The two lines are no different. Create a Viral Video and Make Me Win a Lottery. It is the equivalent of saying, ” Horse riding is a no-no but I do want to head a cavalry regiment”. If wishes were horses…
So, all the brand and marketing directors who are challenged not to look up from their Ledger of Lack( of viral content) and holding fastidiously onto their KPI sheets, the magical request that echoes at every client meeting ” Abracadabra–make us a viral video ” resulting in eyes that twitch non stop and ears that wax up(in defense?).
There is a thought that goes around: that viral video creation is like baking a cake – follow a recipe, put it in the oven and voila- 10 Million views later you have the next Gangnam Style. And it never surprises that this supposedly Steven Spielberg style production and Christopher Nolan style execution has to be delivered on a student film budget. And though we wanted this to go viral last week, tomorrow is fine( yes, with 18 revisions).
And all these czars of branding and marketing are well versed with what has worked and will drop case studies like a hot potato. Here are the more common ones(inspiration if you will):-
- We want something like the Dollar Shave Club viral video. Yes, the 2012 masterpiece that everyone and their aunts references. All the time completely forgetting that their Founder( Michael Dubin) was a trained improv comedian, they shot that video for US$4500 when no one was doing any quirky DTC ads. And when everyone tries to copy it, it doesn’t go viral. The internet can’t see eye to eye with copycats.
- Make it like Old Spice‘s ‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like‘!”- Sure, happy to. Just give us Wieden + Kennedy‘s creative genius along with Isaiah Mustafa and several months of research and preparation( remember this viral video the client is briefing you on is needed the day after tomorrow). And, if you own a time machine, go back in time to 2010 when this approach was unabashedly fresh. Old Spice did not ask for a viral video. Their core objective was to make their brand relevant to women who buy men’s products.
- Can we do something like the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge that melted the internet? Yeah, thats a piece of cake. Except that everyone forgets this wasn’t a planned campaign. It evolved organically and worked because real people (not brands) drove it. Yet every brand meeting since has included someone saying “let’s create our own Ice Bucket Challenge! Time to take this off the bucket list friends.
And just to balance things out, let me add a devastatingly real-world example- who can forget Pepsi‘s 2017 Kendall Jenner protest ad? Boy did it go viral. And how. Only as a masterclass in uniting the internet in collective outrage. They wanted to go viral, they went viral and ended up asking WHYral? So, be careful what you wish for. Don’t tempt fate.
No, adding a dancing cat won’t automatically make your B2B enterprise software video break the internet. Though I admit watching Mr.Whiskers explain cloud computing would be more entertaining than your current PowerPoint. What happened? Cat got your tongue?
The most viral things on the internet are usually accidents or authentic moments. Strong emotions! Unfortunately, “mild interest in our new product features” isn’t one of them. Neither is “corporate-approved enthusiasm.”
But My Nephew said…” Expert
“My nephew said we need more memes. He’s 14 and really good at Fortnite.”
Ah, the nephew—the unsung hero of marketing strategy. Who needs data-driven insights when you have a teenager who once got 50 likes on a TikTok. Outrage on Planet Social.
So, the next time you get a brief that smells or sounds like this ” we don’t know what we want but we will know it when we see it” , you know what to do.
I am quite keen to know who invented metrics. Especially when I hear the brand say we will measure the success of the campaign by the number of likes metrics. That directly translates to ” if it doesn’t get a million likes, it is a failure “. Forget brand recall, sales, or long-term impact—let’s judge the entire campaign by how many strangers double-tapped on Instagram.
And last but not the least, as you are concluding the meeting – the one for the road( or trash you decide)-coming from the #Hash You Like It Brigade– Just add #Viral and #Trending. That should do it.
All this has left me totally confused as to what should be the new pecking order:
” Pls make a viral video”—would this be a request that ranks right up there with “Make it pop,” “Use AI,” and “Can you make the logo bigger?”. Pray, tell me.