Open Source and Viral Marketing The viral marketing concept as a model for open source software to reach the critical mass for global brand awareness based on the example of TYPO3
John-Robert Skrob · 2005
Global competition on the Internet marketplace requires thorough planning and careful investment of capital. Start-up companies with a limited budget need to reduce cost wherever feasible. Eliminating license costs by using Open Source Software is a big saving for a company and viral marketing has become the number one option to dynamically create brand awareness. The power of online influence, namely, „word of mouse” plays a key role in the spreading of a message. The aim of this paper is to present the many diverse facets of the viral marketing concept and to determine if the product TYPO3 fulfils the criteria for being viral. Then a marketing model will be created for TYPO3 on the basis of the viral marketing concept. The purpose of the developed marketing model is to generate the required critical mass so that the released message will independently multiply exponentially and in the long run help cross the gap described by Moore in the Revised Product Life Cycle.