Interactive campaigns build buzz with fun

0 Comments | USA TODAY, January, 2007 | by Laura Petrecca

Some marketers are getting personal in their viral marketing as they continue to invent ways to interact with consumers online and try to get them to pass along the product message. Today, job site CareerBuilder.com will announce the launch of Age-O-Matic.com, a site where consumers can upload a photo of a themselves or someone else, alter the image in a way that ages the person about 50 years and pass the result on to others via e-mail.

The underlying message: The stresses of a bad job will age you. Such personalized marketing is seen as a way to build brand buzz at a time when traditional advertising is losing power, says Richard Castellini, consumer marketing head for the job-finding site that is jointly owned by Tribune, McClatchy and USA TODAY parent Gannett. Marketers...