The worst is that he probably doesn’t even realise what’s wrong with what he is doing.

I should mention that I don’t work in the viral industry myself and don’t know all the mechanics of the process to create a popular viral – but I am pretty damn sure he is taking the wrong direction entirely.

Fully agree. A newbee rookie that calls himself CEO? Then without hardly any viral experience or skills he starts breaking down the road many viral marketers have paved last 5 years …

I wanted to through my laptop out of the window when I read his TechCruch interview!

Hope we can recover the damage!

Cheers

Dan is right about one single thing, videos don’t go viral by themselves on Youtube. Getting them to go viral by lying, cheating, stealth approaching and focusing on Youtube anyway is however all terribly misunderstood. Youtube is not Viral marketing at all, and that is to me the most important thing to preach at the moment, following people like Dan.

Next, we need to get back where it makes sense for advertisers and consumers. The concept of Viral marketing stands for more compelling advertising, engagement and likeness from consumers because they choose it themselves. Eyeballs is one thing, and of course it is important, but I wonder who is actually watching Dan’s videos? All the teenagers who surf Youtube because they’re bored in the afternoon? What ever happened to the 50 year development of targeting culminating with the promises of the technology surrounding the internet?

In order to really raise the bar for Viral marketing in the future we need to speak about reaching the right niche environments and the right target markets, engaging consumers with compelling stories, advice companies on getting the content and brand message optimized for viral distribution and a whole lot of other things that we do day in and day out.

Dan just makes the road seem longer and a bit more bumpy.

He created a lot of buzz around himself and get plenty of attention due to his recent article in which he admitted to using ‘blackhat’ (is that word used in viral marketing) tactics to promote his clients material. He didn’t do himself any favours with that article, or at least not in the world he works in. And he didn’t do himself, his company, or viral marketing in general any favours with this interview.