The Secret to Viral Videos
Posted on February 27, 2008 - Filed Under Random
A couple of years ago I was taking a Creative Industries course at the University of Toronto when I had the privilege of speaking with David Mirvish. This was before the whole Lord of the Rings fiasco. Anyways, he explained to me that there was a simple order of popularity and success with the shows that Mirvish Productions put on:
1. Musical
2. Comedy
3. Tragedy
I believe that the same applies to viral videos online. The most popular ones are musical, followed by comedy and rounded up by tragedy. Of course, in the “tragedy” sense it might be replaced with a category I like to call “what the fuck”. Don’t believe me? Check these out:
1. Musical – 8,000,000+ in 4 weeks
2. Comedy – 300,000+ in 3 weeks
3. Tragedy/WTF – 245,000 views in 1 year
Now comes the problem. How does a brand create something like this without being lame? Obviously it appears to be easier for celebrity brand, especially one that is known for comedy. But how can it apply to a product? I think the key is not to force it. If your brand is cool enough or you can show a funny take on a benefit/service, then people will gravitate towards it. But you have to remain on brand. That’s what Blendtec did and their sales grew five-fold due to their viral “Will It Blend” videos.
I definitely have some more thinking to do on this topic. It’s so easy to pick out examples of what works and what flops. It’s easy to break down the reasons for their success. The hard part is replicating them, because you can only be original once.
- Christian
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There was an excellent article on what makes something viral in Fast Company a few years ago.
You can find it here: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/110/open_rabbit-hole.html?page=0%2C0
It follows a company called Camp Fire the geniuses behind Audi’s The Art of the Heist and who found their fame with the viral hit movie The Blair Witch Project. Some interesting views on how something goes viral and who participates in it - the key lesson was there are different levels of participation - not everyone is gonna participate but there sure are a lot of ppl who prefer to observe standing on the periphery. And you have to measure success accordingly.
Thanks C, I think I just found my next blog entry to write about!