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Speaker 1: I have been personally called out in our Big Business

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Speaker 1: podcast Instagram account DMS by someone who goes by the

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Speaker 1: name of Caitlin, and she said this, Hello, Big Business team,

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Speaker 1: I've been thinking and would love your opinion our brands

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Speaker 1: using the term viral to push a product. I feel

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Speaker 1: like I'm seeing things launch with wording like our most

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Speaker 1: wanted viral piece, etc. And I'm wondering if you think

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Speaker 1: customers are falling into the trap of buying things because

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Speaker 1: they're viral, and then with that, is the word viral

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Speaker 1: going to lose meaning? Or I guess it's power. Thanks

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Speaker 1: for reading haha X. I've been called out by you, Caitlin,

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Speaker 1: and this is a great thought for you to have,

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Speaker 1: and it's got my mind ticking as well. So let's

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Speaker 1: break it down. Let's start with your first question. So

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Speaker 1: Or you said, I feel like I'm seeing things launch

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Speaker 1: with the wording like our most wanted viral piece. Now,

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Speaker 1: this is interesting because I think it's a big claim

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Speaker 1: to make if a brand is launching something for the

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Speaker 1: first time and calling it viral. I don't think brands

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Speaker 1: can be doing that, and I think you know that

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Speaker 1: in itself is quite misleading to do if something is

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Speaker 1: absolutely brand new, and I don't think myself I've ever

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Speaker 1: seen a brand launch something and call it viral. But

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Speaker 1: you're right in noticing that brands have started to use

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Speaker 1: this word more and I'll even admit we've used it

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Speaker 1: for a couple of our pieces as well, and it

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Speaker 1: is very much a selling point. But I think it's

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Speaker 1: no different than all the other selling points that we

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Speaker 1: brands use. Like before, we use the word you know,

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Speaker 1: these are our viral this is our viral Marni dress.

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Speaker 1: We would say that this is our best selling or

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Speaker 1: you know, quickest selling, or most popular or most loved.

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Speaker 1: But I think the word viral it just holds a

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Speaker 1: lot more weight and power given the fact that you know,

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Speaker 1: you think viral on the internet, you think super famous

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Speaker 1: compared to you know, if I was to say this

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Speaker 1: is our viral Marni dress, or this is our best

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Speaker 1: selling Marni dress, We're essentially saying the same thing. But

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Speaker 1: I think the word viral just holds a lot more power.

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Speaker 1: Now our brand's using this as a selling tactic, absolutely,

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Speaker 1: like the same way we use all other descriptive words

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Speaker 1: to describe our products. Do I think it's shady if

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Speaker 1: a brand is calling something viral when it isn't absolutely,

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Speaker 1: so I think, and you've got me thinking about me

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Speaker 1: using this word myself, and like, we've got to be

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Speaker 1: so careful when we use these words because technically, I mean, actually,

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Speaker 1: let's use Google right now. What is the definition of viral.

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Speaker 1: I mean it's probably going to say it's a disease, yeah,

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Speaker 1: of the nature of caused by or relating to a

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Speaker 1: virus or viruses. But then the second one is in

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Speaker 1: brackets of an image, video, piece of information, etc. Circulated

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Speaker 1: rapidly and wildly from one Internet user to another. So

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Speaker 1: there you go, circulated rapidly and widely on the Internet.

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Speaker 1: I think the tricky thing is like when I think viral,

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Speaker 1: I think, like it's gone absolutely viral and gotten millions

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Speaker 1: and squillions of views. But then you know, the definition

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Speaker 1: is just something that's circulated rapidly and widely from one

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Speaker 1: Internet user to another. So I think there's no harm

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Speaker 1: in a brand calling something viral if it has quite

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Speaker 1: literally gone viral. And I don't mean like a ten

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Speaker 1: million video view viral, but it's something that's just really

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Speaker 1: popped off. And I think I can use an example

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Speaker 1: with us at Fate last year, maybe around September or

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Speaker 1: a bit before, I can't exactly remember. The months are flying.

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Speaker 1: We released this one dress and it's our Mani dress,

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Speaker 1: and I knew everyone would love it, but it just

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Speaker 1: like took us by surprise, like sometimes some items will

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Speaker 1: just really take us by surprise. And the content that

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Speaker 1: we posted did so well, the ads that I had running,

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Speaker 1: you know, about the dress. When we released it, I

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Speaker 1: chucked up our Facebook meta ads as I always do.

