Brilliant creative (okay, sometimes dumb luck) is the key to viral marketing
What makes digital content go viral? In a year during which both a truly awesome presidential election and truly awful financial crisis held sway, there was no dearth of online video, both reality and parody. Some of it people watched and passed along with abandon. Some they just watched and abandoned. As a perpetual student of digital behavior, it’s fascinating for me to see what strikes a common chord and goes on to make the viral hit list, and what just dies on the online vine. From a marketing point of view, in many cases the most virally catchy stuff is the result of brilliant creative thinking and execution. Not expensive, mind you, just strategically innovative, like the Burger King Flame campaign aimed at adolescent-minded guys for whom the idea of a meat-scented body spray is pretty sizzling. Keeping the creative bar high in the contest for online eyeballs is definitely one way to assure your content will catch on. The other, I have to admit, is just plain luck. In many cases, dumb luck. Take a look at our colleagues at Sterling Cooper, and you’ll see what I mean. (In the meantime, if I were you, I’d opt for brilliant creative.)
December 30th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Thanx for the article Allen. We need more from this kind of branding approach. Congratulations.
I think the key to viral Marketing is to build it in. People gotta see plausible benefits from the product itself and by sharing it.
If you want something that crafts strong relationships, the challenge is to create value. Although some fancy You-Tube videos (for example) have millions views, are they creating strong bounds or they are just superficial relationships at the end of the day?
Cheers
Gabriel Rossi- Brazil