Viral Marketing: How to raise massive

interest in a startup company?

Juha VäisänenCEO, Fantastec Ltd.

Finlandhttp://www.fantastec.fi/

http://fi.linkedin.com/in/juhavaisanen10http://twitter.com/mr_Fantastec

Kakushkin group webinar

20 November, 2013

Contents

•Who is he? Where does he come from? •Fantastec & learning game revolution •What is viral marketing? •Viral marketing case:

•How Fantastec – an unknown startup - became a internet phenomenon, got massive media attention & thousands of job applications? All this with a budget of 0 euros!

Polar Heroes game character Banker Squirrel helps to learn the value of money

•Two University degrees: Economics (Marketing) and Education•Energetic innovator, marketing professional, humour producer, learning expert...•Now combining all previous: CEO, Fantastec Ltd.

Juha: Background

Epilogue:

Finland…

The country with the most beautiful nature in the world….

….where your

mother is beautiful….

Finland…

….and your father is rich.

Finland…

….well, not really.

A small nation with limited financial resources and extreme

conditions.

Finland…

Finland…

• This is how our staff lives

Finland…

• The most typical reasons why an employee is absent from work:

• Lazy

• Drunk

• Polar bear attack

Finland…

• To be honest, Finland is a great country with very strong ICT expertise, a well-managed society and a happy nation

• OECD (PISA tests): The best education system on the globe

• Several very successful game companies

• Rovio (Angry Birds), Supercell (Clash of Clans & HayDay)…

Fantastec &

Edutainment game revolution!

http://www.fantastec.fi

Fantastec

powers children’s happiness

and creates

great value for parents

with fun and educational games

Fantastec:

Mission & passion!

Polar Heroes: World’s first comprehensive and

fun game based learning solution

•Fun and educationalfor kids, valuable for parents•Primary market: 4-9 yrs kids + mid class parentsSecondary market: schools•Multiplatform: Online, mobile, smart TV apps

http://www.polarheroes.com

Multiplatform example:

Bunny math racefor IOS, Android & Win mobile devices

•Fun and fast mobile racing game•Race with a cute bunny and win a massive load of carrots for your bunny •Race is based on petting your bunny and challenges which develop kids math skills

See the trailer and try the game here:

http://www.fantastec.fi/mathbunnytrailer

/

Testing principles

What is viral marketing?

Viral marketing

•“Marketing your business with things that can get passed around the Internet, such as social media and emails”•Traditional viral channels; word of mouth (users, customers, influencers, media…)

•Cost effective, yes!•Easy? Definitely…not.

Viral marketing

•Research: “Virality is driven by psychososiological arousal. Content that evokes high-arousal positive (awe) or negative (anger or anxiety) emotions is more viral”•Feelings: Happiness, anger, laughter, love… •Things to take into account; shareability, media, audience, momentum, etc.

•“See this cute baby seal? Buy our product or it will be killed”

How can you do marketing with a budget of zero €?

How can you get massive media attention for a startup?

How can a startup get over 1000 job applications for one job?

Viral marketing

Case: Fantastec

Starting point

•Game developer and programmer needed

•Problem: an unknown startup company•Problem: Fierce competition for best talents (Rovioetc)•Problem: no money for recruitment campaign

•But… We are not doing this with big bucks, we are doing this with brains…and big heart!

Goals of marketing

campaign

•Publicity for Fantastec•Raising awareness and interest among potential employees•Brand building: An energetic, talented and fun company – That’s Fantastec!

Recruitment campaign:

Action!

•Job ad on Finnish employment office (very concervative) web pages

…job ad with a strong humoristic twist and reverse psychology

•”Fantastec is a tired and grey game company. We are looking for village idiots and foolish daydreamers”…

•We wanted to attach a picture of a hard working employee. We couldn’t find one so here is a picture of our office kitchen.

Content samples

1/3

Content samples

2/3

•We offer the support of a spineless organisation and miserable bonuses like only slightly used bus tickets•You will get a Commodore 63 and internet connection, so you can enjoy your work day on Facebook•Our morning meetings may be anaemic, but in return, team gatherings include a sufficient amount of alcohol•On Fridays, we leave work early, but we compensate this by coming to the office later on Monday •Work experience as a CEO of Rovio is a benefit

Content samples

3/3

•The truth was also revealed:

•To the point! This company doesn’t need idle tweakers, but top talents with a great sense of humour and creative spirit•Show your potential by sending an application, a CV and a picture of your grandfather wearing his wife’s underwear. •Please inform us about your desired amount of salad

What happened?

Humor portals…

•For example Naurunappula (engl. Laugh Button): almost 30 000 viewers•The first comments were wondering if it was a real job or just a parody ad•Then somebody sent an application and told others that he got a response

Blogs react…

Facebook and Twitter

buzz…

The press wakes up!

Dozens of articles

For example: Second largestFinnishnewspaperAamulehti; print and online news article

Tekniikka & Talous:

a two-page article

Largest techrelatednewspaper in Finland

A blogger translates it into

English…

So what?

• Applications from all around the globe

• Over 1000 applications for one job

• National record: the largest number of applications for one job

• Altogether almost 2000 job applications – and we still get several every day!

• Dozens of co-operation inquiries

• Articles in several Finnish newspapers

• Now over 300 000 people know Fantastec

Fantastec brand

• The Fantastec brand was built

• Humoristic, laid-back and energetic people

• An agile, joyful company

• The core of brand image: That’s Fantastec! Fantastec Spirit!

The craziness

continues…

– If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

– Looking for Tech lead and art designer; almost 1500 social shares within few weeks:

http://www.fantastec.fi/recruitment-most-fantastic-job/

Viral marketing:

Summarizing• Company policy, culture, resources…

• (media) relationships

• Best practices

• Plan (takes time!)

• Ask help from experts

• Goals?

• Audience?

• Main message, style and context?

• Channels, media?

• Organising: Who, what, why, when, what resources?

• Test, iterate, improve

• Measure the results and learn

Fun is our business

…and our business is FUN!

Juha VäisänenCEO, Fantastec Ltd

http://www.fantastec.fihttp://fi.linkedin.com/in/juhavaisanen10

http://twitter.com/mr_Fantastec

That’s all, folks!

Test Fantastec games at: http://www.fantastec.fi