Clients and prospects often ask us how to create a viral campaign. It’s a tough question to answer because as soon as you start “trying” to be viral you’ve likely done just the opposite. Some of the best viral videos were never intended to be as big as they became. Think about the wedding entrance that made its way into the storyline of The Office or the Mentos and Diet Coke “experiments.”

There’s a new video making its way around the Web today from a company called Grasshopper, which markets virtual phone systems for entrepreneurs. I found out about it when a friend of mine (who’s also a reporter at Fast Company) posted it on Facebook. I subsequently saw that it’s been featured on The Huffington Post.

In one day, the video has garnered nearly 200,000 views on YouTube. It seems well on its way to going viral. Why does it work? A spoof of Jay-Z and Alicia Key’s wildly popular “Empire State of Mind,” it pays tribute to the New Dork instead of New York. It’s well produced, clever and speaks directly to what makes entrepreneurs tick (in this case, I am their target audience).

This is the kind of “advertising” that people are responding to in 2010 – Grasshopper has shown through this video that they get the world I’m living in and they want to entertain me as much as they want to inform me. I may just give them a call.

So you’ve probably heard about the Sarah Silverman fiasco at the TED conference by now. If not, here’s the recap: Silverman, who is notorious for her outrageous kick-ya-in-the-teeth humor, was asked to give a speech at TED, the well regarded org known for its brainiac and celeb-packed conferences. She accepted, showed and delivered a typical trademark talk, trashing an array of things – among them Sarah Palin’s recent rant about the word “retarded.” Silverman used the word as much as possible and said a number of un-PC things, including that she’d like to adopt a retarded child, but only one who is terminally ill because she’s “awesome like that” – and plus the kid would then have an “expiration date.”

Crass? Of course. Offensive? Surely some listeners thought so. Unexpected? Not so much if you’ve ever heard Silverman open her mouth before.

Chris Anderson, the TED organizer who invited Silverman to speak in the first place promptly tweeted about how “god-awful” she was. A Twitter-based ruckus between Anderson and Silverman featuring a bizarre side battle between Silverman and Steve Case (Case jumped in to defend Anderson) then ensued. The media hopped on the bandwagon shortly after and buzz and press coverage about the incident spread.

Love Silverman or hate her, my question is this: What was Anderson thinking when he invited her to speak in the first place? It sounds like she delivered material right in line with all the other material she usually delivers and he was taken aback?

The net-net from a communications standpoint seems to be a basic lesson: Do your homework before you hire a speaker. Keep “good” company, or at least know the company you keep.

As the Federal Trade Commission drafts new rules on bloggers’ disclosure of sponsored content, BlogHer, the community of thousands of influential female bloggers, is in the midst of its fifth annual convention in Chicago.

We attended BlogHer in 2006 on behalf of our client WeightWatchers.com. The debate about the precarious relationship between trusted information sources and marketers with dollars aimed at garnering positive product reviews was percolating then and it’s raging now. (Incidentally, WeightWatchers.com was paying to attend the conference and exhibit, but they weren’t paying bloggers for posts.)

Days before this year’s conference kicked off, Elissa Camahort Page, the community’s co-founder, told AdAge that disclosure alone is insufficient. Her network is advocating that bloggers create a separate section of their blogs for reviews based on freebies, perks or outright compensation.

We’re members of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association and we’ve always been proponents of transparency. Camahort Page’s new proposal’s an interesting one. Ultimately though, which of the many proposals on the table is adopted doesn’t matter as much as continuing the lively dialogue. It’s important that there’s real forward movement on the establishment of best practices and policies – something both bloggers and marketers desperately need – especially since this world is evolving so quickly (next frontier: sponsored tweets).

Publishers, like mommy bloggers, have a right to monetize their work – how else will they survive and thrive? But they also need to retain their credibility and authenticity. We’re hopeful that as the industry moves towards consensus on these issues we’ll strike a satisfactory balance.

I received a call recently from a long-time colleague who now does marketing for a major global brand.  He had heard we were doing a lot of work in the “new media” arena.  The company had done traditional public relations with great success, but his bosses were wondering if there were opportunities in the social media arena that could help further their business objectives.  Among those objectives was the need to push products that they don’t invest in through other marketing channels.   Read: Could word-of-mouth present a low-cost option to sell products that don’t get exposure elsewhere?  Cost-effectiveness can be the PR practice’s blessing and curse.  It can certainly sustain us during an economic downturn, like the one we’re facing now.  But, while I am obviously a big believer in injecting the power of third-party credibility into the marketing mix, PR and word-of-mouth should not be the disciplines of choice for products that aren’t worth advertising dollars.  PR is wholly dependent on winning over influencers — be they journalists,  bloggers or trendsetters.  The reason something becomes viral and makes a huge impact is because people get passionate and feel compelled to share.  When a product or service is exceptional and the company that sells it is genuine in how it engages, influencers may decide to talk about it, online and off.  Companies should consider word-of-mouth only for their best products and services.  And, once an influencer believes in the merits of a product, they may be more willing to take a look at other products made by the same brand.  It’s the old halo effect, which is tough to create if you don’t lead with your best material.  For the rules of the road, we recommend “Word of Mouth Marketing” by Andy Sernovitz (disclosure: we promoted the book when it was new).