VIRAL MARKETING: CONCEPT EXPLICATION AND CASE STUDIES IN THE VIDEO GAME AND ESPORTS INDUSTRIES ____________________________________ A Thesis Presented to The Honors Tutorial College Ohio University _______________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation from the Honors Tutorial College with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Journalism ______________________________________ by Matthew Shiflet April 2019 This thesis has been approved by The Honors Tutorial College and the Department of Journalism __________________________ Dr. Parul Jain Associate Professor, Journalism Thesis Adviser ___________________________ Dr. Bernhard Debatin Director of Studies, Journalism ___________________________ Dr. Cary Frith Dean, Honors Tutorial College Table of Contents Introduction………………………………………………………………..………………………1 Concept Explication…………………………………………………………………………….…5 Viral Marketing……………………………………………………………………………5 Web 2.0……………………………………………………………………………………9 Social Media……………………………………………………………………………..13 Memes and Memetics……………………………………………………………………20 Internet Virality…………………………………………………………………………..26 Marketing………………………………………………………………………………...32 Conclusions……………………………………………………………………………....36 Best Practices……………………………………………………………………………………39 Case Studies……………………………………………………………………………………...41 Overwatch League……………………………………………………………………….43 Web 2.0…………………………………………………………………………..45 Social Media……………………………………………………………………..49 Memes and Memetics……………………………………………………………51 Internet Virality…………………………………………………………………..54 Marketing………………………………………………………………………...56 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….58 Fortnite…………………………………………………………………………………..59 Web 2.0…………………………………………………………………………..60 Social Media……………………………………………………………………..63 Memes and Memetics……………………………………………………………66 Internet Virality…………………………………………………………………..68 Marketing………………………………………………………………………...70 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….72 Comparing Overwatch League and Fortnite………………………………………….....72 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….74 References………………………………………………………………………………………..7 1 | Shiflet Introduction I have been playing video games for as long as I can remember. In fact, some of my earliest childhood memories involve my four-year-old self playing Twisted Metal 2 and Razor Freestyle Scooter on the CRT television in my family’s Waukegan, Illinois, apartment. I remember nothing of what my own room looked like, but I remember that living room and TV vividly. As I grew up, I gradually became more interested in video games. My most memorable childhood gifts usually involved games: Madden NFL 06 from my godmother, a PlayStation 2 from my grandparents, Assassin’s Creed III from a castmate in a stage production. When I turned 16 and started my first job, I saved money for my first major purchase: a PlayStation 4 on launch day, complete with several games and all the accessories. I was so proud of myself for budgeting properly and still play on the console weekly, nearly six years later. Around that time, I realized that gaming was not just a way to pass the time. I knew I wanted to find a career in the field, and it is still my goal today. Over the years, I have watched as video games and esports have grown in incredible ways. Grand Theft Auto V is the highest-grossing media product of all time (Sarwar, 2018). Legendary entertainers like Paul McCartney and Mark Hamill have lent their talents to video games. Athletes now stream on Twitch. Longtime esports caster Alex “Goldenboy” Mendez became a commentator for the NBC show The Titan Games (Goldenboy, 2018). Esports are now shown on major channels like ESPN and ABC. Maybe most importantly, video games are now being viewed as “mainstream,” and the general, non-gaming public is beginning to realize that gamers are not unhygienic, unfit slobs hidden away with junk food. Instead, seemingly every child with access to technology plays a video game of some sort. Gaming is simply a part of everyday life and a part of the youth’s culture. 2 | Viral Marketing On the other hand, I have also watched as virality in general has reached levels I previously thought impossible. When PSY’s “Gangnam Style” music video finished its five- month trek to 1 billion YouTube views in December 2012, I was fascinated (Gruger, 2012). I did not think the speed could be matched. In 2017, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito” accomplished the same feat in just over three months (Flores, 2017). With over 6 billion views, it has nearly doubled “Gangnam Style” and has almost 2 billion more views than its closest competitor. Again, I was blown away by how fast “Despacito” spread, but now I know better: Any day now, a new challenger will break that record. My high school and college years seem to have been pockmarked by these fascinating viral moments, where everyone from Facebook friends to newscasters could not stop talking about the latest viral craze, from a strangely colored dress to the livestream of a pregnant giraffe. But among the chaos that the buzzword viral has become, I realized that there is something more to virality than a piece of content simply racking up millions or billions of views. Virality is, in some ways, a game of chance. But the scales can be tipped, and virality can be harnessed by individuals and organizations. Both gaming and the concept of virality are maturing before our eyes. This thesis paper was born when I noticed the connections between the two. As the brains behind video games learn to appeal to broader audiences, they frequently call upon viral principles to do so. From there, I realized the academic world lacked a meaningful explanation of what virality is and how it works in terms of brand marketing. So, I set out to explain what viral marketing truly is, because as it turns out, it is much more than just creating something funny and hoping it catches on. 3 | Shiflet New media technology brings with it new types of communication and marketing. Newspapers provided a new avenue for written marketing, radio introduced spoken broadcast ads, and film brought video commercials. In the 21st century, the world now has access to digital platforms like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Yet some marketers have only begun to diversify their marketing approaches to fully integrate the platforms. While companies like Wendy’s and Arby’s have embraced the marketing power of social media, others are still sticking to dated, tried and true methods that may not yield optimal results. Marketers must adapt to the strengths and weaknesses of new platforms to truly use them to their full potential. Viral marketing can utilize the strengths of the current media environment. At its simplest, viral marketing is about convincing consumers to share your content across online (and offline) communities. Companies like Old Spice have used viral marketing campaigns to advertise their products, and various metrics suggest that the strategy might be effective at increasing sales (Mills, 2012). While the purpose of this literature review is not to suggest viral marketing is the only strategy of the future, the topic is worth discussing as one such option. As I mentioned before, viral marketing has not yet been properly defined and explained in a seminal work that marketers can look to for guidance, despite the strategy’s recent successes. It seems that there are some companies that simply understand the idea while others scratch their heads, trying to figure out how their competitors can seed such interest in the base of consumers. For the purpose of this review, viral marketing is explained as the application of five connected components: Web 2.0, social media, virality, memes and marketing itself. In essence, memes disseminate virally through social media networks on the internet in ways that marketers can harness to reach consumers. But viral marketing is much more than creating funny image 4 | Viral Marketing macros and hoping they go viral. The relevant components and their roles in viral marketing will be defined and explained in subsequent sections. The second portion of this paper will be dedicated to two brands that utilize viral marketing in intelligent ways. While the two topics of the case studies, Fortnite and Overwatch League, are very different in their approaches to viral marketing, both harness the power of viral marketing’s five components. While Fortnite utilizes a far-reaching approach, Overwatch League focuses on building a community that, to the members, feels closely-knit. Both strategies are proving successful for the brands and provide ample, vivid examples for how each component of viral marketing can be enacted. For Fortnite, this includes embracing user- generated content and partnering with EDM artist Marshmello. For Overwatch League, this means closing the gap between players and fans. Both unique strategies have earned their place in this paper for their understanding and implementation of viral marketing. Throughout this paper, I hope to inform, entertain and fascinate. As I researched Fortnite and Overwatch League, I often found myself fascinated by the statistics, the innovation, the casual appearance of unprofessionalism, and most of all, the staggering success. I have truly enjoyed the thesis writing process, and I hope my passion for the work comes through. I am always glad to discuss gaming, esports and viral marketing further, and anyone can reach me at [email protected]. Ultimately, my goal in the following pages is to show that viral marketing is a legitimate strategy for the future