create change. The RAGE ViralMentalist – all 1,400 plus of them – are unique individuals. And their skill sets vary, just like a company’s employees vary from the cleaning crews to the IT department. So we educated and allowed them to find their path in RAGE. You don’t have to look very far to see successful companies that have built a soul into their corporate culture. Local companies in Greenville that come to mind. Earshot Music, Publix, Century Mini, Garrison’s Opticians, even Beverly Waddell at Millie Lewis who cuts my hair. These are places that I recommend to my friends and others. Because they go beyond selling me their services. I feel that when I recommend them to someone that I’m giving them an opportunity to have a great experience that they will enjoy.
February 20th, 2006 at 2:32 pm