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Speaker 1: Those ads, like they didn't go viral like getting millions

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Speaker 1: of views, but you know, the ads performed extremely well,

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Speaker 1: like they converted really well, and I sold so many

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Speaker 1: of those dresses through those ads and got really good

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Speaker 1: results through the ads, and then our emails blew up

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Speaker 1: on the back end of everyone saying because the dress

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Speaker 1: sold out like so quickly, And we're kind of getting

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Speaker 1: to that point in Fate where that doesn't really happen

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Speaker 1: as often as it used to. So when a item

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Speaker 1: like flies off the website like that, like it feels

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Speaker 1: like a really viral, impactful moment for us, and then

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Speaker 1: our customer service inbox is getting flooded with emails of

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Speaker 1: when is the Marni dress? Coming back? When's the Marny

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Speaker 1: dress coming back? And everyone's asking in our Fate Society

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Speaker 1: group when's it coming back? And then my ads did

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Speaker 1: so well, and then the comments on Instagram are like,

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Speaker 1: oh my god, it's already sold out. To me, that

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Speaker 1: is a moment where I'm like, okay, this is a

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Speaker 1: viral dress for us. So then what I've done is

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Speaker 1: we like reordered the dress because it sold out, you know,

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Speaker 1: so quickly, and we brought it back and then we

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Speaker 1: did it in some new colors as well. So I've

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Speaker 1: been using viral as a descriptive word for our Marni

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Speaker 1: dress based on the success of its initial launch last year.

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Speaker 1: And I think, based on all of that data, that's

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Speaker 1: not me using that word to con people into buying

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Speaker 1: the dress. It's because as a business, we experienced this

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Speaker 1: dress going viral for us. So I think, you know,

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Speaker 1: whilst we absolutely should be mindful of brands using words

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Speaker 1: to try and convince us to sell things, I think,

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Speaker 1: especially for us, I'm using that word when something has

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Speaker 1: genuinely gone viral. I'm not going to go and take

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Speaker 1: a really slow selling item that we've got on our

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Speaker 1: website and be like this is our viral Spenserity, like,

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Speaker 1: I mean, our Spenser tea is a really good seller

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Speaker 1: as well. But I'm not going to go and get

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Speaker 1: one of our C grade category items from our website

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Speaker 1: that has sold five units in the last three months

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Speaker 1: and go, this is our viral blah blah blah, because

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Speaker 1: that's just false. But if we do have an item

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Speaker 1: that has done exceptionally well, I'm absolutely going to then

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Speaker 1: refer that item to being a viral or our best

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Speaker 1: seller or it's sold out super fast, because that is

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Speaker 1: a fact. Now does this mean that all businesses are

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Speaker 1: always going to be honest when it comes to describing

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Speaker 1: something as viral. No, people very well could get that

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Speaker 1: shitty product on the website, and trust me, We've all

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Speaker 1: got shitty products. I've got products that I can't bloody sell.

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Speaker 1: But other businesses absolutely might get an item that they've

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Speaker 1: had forever and it's not selling and do a whole

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Speaker 1: campaign around it being viral, and it may trick people

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Speaker 1: into thinking that it is a viral item. And I think,

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Speaker 1: you know, that's when it comes down to, I guess

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Speaker 1: them and they should be honest with their marketing, But

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Speaker 1: you know, you do. Brands are going to do whatever

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Speaker 1: they're going to do these days. But also as consumers,

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Speaker 1: you know, we can be mindful. And I think you

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Speaker 1: sending me this message and thinking about the word viral,

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Speaker 1: is you being a conscious shopper and you know, cluing

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Speaker 1: on too little marketing terms and things that brands say.

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Speaker 1: But this has been a really interesting message for you

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Speaker 1: to send through. And do I think that the word

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Speaker 1: is going to lose its power? It is becoming a

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Speaker 1: more and more popular word to use, so I absolutely

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Speaker 1: do think that it will lose its power. But I

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Speaker 1: think if you're smart as a brand when it comes

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Speaker 1: to using this word, and you genuinely are using it

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Speaker 1: when it's an item that has sold like absolute crazy hotcakes,

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Speaker 1: then I think it's a word worth using. And you

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Speaker 1: can also do some research yourself as well, Like if

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Speaker 1: a brand is promoting something that's super viral, like you

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Speaker 1: can jump onto their website and see like how many

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Speaker 1: products does that how many products? Sorry, how many reviews

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Speaker 1: does that product have? If you search it up on

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Speaker 1: the internet, can you find any content about it? And

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Speaker 1: if there's nothing out there that you can see about

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Speaker 1: it this is the first time you're hearing about it,

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Speaker 1: then maybe you can think, hm, maybe this isn't a

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Speaker 1: viral product, so there's always ways that you can look

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Speaker 1: into it as well. Do I think eventually the word

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Speaker 1: will lose its power potentially, Yes, especially the more and

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Speaker 1: more brands start to use the word. But then again,

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Speaker 1: you know, in six months or a year from now,

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Speaker 1: there's probably going to be some other word that we're

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Speaker 1: all using to describe our best selling items. Who knows,

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Speaker 1: but either way, Caitlin, thanks for sending through this DM.

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Speaker 1: I absolutely love this and be sure to shop all

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Speaker 1: the viral pieces at fate at fatethlabel dot com. I'm

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Speaker 1: just kidding. But that's all for this week's bonus episode

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Speaker 1: and I'll be back next week