The Internet’s 80 million bloggers discuss every imaginable subject, and then several others. Marketers want to use some of that chatter to sell stuff, and Rocket XL is finding ways to do that.

The downtown L.A. agency specializes in viral marketing and has run campaigns ranging from Dove’s Real Beauty one of the most successful initiatives in Internet history to targeted plugs for HBO and the video game Guitar Hero.

Viral marketing is the fancy term for generating positive word of mouth via online chat. Rocket XL works by getting key bloggers to talk about a product. The first step is finding bloggers with influence.

“If you’re passionate and willing to share your opinion, then you’re an online influencer,” said Craig Howe, president of Rocket XL. “We don’t use bots or software, we have campaign research teams that actually monitor the blogs. The researchers will read the posts for weeks and then we use that information to approach them respectfully. We treat every blogger as a credible journalist.”

The concept of viral marketing has been hyped a lot over the past two years, but there are questions about its effectiveness. A study by JupiterResearch, a New York-based Internet consulting company, shows that only 15 percent of such campaigns prompt consumers to spread the “word of mouth.” Some marketers are cutting back their efforts in the viral sector, which could mean less business for Rocket XL.

Reaching out

The agency doesn’t hide its marketing mission, Howe said. It simply tells the bloggers: “We’ve been asked by so-and-so to start this initiative, would you like to help?”

Rocket XL sets up a special Web page with information available only to invited bloggers. Depending on the product, the page might contain video clips, computer applications or even a downloadable product.

In the case of Dove, the soap owned by Unilever, the company’s ad agency created a minutelong film that shows the transformation of an ordinary woman into a supermodel through extreme makeover techniques. The idea is that young girls get unrealistic expectations and low self-esteem due to these idealized images.

Dove also promoted a “Pro-Age Statement” and set up a Self-Esteem Fund to “free the next generation from self-limiting beauty stereotypes.” The film ranked as one of the most popular videos on YouTube, with more than 7 million views. Donations to the fund have poured in and will be used to support a variety of international programs, including Girl Scouts of the United States of America.

“We identified influencers already talking online about self-esteem, then reached out to about 400 individually,” explained Howe. “In this campaign, which already had so many great elements, we acted as more of a distributor and story discovery agency.”

For the music video game Guitar Hero III, Rocket has created a short demo that bloggers can try out and win points for prizes. In addition, about 70 selected bloggers will receive the complete version of the game.

Another campaign involved the HBO series “Tell Me You Love Me.” The show centers on relationships and features sexually graphic scenes. As the series’ launch approached, online discussions focused almost exclusively on the X-rated content.

Diego Aldana, director of media relations at HBO, said the network asked Rocket to change perception of the show.

“We wanted to reach out to Internet influencers like bloggers and social networking mavens and show them that the series was thoughtful and explored intimacy,” said Aldana. “We were impressed with how Rocket XL helped us move the neutral or mixed responses over to positive ones.”

Some say Rocket XL’s campaigns have been successful because of their emotional content.

“The Dove campaign works because it’s emotional, so people tell others about it,” said Peter Kim, a senior analyst at Forrester Research. “But you can’t hope to sell toothbrushes with viral.”

Emily Riley, an analyst with JupiterResearch, said contests and charity donations can help increase awareness of products, but can also overshadow them.

The strategy can work “as long as it doesn’t become the main point and consumers don’t remember the ad message,” she said.

Howe said the Dove campaign took some risks in advertising a beauty product by showing the falseness of the beauty industry.

But as the results show, it worked. “Why does Dove work on an emotional level?” asked Kim. “Because all of its products are about beauty.”

Useless chatter?

The JupiterResearch study found that 55 percent of marketers plan to reduce their use of viral campaigns in 2008.

“Generally, viral marketing doesn’t go wrong, it just doesn’t go,” said Riley of JupiterResearch. “You have well-conceived creative that never gets any support or media exposure, so it just stands alone.”

It is a struggle to measure the success of viral campaigns. Howe said he considers the quality and quantity of blog postings. For quality, he aims to get posts or conversations at least 350 words long, compared with the average post of 110.

Kim said most advertisers measure the level of chatter about their brands before a campaign starts and benchmark from there, often dividing the comments into positive and negative.

Despite the limitations, Kim believes viral marketing will continue since his research indicates people trust recommendations from other consumers more than ad messages.

For do-it-yourself small companies that want to try viral, Howe suggests they first monitor what people say about their product online. And if no one’s talking about their product, they should look at the online chatter about competitors and see who’s getting attention and why.

Riley believes viral can work for a lot companies that have never tried it. “Many marketers believe it’s for 18- to 24-year-olds,” she said, “but that’s not the case. Middle-age adults are more likely to forward viral advertising, but in more tradition ways like e-mail rather than social networking or blog sites.”

Howe has staged viral campaigns for everything from dog food to ski resorts and disposable diapers.

“I think the best strategy is to take risks,” he said. “The medium lends itself to that. Content can spark debate and that’s the ultimate win.”