Viral Marketing for the Real World Duncan J. Watts, Jonah Peretti, and Michael Frumin

In spite of the recent popularity of viral marketing, we argue that most big companies should not rely on it to spread the word about their products and brands. Instead, we propose a new model called “Big Seed Marketing” that combines the power of traditional advertising with the extra punch provided by viral propagation. Between traditional advertising and viral marketing is an important gap that can be filled by big companies looking for an advantage in the market place and a better return on their advertising and marketing dollar.