It makes sense doesn’t it? The life expectancy of even the best viral marketing campaigns have a very limited shelf-life because they essentially lose the curiosity appeal once it is revealed to the interested public that the content was indeed developed for marketing purposes. In other words - a viral campaign will usually run out of gas when the “fourth wall” is broken.
 
IMO the most effective viral campaigns come in two flavors: efforts that try to hide their tracks (a “stealth” viral campaign) and post-modern - (self-aware “yes - this is marketing but it’s fun”) viral campaign. 
 
With today’s tech savvy ad alergic consumers eager to blow the cover off of your campaign - (read backlash) it is imperative that firms using viral marketing techniques either make sure that their core target market is in on the joke or in the case of a stealth campign - that the magician’s trick is never revealed.
 
Hiding your corporate fingerprints from an ugly viral campaign discovery takes some heavy social engineering and technical prowess. Corporate brand managers would be wise to choose carefully which strategy to follow: the obvious - or the post-modern.