Viral Marketing Gets a Home

Here's a curious twist on viral marketing -- a website that pays people to create viral ads for partner brands. ViTrue.com will provide publishing tools and access to brands, and will pay individuals for creating successful viral ads. I'm guessing the commission will be on the number of times a viral ad is viewed or downloaded. ViTrue's Sharkle.com website will enable viewers to rate the ads.

So as blogging is giving would-be writers a chance to make money by showing off their talents, video enthusiasts will try to earn some cash by creatively touting products.

It will be interesting to see how many companies have the confidence to trust a third party to coordinate managing the extension of their brand. If the noise ratio is too high, I could see ad execs throwing up there hands at wasting time watching user generated video. I'm betting beer and auto companies will be among the first to bite.

Found via AdWeek.