Article: Prepare to be infected by the viral marketers.

Messages spread like viruses these days, as the petrol crisis shows. Can marketers use this power to send out their own messages?

Do ideas and information spread between people like viruses? If so, marketers need to put their thinking caps on. The nightmare possibilities were highlighted by the recent petrol crisis. With rocket-powered word-of-mouth -- through mobile phones, e-mail and Internet chat rooms -- activist consumers and pressure groups caused market chaos.

The dream scenario, on the other hand, is that viral marketing will allow a positive brand message to spread like wildfire. What unites the two is the potentially explosive effect of the ...

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