My firm belief is that if Jeff Bezos had launched it a year later or a year earlier, it would never have worked. A year too late and the market would have been so overheated that his promise would have never broken through the clutter and attracted the attention of sneezers in the first place. Steve Jurvetson, the venture capitalist behind Hotmail, coined the term viral marketing to describe the way the service grew. Hotmail offered free e-mail that was designed so every time you sent a note, you spread the virus. The more you use Hotmail, the more you spread the virus.
Viral marketing is a special case of an ideavirus.
Viral marketing is an ideavirus in which the medium of the virus is the product. It s an idea where the idea is the amplifier. Unfortunately, not every product lends itself to viral marketing. Viral marketing requires that the product you re using be communications-focused or very public. The new VW Beetle is an example of viral marketing.