The companies behind teen "viral campaigns"

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Here are some national companies using word-of-mouth advertising.

Girls Intelligence Agency

The Beverly Hills-based GIA chooses 2,000 "winners" from its nationwide base of 40,000 special agents — some as young as 8 — each quarter to host slumber parties.

The company provides kits containing free products, including movie or TV previews, branded T-shirts and samples, plus related activities; the girl supplies 10 friends, who answer marketing questions online. Previous boxes focused on the PG-13-rated movies "Mona Lisa Smile" and "Chasing Liberty."

Hosts must have a parent's permission, but it's up to her to share that the party is a marketing effort. In three years, with thousands of parties, GIA president Laura Groppe says she's never gotten a complaint about parental notification.

"The only people who have a problem are the girls who weren't chosen to get a kit."

For in-depth research, GIA staff visits selected slumber parties to interview girls.

To clients, GIA promises girls will spend a night "immersed in your brand," letting the company "behind enemy lines." As the Web site explains: "See what is inside her bedroom, closets, drawers, backpacks and bathroom" to "acquire inside knowledge to reach this profitable demographic at minimal expense."

Psychologist Susan Linn says GIA has "co-opted pajama parties for girls." She's especially appalled that the company dubs its viral efforts the "BFF Network" (for Best Friends Forever).
 
Groppe dismisses any criticism: "We're not there unless we're invited."

Web sites: For clients, www.girlsintelligenceagency.com; for girls, www.giaheadquarters.com.

Virgin Mobile

The New Jersey-based company, a pay-as-you-go cellphone service that caters to the youth market, uses its network of 2,000 "insiders" for research and some marketing but depends on all its 2 million members to spread the word, said Peter Boyd, vice president of promotions.

Before running a TV ad campaign, the company will put out the message to its insiders first. "We keep them in the loop," Boyd said. But mostly the teens help by telling the company how important a camera feature is, say, or whether a blue face plate is cooler than a white one. "It's more about us being touched by this audience, rather than a new way to touch them," he explained.

Web site: www.virginmobileusa.com

Tremor

Tremor, a marketing division of Procter & Gamble, recruits "connector" teens to help market and evaluate products from the entertainment, fashion, music, food and beauty industry. As it explains to members, "We want you to help us create exciting marketing programs and share them with your friends."

Recent examples include voting online whether to help Snoop Dogg launch a new line of shoes and which girls should "grace the pages" of a body-spray calendar. It promises members will "be the first to preview new products."

To clients, the company says its 200,000 "most influential teens in the U.S." are "your gateway to the total teen population." It claims to debunk the myth that "word-of-mouth marketing is luck."

Web site: www.tremor.com

Alt Terrain

This Boston-based "alternative media" marketing group organizes "online street teams" that post messages "with brand focused conversations, viral marketing content and links to product information and reviews," according to its Web site. "Thousands of chat rooms and message boards provide prime opportunities for Online Street Teams to influence target consumers, seed branded content, create online buzz and drive Web site traffic."

Says David Walsh, president of the National Institute on Media and the Family, "When they're in a chatroom and someone is talking up the latest CD or movie, my guess is few kids suspect it's actually an employee of a marketing firm. We need to shine a spotlight on this so parents can talk to their kids as consumers."

Web site: www.altterrain.com

Stephanie Dunnewind, Seattle Times staff reporter