Very first rule of viral videos: There are no rules
In early November last year a 3-minute long video was uploaded on a popular video-sharing site. Within 10 days of the upload, well-over four million people watched Sheila ki Jawaani. The song-and-dance video went on air (online) almost a month before the film it belongs to released in cinemas across the country. But where does Sheila fit in a story on brands and their viral ad campaigns? Well, in a world where Sheila’s carnival of youth stirs millions to click, wait and watch a 180 second video, do brands’ 60-second-videos online even stand a teensy chance?
Well, they do, if it is worthy of discovery and not seemingly concocted and inundated with blatant branding. There’s a reason why the most popular viral videos doing global rounds are the ones, which don’t look like a glossy television spot with actors spouting well-rehearsed brand tag lines. Instead they are videos shot on a camcorder at virtually no cost by a director who’s probably studying for his 12th grade biology paper at the same time.
The beauty of a viral video is that it doesn’t matter if the video is made on a shoestring budget and looks amateurish or has high production value and perhaps still looks amateurish, or as spiffy as a blockbuster movie trailer; as long as it is worthy enough to tell your family, friends and strangers even, to ‘check it out’, it will work. According to Gautam Mehra, chief socio-search architect, Ignitee, one mustn’t try to make a viral. If your startegy is to “go viral” right from the beginning, then you are likely to fail. “Because the moment you do that it’s sniffed out.
Most successful viral videos didn’t start out as virals. If you want your campaign to go viral you just have to push the boundaries.” Many specialists are peeved that marketers think of a viral as a tele commercial made for the web. That’s why you hear expressions like “‘how many views can you guarantee? I want 10 lakh views in the first 10 days. I want to break my viral on this day.’ It doesn’t work that way,” says Mehra, “you can’t break a viral. A viral video is not a television commercial.” The viral mechanism has lured many brands with its prospect of reaching millions without spending millions for airtime or column space. “Creating viral effect has now become a mantra for most brands particularly the youth focused ones,” says S Yesudas, MD, Indian Sub-continent, Vizeum,“Unfortunately many of them begin and end with a video posting.” So when it comes to viral marketing a lot depends on how ‘socially’ evolved a brand is.
For cola major Coke it’s all about the experience, so the in-house mandate is to look for activities, which are literally never done before. According to Wasim Basir, director – integrated marketing, Coca-Cola, brands do not create virals, consumers do. “All we can do is to try and create experiences that are good enough for people to talk about.” So Coke recreated its successful Happiness Machine campaign in colleges in Punjab and videos of college kids using the machine were posted online. First tested in a school in Brooklyn, NY, the desi version of the magic-vending machine that dispenses everything from bottles of cola to cup-cakes and orange afros is no T-Mobile Dance or Cadbury Gorilla. But it certainly means something to the thousands who watched themselves or their friends on YouTube. “At the moment people are still looking at online after they have considered TV. People talk about first getting TV right, but you should first get the idea right,” says Basir.
And when brand managers do get the viral right, it can change fortunes. “The key is to look at it from a 360 degree point of view,” says Mehra of Ignitee. Consider Isaiah Mustafa, 2010’s social superstar. But before the shirtless man-your-man-could-smell-like mounted a horse or showered in full-view of millions, the brand he endorses was dipping southward and was on the brink of being forgotten. Just like Grandpa’s empty old bottle of after-shave with a picture of a clipper on it. The Old Spice campaign began with a single video, which started out online and then went to television. Later they launched their more successful digital response campaign in which Isaiah Mustafa interacted with fans via a blitzkrieg of YouTube videos — consumers send him a message through YouTube Facebook or Twitter and wait for his reply.
However videos aiming to create the viral sensation need not be entirely bonkers or showcase global soccer stars in a parallel universe or both. Just consider this British public service campaign for road safety; Sussex Safer Roads Partnership’s ‘Embrace Life’ spot was a simple, emotionally raw and breathtaking piece of work that broke some top myths about viral videos. According to a Pepsi spokesperson, when it comes to viral videos the brand-connection must be subtle and inferential. “Always ask yourself, will I share this on my profile? Users on social networks respond preferentially to content seeded through their personal networks as opposed to advertised or pushed content.” Pepsi primarily use its microsites to first seed a video into the social space and initially showcase it to fans. The fans become evangelists and spread it to their networks resulting in a viral sensation. The first true viral success for Pepsi was The Game campaign where all components of the campaign including the making, were shared on the campaign YouTube channel.
