Ok, I’ve heard people tout the genius of viral marketing campaigns. But I’d never actually met anyone who’d created a successful campaign…until now.

Viral Marketing is a buzz word that’s been floating around the marketing world for some time now.

The promise?

Come up with a creative enough idea, upload it to YouTube and you’ll have a million in sales without spending a dime.

Pretty cool. But I’d never actually knew anyone who came up with something that worked.

Sure I might see something that was a funny video or an amusing diversion from the general malaise of a work day. But rarely was it something that engaged me enough to try their product or service.

It’s a question of balance.

One extreme produces a thinly veiled commercial that no one cares about.

Another - creates a wildly popular gimmick piece akin to ‘Disco Duck’ — with no substantive value added from a marketing perspective.

But the other day - a friend sends me an invite to Gamesnake’s MakeMeGreek.com.  

Gamesnake.com is this really great service which connects local athletes with one another to find, join & start pickup games in over 100 sports. I’m stout and flabby — but even I can find a couple guys to play some hoops on the weekend with it. 

A simple enough site, MakeMeGreek.com, lets you upload your photo and <bam> your face is superimposed on the body of a Greek athlete.

Then - you can watch ‘yourself’ perform in any of six different movies to which you can add your own personal flair.

Watching my own videos — it was both disturbing and hilarious all at once. It spoke to the vanity that lies in all — and I loved every minute of it.

So why does this work when others fail?

1. Timing
   Helloooo… the Olympics is a comin’.
   It was released one month before the Bejing Olympics. So it taps into an idea many people are interested are already interested in.
2. Engagement
   It’s me. I love me. I want to share my glorious visage with all my friends and family so they see how cool and funny I am.
3.  It actually connects to the product / service.
   Gamesnake is a service which helps athletes find, join & start pickup games in over 100 sports. Ok, so maybe ‘Ultimate Frisbee’ isn’t an Olympic sport. But you watch Michael Phelps swim a couple laps and tell me you don’t think about getting off the couch and being a bit more active.GameSnake.com fills that need and is a natural connection to the Olympics AND their viral marketing campaign.

So - if you’ve got 5-10 minutes check out MakeMeGreek.com

Maybe you’ll be able to apply something to your marketing efforts.