Big brands approach to viral marketing video’s: don’t worry, be happy.
Posted by Lauren Potgieter on 05 Mar 2010 | Tagged as: Uncategorized
I am a sucker for following big brands viral marketing video campaigns. For instance, if there is a video that I think is clever and witty, it is likely that I will send the link to my friends (whom I know have the same sense of humour and interests that I do.) Just today, I watched the Puma Hardchorus (probably for the third time already) and sent it to others I know would enjoy the magic of that cheesy love song being sung by a group of burly beer drinking men. I love it when big brands take a different approach to viral marketing campaigns and involve themselves in something visually entertaining that ultimately gets people thinking and therefore makes it successful. To be honest, I am rather jealous of their viral marketing ideas as I wish I could come up with something just as creative and intriguing, place it online and get a wave of responses – just from one little video or visual campaign. How do these brands know for certain that their campaign will take off and enhance their already big brand even further?
A brand that obviously knows how to create a viral marketing video that literally pops is Coca Cola. One of their recent viral marketing campaigns was aptly named Free Love and targeted young college students during their lunch break. Coca Cola put a happiness machine in an American college campus and watched as the students received free coca colas, flowers, pizzas and even a massive sub sandwich from the vending machine. By seeing the student’s reaction to the machine when watching the video, you are compelled to share it with others because of its lighthearted nature. Emotions stirred – check. Pass this video on – check. Viral marketing successful – check. The video ends with the tag “where will happiness strike next?” which is more fascinating than that frustrating “to be continued” tag at the end of your favourite TV show. This intrigue will keep the public interested and therefore keep this Coca Cola viral marketing video popular on the internet.
One of my favourite viral marketing videos is the series of Volkswagen clips entitled The Fun Theory. The first video in the series, entitled “Piano Stairs”, encourages individuals to take the stairs instead of the escalator by rigging the stairs near a transport system with piano sounds. “The World’s Deepest Bin” encourages the public to throw their rubbish away by giving a local bin in a park some quirky sound effects and the “Bottle Bank Arcade” persuades people to recycle by transforming the bottle banks into arcade machines. These viral marketing videos work because they not only tug at your heart strings with their happiness factor, but encourage you to change your lifestyle and enjoy daily tasks that you would otherwise find boring. We are all sick of serious marketing and watching something that lets us escape from our daily woes cannot be anything but successful.
All of these viral marketing videos have one thing in common: happiness. They look at human nature and emotion and how to make people smile in their daily lives. By making their brands real i.e. using real people to portray real situations, they can link their brand to real life situations and therefore make the public remember what they saw and who made them see it.
In the past, branding used to be all about superficiality – producing advertisements that had no relation to real people but rather to the selling of the brand. Nowadays, brands are focusing more on how to make people remember and “giving back” to customers that are loyal and recognise their brand.
Companies should not focus only on viral marketing though. Michael Donnelly, Group director for Worldwide Interactive Marketing, said recently in a presentation on social marketing for Coca Cola that “Viral shouldn’t BE your strategy – just part of a comprehensive plan.” It should be used in conjunction and in addition to your other marketing campaigns and enhance your brand name and aim.
So, pass these viral marketing videos onto your friends, make them smile and enjoy them for what they are, even if you do not remember the brand at the end of the clip – which is highly unlikely, if you ask me.
