Viral marketing has entered a new era of maturity. Not only is online an increasingly popular platform for product and campaign launches, it's no longer being swept under the carpet at budget time.

"We're seeing a change," notes Matthew Smith, managing director of The Viral Factory, one of several production houses in London to specialize in producing viral films on tight budgets.

This year, Smith asserts, agencies have actually started setting money aside for viral (a typical production budget runs about 25% of its broadcast counterpart).

"We're still not talking huge amounts of money here, but it's interesting that viral is being put into the spend under its own label."

Perceived more as an augmentation than a threat to traditional TV advertising, viral initiatives can offer good clean fun, like the current campaign for Sydney-based YoungGuns' annual creative contest.

Conceived by last year's YoungGuns winners Antony Nelson and Mike Sutherland of Fallon, London, and directed by Adam Berg and Thor of London's Stink, the three spots - "Towel", "Pen" and "Coffee" - are accompanied by an eye-catching print component that features a copy of Campaign with the word 'cock' scratched across the forehead of winner Sutherland (see Boards' Screening Room at www.boardsmag.com).

Then there are viral campaigns with a more serious commercial purpose. In May, more than a million people logged on to watch the "Mazda Parking" online clip, which pre-launched the Mazda2.

The clip, which sticks it to men who deride women's parking abilities, was created by Digital Media Communications (DMC), London, and Maverick Media directly for Mazda.

"Most people [think] the largest audience for viral material is male 18-34," says Justin Kirby, MD and owner of DMC. "The Mazda clip is interesting because it demonstrated that campaigns aimed at women can work."

Mazda UK is tight-lipped about actual sales generated as a result of their online exploits, but will say it was last year's successful viral pre-launch of the Mazda6 that prompted the company to include "online viral and buzz marketing activity" in the budget for the Mazda2

Panasonic now has an online racing game designed to market its Nitrix mini-system stereos. Launched in July and developed by Manhattan-based Renegade Marketing Group, it rams home the branding message through strategic placement of Nitrix and Panasonic logos and product imagery throughout the racecourses, and within the game frame.

Renegade president Drew Neisser reasons that with the average US male gamer spending 9.5 hours a week sucking back video and computer games, "if just a portion of that time is spent racing, Panasonic will have made significant branding impact on players."

There are a couple of ways to measure the popularity of a viral campaign. One, via a hotlink that clicks through to the client's website. DMC has also developed online tracking tools that count the number of files passed peer-to-peer after they've been downloaded.