Going through the Canadian Marketing Association blog I stumbled upon a post, discussing viral videos. Robin Whalen, the author, emphasizes the many difficulties associated with creating viral material and goes as far as to say that she “can’t stand” the word. In her post Robin notices that “[g]reat ideas need beautiful creative and stellar production behind them … [which] costs money” and above all else does not guarantee any success. Furthemore, these factors make it almost impossible for the majority of companies to create truly viral ads.
The following video, which got 1,872,962 views in just 8 days, is a viral commercial for Pepsi MAX.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLyvkBifQ3w&feature=player_embedded
The old guys, it turns out, are Cleveland Caveliers’ star Kyrie Irving and Minnesota Timberwolves’ star Kevin Love who effectively shock the unsuspecting crowd at a random LA basketball court. Clearly, the video satisfies those conditions outlined by Robin Whalen in her CMA post: an excellently executed idea with a strong brand and, I’m guessing, considerable amount of money behind it.
But do these requirements always apply? Do viral videos have to have some degree of “consumer value” or “careful planning” in order to become such in the first place and then being capitalized on? I disagree. Sometimes videos go viral for no obvious reasons whatsoever, as in the case of “Nyan Cat,” a pop-tart cat flying through space, leaving rainbow trace and accompanied by a strange repetitive soundtrack. And the beauty of it is the almost inexistent cost of production coupled with huge popularity (87,611,751 views to date). Drawing on these, the creators developed an iTunes App, a perfect way to benefit from the success. And even though such success was never planned (or even thought of) in advance, it is nevertheless an example. An example of an alternative way to go viral with a possibility of capitalizing on it in the future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH2-TGUlwu4
Sources:
http://www.the-cma.org/about/blog/%E2%80%9Cviral%E2%80%9D-is-a-4-letter-word