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.

Tracking can also tap into consumers' online habits: Kirby discovered during an Xbox campaign last year that downloadable files are viewed by 10 times more people than streaming, non-downloadable video clips. No surprise considering the demographic. As Lori Schwartz, emerging technologies producer in the LA office of Zentropy Partners, which has done viral campaigns for Nautica and Reebok, points out, downloading and file swapping are "everyday occurrences for that young demographic we all want. So if you're going hit that demographic, create something they'll want to share."

Popular though it is, viral hasn't yet attained industry standard status, and Kirby says some brands still fly viral production in under the radar.

"In the same way that people will make a more entertaining or longer-form edit of an ad for the cinema, they're now making an edit which is more viral, and sticking that on the web first."

And just what makes an edit 'more viral'? Kirby points to "Mangina" - an online adaptation for Virgin Mobile by Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R. "It includes scenes deemed too risqué for television and features a man tucking his manhood between his legs in a pose made famous in The Silence of The Lambs."

John Osborn, EVP director of integrated marketing with BBDO, North America, offers a sober voice. He advises that a viral element be weaved into an overall marketing plan, but cautions, "if you don't do it in just the right way, given how crowded that environment is and the stigma associated with spam, you will never make it out of the starting gate."

Web.files:
BBDO> http://www.bbdo.com
Digital Media Communications> http://www.dmc.co.uk
Nitrix> http://www.panasonic.com/consumer_electronics/nitrix/default.asp
Renegade Marketing> http://www.renegademarketing.com
The Viral Factory> http://www.theviralfactory.com
Zetropy Partners> http://www.zentropypartners.com