Internet Marketing is not dead.  But it may have caused the 
death of a few people.

Let's take a look at how terrorist organizations are using
Internet Marketing to recruit and spread the word.


1.  Case #1: Dirty Kuffar

Yeah boyeeee!

MC Osama is in da hizouse - and the roof ... the roof ... the 
roof is on fire (really).

In the old days, ask any young man what he wanted to be when
he grew up and he might say 'a fireman' or 'a policeman.'

Now little boys want to grow up to be gangstas.  And why not?
They get all the hos ...  You know they got the bling-bling ...

'How you gonna tell me my rims ain't clean?'  

Sign me up!

And what bigger gangstas are there than terrorists?

Well, a rap MC calling himself 'Sheik Terrah' (apparently
spelling corruptions are just another way to 'stick it to the
man' - you go boyee!) has released a new hip hop video called
'Dirty Kuffar' and it's all over the web and the file sharing 
community.

It is a pretty simplistic hate diatribe that lists a lot of
western personalities and calls them 'Dirty Kuffar' (Kuffar =
Infidel).

	'Yeah, Ronald Reagan is a Dirty Kuffar
	George Bush he a Dirty Kuffar
	Michael Jackson is a Dirty Kuffar'

Yes, the creative genius is staggering.

Seriously, though, the marketing effect was pretty pronounced.

For a while there, it was all over the place ...


2.  Case #2: F*ck'n USA

Do a search for the above phrase in Google (without the deleted
letters) and you'll find many links to a very interesting 
anti-American propaganda video created by the North Koreans.

It's the animated music video for a catchy little ditty about
'The Great Satan' that is America.

    'Blah blah blah ...
    And you were the cause of our country's division ...
    ba! ba! F*ck'n U S A!'

(The F*ck'n refrain is in English, the rest in Korean.)
    
Hmm, kind of sticks in your head.

The video was subsequently played on Japanese and South Korean 
television (probably intending to capture viewer-interest
because of the controversy), but that wasn't the end of the
anti-America free publicity blitz.

The video with English translations popped up on websites all
over the world and on file-sharing programs.  So easily the
message of hate is spread ...

SIDE NOTE: A clever guy translated the video into English and is
advertising himself along with the translated video.  (More
on this tactic below.)


3.  So, How Do They Do It?

How are these terrorist groups getting all this free 
grass roots advertising and publicity?

Let's break it down:


 ** Sub Viral Marketing **

This is a tactic where a piece of media (usually video) is
created that on the surface is not appearing to advertise the
target brand.

Coke, for example, is reported to have created funny videos
where the Coke brand appears, but it doesn't look like an ad.
People passed these videos on in purely on the merits of their
humor.  Little did they know, they were inadvertently adverting
Coca-Cola.

The two case studies above were definite tools to gain favor for
their organizations (the North Korean dictatorship and Al-Quaeda),
but people were passing them along for reasons other than that.

They were passing them along because they liked hip-hop music,
or they thought they were funny, or they liked the anti-America/
Ronald Reagan/Michael Jackson/whatever message.

An interesting mutation of the sub-viral gene!  More on these 
mutative factors below ...


 ** Pop Culture Predators **
 
If you can associate your cause with pop culture, it's easy to
gain favor for your marketing message.  Corporations are
dedicating time and research into discovering what kids think 
is 'cool' and getting their brands to fit.  Of course, kids are
extremely insecure and at their core, they have a desperate fear
that they are *not* cool.  So, if you can convince them that
doing something will make them cool, the influence is quite
profound. 
 

 ** Current Event Free Rides **
 
If a particular topic is popular, people are going to scour the
net to learn more about it.  Hitch your wagon to one of these 
stars and you get some free publicity.

Can you think of a few ways the above two videos did that?

SIDE NOTE: Remember the Monica Cigar?  Here's a clever example
of how a marketer hitched his wagon to current events to get 
free publicity.  I remember The Monica even getting a little 
blurb on Fox News as a matter of fact.
 

 ** Enigmatic Content **
 
Who is that sexy Sheik Terrah?!

Since no one knows who he is, it adds to the controversy and 
gets more people talking.  This spreads the virus even more ...

Further, look at how easily Bin-Laden's messages are spread.  If
Osama speaks, the whole world listens now.  The media runs it as
it's top headline.  You stop everything and listen.  You tell
your friends.

Skilful manipulation.

***

So, there you go.  Now you too can use terrorist tactics for fun 
and profit.

Obviously, I'm not supporting terrorism in any way shape or form.
I only wish to describe their Internet Marketing tactics as they
may, indeed, be useful to marketers.