Well, they do, if it is worthy of discovery and not seemingly concocted and inundated with blatant branding. There’s a reason why the most popular viral videos doing global rounds are the ones, which don’t look like a glossy television spot with actors spouting well-rehearsed brand tag lines. Instead they are videos shot on a camcorder at virtually no cost by a director who’s probably studying for his 12th grade biology paper at the same time.
The beauty of a viral video is that it doesn’t matter if the video is made on a shoestring budget and looks amateurish or has high production value and perhaps still looks amateurish, or as spiffy as a blockbuster movie trailer; as long as it is worthy enough to tell your family, friends and strangers even, to ‘check it out’, it will work. According to Gautam Mehra, chief socio-search architect, Ignitee, one mustn’t try to make a viral. If your startegy is to “go viral” right from the beginning, then you are likely to fail. “Because the moment you do that it’s sniffed out.
Most successful viral videos didn’t start out as virals. If you want your campaign to go viral you just have to push the boundaries.” Many specialists are peeved that marketers think of a viral as a tele commercial made for the web. That’s why you hear expressions like “‘how many views can you guarantee? I want 10 lakh views in the first 10 days. I want to break my viral on this day.’ It doesn’t work that way,” says Mehra, “you can’t break a viral. A viral video is not a television commercial.” The viral mechanism has lured many brands with its prospect of reaching millions without spending millions for airtime or column space. “Creating viral effect has now become a mantra for most brands particularly the youth focused ones,” says S Yesudas, MD, Indian Sub-continent, Vizeum,“Unfortunately many of them begin and end with a video posting.” So when it comes to viral marketing a lot depends on how ‘socially’ evolved a brand is.
For cola major Coke it’s all about the experience, so the in-house mandate is to look for activities, which are literally never done before. According to Wasim Basir, director – integrated marketing, Coca-Cola, brands do not create virals, consumers do. “All we can do is to try and create experiences that are good enough for people to talk about.” So Coke recreated its successful Happiness Machine campaign in colleges in Punjab and videos of college kids using the machine were posted online. First tested in a school in Brooklyn, NY, the desi version of the magic-vending machine that dispenses everything from bottles of cola to cup-cakes and orange afros is no T-Mobile Dance or Cadbury Gorilla. But it certainly means something to the thousands who watched themselves or their friends on YouTube. “At the moment people are still looking at online after they have considered TV. People talk about first getting TV right, but you should first get the idea right,” says Basir.
And when brand managers do get the viral right, it can change fortunes. “The key is to look at it from a 360 degree point of view,” says Mehra of Ignitee. Consider Isaiah Mustafa, 2010’s social superstar. But before the shirtless man-your-man-could-smell-like mounted a horse or showered in full-view of millions, the brand he endorses was dipping southward and was on the brink of being forgotten. Just like Grandpa’s empty old bottle of after-shave with a picture of a clipper on it. The Old Spice campaign began with a single video, which started out online and then went to television. Later they launched their more successful digital response campaign in which Isaiah Mustafa interacted with fans via a blitzkrieg of YouTube videos — consumers send him a message through YouTube Facebook or Twitter and wait for his reply.
However videos aiming to create the viral sensation need not be entirely bonkers or showcase global soccer stars in a parallel universe or both. Just consider this British public service campaign for road safety; Sussex Safer Roads Partnership’s ‘Embrace Life’ spot was a simple, emotionally raw and breathtaking piece of work that broke some top myths about viral videos. According to a Pepsi spokesperson, when it comes to viral videos the brand-connection must be subtle and inferential. “Always ask yourself, will I share this on my profile? Users on social networks respond preferentially to content seeded through their personal networks as opposed to advertised or pushed content.” Pepsi primarily use its microsites to first seed a video into the social space and initially showcase it to fans. The fans become evangelists and spread it to their networks resulting in a viral sensation. The first true viral success for Pepsi was The Game campaign where all components of the campaign including the making, were shared on the campaign YouTube channel.
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