Ranbor Mobiles is planning to launch a new smart phone. The company wants to create awareness and hype about the product in the target market

It releases an ad featuring a popular youth icon and highlights the phone's special features on a popular video sharing Web site. Within an hour of its release, the ad was viewed a million times. Is Ranbor using a viral marketing strategy or a shill marketing strategy? Explain your answer.

The company is using viral marketing here. Viral marketing is a form of word of mouth that encourages consumers to pass along company-developed products and services or audio, video, or written information to others online. A million hits within the first hour of its release suggests that people have liked it and will talk about it. Shill marketing, on the other hand, is a controversial tactic where a firm pays people to anonymously promote a product or service in public places without disclosing their financial relationship to the sponsoring firm. There is no indication of Ranbor having paid anyone to anonymously promote the phone.