Fun viral marketing case by game company Fantastec: how to raise massive media interest for a startup company? How to get more than thousand job applications for one job? All this with a budget of zero euros!

1. Kakushkin group webinar
20 November, 2013
Viral Marketing:
How to raise massive
interest in a startup company?
Juha Väisänen
CEO, Fantastec Ltd.
Finland
http://www.fantastec.fi/
http://fi.linkedin.com/in/juhavaisanen10
http://twitter.com/mr_Fantastec

2. Contents
•Who is he? Where does he come
from?
•Fantastec & learning game revolution
•What is viral marketing?
•Viral marketing case:
•How Fantastec – an unknown
startup - became a internet
phenomenon, got massive media
attention & thousands of job
applications? All this with a budget
of 0 euros!
Polar Heroes game
character Banker Squirrel
helps to learn the value of
money

3. Juha: Background
•Two University degrees:
Economics (Marketing) and
Education
•Energetic innovator,
marketing professional,
humour producer, learning
expert...
•Now combining all previous:
CEO, Fantastec Ltd.

4. Epilogue:
Finland…
The country with the most beautiful nature in
the world….

5. Finland…
….where your
mother is beautiful….

6. Finland…
….and your father is rich.

7. Finland…
….well, not really.
A small nation with limited
financial resources and extreme
conditions.

8. Finland…
• This is how our staff lives

9. Finland…
• The most typical reasons why an employee is absent
from work:
• Lazy
• Drunk
• Polar bear attack

10. Finland…
• To be honest, Finland is a great country with very strong
ICT expertise, a well-managed society and a happy nation
• OECD (PISA tests): The best education system on the
globe
• Several very successful game companies
• Rovio (Angry Birds), Supercell (Clash of Clans & HayDay)…

11. Fantastec &
Edutainment game revolution!
http://www.fantastec.fi

12. Fantastec:
Mission & passion!
Fantastec
powers children’s happiness
and creates
great value for parents
with fun and educational games

13. Polar Heroes:
World’s first comprehensive and
fun game based learning solution
•Fun and educational
for kids, valuable for
parents
•Primary market: 4-9 yrs
kids + mid class parents
Secondary market:
schools
•Multiplatform: Online,
mobile, smart TV apps
http://www.polarheroes.com

14. Multiplatform example:
Bunny math race
for IOS, Android & Win mobile devices
•Fun and fast mobile racing game
•Race with a cute bunny and win a
massive load of carrots for your bunny
•Race is based on petting your bunny
and challenges which develop kids
math skills
See the trailer and try the game here:
http://www.fantastec.fi/mathbunnytrailer
/

15. Testing principles

16. What is viral
marketing?

17. Viral marketing
•“Marketing your business with
things that can get passed
around the Internet, such as
social media and emails”
•Traditional viral channels; word
of mouth (users, customers,
influencers, media…)
•Cost effective, yes!
•Easy? Definitely…not.

18. Viral marketing
•Research: “Virality is driven by
psychososiological arousal. Content that
evokes high-arousal positive (awe) or
negative (anger or anxiety) emotions is
more viral”
•Feelings: Happiness, anger, laughter,
love…
•Things to take into account; shareability,
media, audience, momentum, etc.
•“See this cute baby seal? Buy our
product or it will be killed”

19. Viral marketing
Case: Fantastec
How can you do marketing with a
budget of zero €?
How can you get massive media attention
for a startup?
How can a startup get over 1000 job
applications for one job?

20. Starting point
•Game developer and programmer needed
•Problem: an unknown startup company
•Problem: Fierce competition for best talents (Rovio
etc)
•Problem: no money for recruitment campaign
•But… We are not doing this with big bucks, we are
doing this with brains…and big heart!

21. Goals of marketing
campaign
•Publicity for Fantastec
•Raising awareness and interest among
potential employees
•Brand building: An energetic, talented and
fun company – That’s Fantastec!

22. Recruitment campaign:
Action!
•Job ad on Finnish employment office (very concervative)
web pages
…job ad with a strong humoristic twist and reverse
psychology
•”Fantastec is a tired and grey game company. We are
looking for village idiots and foolish daydreamers”…

23. Content samples
1/3
•We wanted to
attach a picture of
a hard working
employee. We
couldn’t find one
so here is a picture
of our office
kitchen.

24. Content samples
2/3
•We offer the support of a spineless organisation and
miserable bonuses like only slightly used bus tickets
•You will get a Commodore 63 and internet connection, so you
can enjoy your work day on Facebook
•Our morning meetings may be anaemic, but in return, team
gatherings include a sufficient amount of alcohol
•On Fridays, we leave work early, but we compensate this by
coming to the office later on Monday
•Work experience as a CEO of Rovio is a benefit

25. Content samples
3/3
•The truth was also revealed:
•To the point! This company doesn’t need idle tweakers,
but top talents with a great sense of humour and creative
spirit
•Show your potential by sending an application, a CV and
a picture of your grandfather wearing his wife’s
underwear.
•Please inform us about your desired amount of salad

26. What happened?

27. Humor portals…
•For example
Naurunappula (engl. Laugh
Button): almost 30 000
viewers
•The first comments were
wondering if it was a real
job or just a parody ad
•Then somebody sent an
application and told others
that he got a response

28. Blogs react…

29. Facebook and Twitter
buzz…

30. The press wakes up!
Dozens of articles
For example:
Second largest
Finnish
newspaper
Aamulehti;
print and
online news
article

31. Tekniikka & Talous:
a two-page article
Largest tech
related
newspaper in
Finland

32. A blogger translates it into
English…

33. So what?
• Applications from all around the globe
• Over 1000 applications for one job
• National record: the largest number of
applications for one job
• Altogether almost 2000 job applications – and we still
get several every day!
• Dozens of co-operation inquiries
• Articles in several Finnish newspapers
• Now over 300 000 people know Fantastec

34. Fantastec brand
• The Fantastec brand was built
• Humoristic, laid-back and energetic people
• An agile, joyful company
• The core of brand image: That’s Fantastec!
Fantastec Spirit!

35. The craziness
continues…
– If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
– Looking for Tech lead and art designer; almost 1500
social shares within few weeks:
http://www.fantastec.fi/recruitment-most-fantastic-job/

36. Viral marketing:
Summarizing
•
•
•
•
Company policy, culture, resources…
(media) relationships
Best practices
Plan (takes time!)
• Ask help from experts
• Goals?
• Audience?
• Main message, style and context?
• Channels, media?
• Organising: Who, what, why, when, what resources?
• Test, iterate, improve
• Measure the results and learn

37. That’s all, folks!
Fun is our business
…and our business is FUN!
Test Fantastec games at:
http://www.fantastec.fi
Juha Väisänen
CEO, Fantastec Ltd
http://www.fantastec.fi
http://fi.linkedin.com/in/juhavaisanen10
http://twitter.com/mr_Fantastec