According to Conquest, an idea is likely to catch on and go viral when it generates buzz and a desire to belong, inspires awe in consumers and brings with it a sense of energy and excitement.

InfeXious measures whether these attributes apply to a given concept by bringing the creative to consumers and asking them to show what they think other people will feel about an idea, using cartoon characters in a variety of settings – an approach that builds on the agency’s existing Metaphorix and AdSpark tools.

So, for instance, respondents are asked to score whether an idea is likely to create a sense of wanting to belong by positioning characters within a sphere surrounding the brand, while ‘numinosity’ – the awe-inspiring potential of a product – is represented by the number of characters who are illuminated using the click of a mouse.

In a paper presented today at the Research 2010 Annual Conference, Conquest boss David Penn drew a distinction between a contagious idea and an engaging one – ‘engagement’ typically being seen as a prerequisite for a successful viral campaign.

Penn said: “Although closely linked, it appears that contagiousness and engagement are not the same thing. Contagious ideas are different because they produce a ‘social’ response (in addition to the individual one) – one that encourages us to share the idea with others.

“Contagious advertising therefore has to have a quality that goes beyond advertising engagement – a quality best captured by measures of numinosity, energy and excitement. In metaphorical terms, it’s about ideas that capture our imagination, which spark and light a fire under the brand they advertise. Thus, unsurprisingly, inspiration and empathy also seem to be key qualities of contagious advertising, whilst (rationalised) enjoyment, delivering new news and providing a call to action are less important.”