The viral effect of user generated content campaigns is the result of consumers, not of posers. Transparency is king in the online social world. Consumers can easily detect what is real and what is not. Don't try to deceive them!
Example: Rule Breaker
Sony Hires Actors To Be PSP Evangelists!
You might have value adding and helpful information but if people don't listen to it then what good is it? If you are looking to deliver information about your company or the services you offer via off-site video, it needs to be uniquely presented and if not you better be able to sell it!
If you choose to "release-to-all" your strategies, insights, and knowledge, make sure not to leave your market asking, "why should I buy from you?" If you are going to be transparent by directly delivering your value proposition, do it in an engaging and informative manner that makes people think: "These people know what they are doing, I should take the next step and see what else they offer."
Example: Breaker of Two Rules
Gary Ruplinger, Good Information, Bad Delivery.
Sometimes you don't have to come up with an elaborate plan for capturing and developing compelling video content. Why not let your product do the entertaining? If you have an entertaining product, come up with a unique approach for showcasing what makes it unique and valuable like Blendtec has done with their "Will It Blend?" campaign. Viral videos that involve your product, but don't seem like direct advertisements do a great job of increasing awareness, building customer relationships, and creating brand loyalty.
Example: Rule Follower!
"Will it Blend?" Great Product With an Atypical Twist.
Culturally rich video content can create negative impressions on outliers. If content only makes sense from a cultural context, then it is not suited for outside sharing.
Example: Rule Breaker
Bank of America: Sing Your Heart Out!
The average length of video watched on YouTube is 2.5 minutes. However, some of the most successful viral video campaigns have been less then a minute in length. People are less likely to watch a video over 3 minutes in length unless it absolutely grabs their attention.
Giving viewers the impression that you are trying to create a viral video is not a valuable tactic. Remember, the viral nature created by video content is a naturally occurring phenomenon, so shoot a video with this thought in mind. Put less emphasis on developing the perfect "setup" and more emphasis on capturing something that is naturally entertaining.
Example: Breaker of Two Rules
Agency.com, Remember, Less is More.
The internet is by no means a homogenous group of people that share common values, interests, and content preferences. If you have a well defined target market with easy to identify demographics, use this information for finding the appropriate place to seed your viral video content. For example, if you are running a campaign for Dove Cream Oil, at the highest level your demographic is composed of females. So, YouTube might not be the best place to seed this video because it has a broad audience of content seekers and sharers. The Dove video faired much better when it was later seeded on AOL living.
Example: Rule Breaker
Dove Cream Oil Ad Campaign, YouTube Is Not The Right Place!
If you are selling to a specific market of buyers it makes sense to create content that is appealing to their tastes and relates to their profession. Eg. If you are selling software your principle buyers may be programmers; so in this case it would make sense to develop content that is geared specifically towards programmers so that you drive quality traffic to your website. One of the desired outcomes of a viral campaign is to drive as many qualified buyers as possible to your website. By developing content that is compelling to all, but demographically sensitive to your target market you will have a high chance of attaining this outcome.
Example: A Rule Follower!
Windward Reports: "Cubicle Wars" A little Humor and Demographically Targeted Video Goes a Long Way...
It is imperative to fully understand how your product is perceived before deciding to run a user-generated ad campaign. Certain products have very negative associations because they conflict with strongly held beliefs about a particular cause such as promoting a greener environment. If you haven't had an open communications structure in the past and put very little effort in moderating negative opinions; you are opening a floodgate of people who want to get their point across and may damage your product's reputation.
Example Rule Breaker
Chevy Tahoe User Generated Ad Campaign; Great Idea, Wrong Car!
Concentrate on a "Big" message to get a "Big" response. Is your product or service part of a larger cause? Create a story around your message. This will create an effective, memorable component of your video. It will stick with viewers and push them towards taking the next step. Surely a great way to build awareness!
Example: Rule Follower!
Epuron: Sells Their "BIG" Message and Ulitmately Sell's Their Products
Good Viral Video Campaign Examples Here is what happens when you follow our rules: Your content becomes viral and creates a positive buzz around your brand on the internet.
Background:
Blendtec manufactures several models of commercial and residential blenders. Blendtec was started in 1975 and primarily sold its products to commercial vendors. As word began to spread about the outstanding performance of their blenders, homeowners began to inquire about getting a Blendtec blender for residential use. Blendtec has now experienced phenomenal growth in the home/residential blender market thanks to building a superior product and having the viral marketing efforts to support it.
What they did:
Blendtec has created a series of viral videos that are part of an overall video campaign called "Will it Blend?" In this video series, Blendtec CEO Tom Dickson uses a residential blender to shred atypical objects (iPod, footballs, crowbars, etc.) at the request of online users. These videos range from 30 seconds to two minutes in length and can be seen on the "Will it Blend?" microsite and on YouTube.
What has happened:
The "Will it Blend?" campaign has become a tremendous online success. After its debut in November of 2006 the viral video campaign has received over 12.5 million hits on YouTube alone. Blendtec has drastically improved awareness around its brand for a small price by creating an entertainment based product experience available to users online.
Blendtec followed one of our rules!
If your product is clearly in a category above the competitors, like Blendtec, use simple transparent entertainment.
Sometimes you don't have to come up with an elaborate plan for developing compelling video content. Why not let your product do the entertaining? Come up with a unique approach for showcasing your product (like Blendtec did with their blender). Videos that involve your product, but don't seem like direct advertisements do a great job of increasing awareness, building customer relationships, and creating brand loyalty.
Background:
Windward reports provides solutions that enable corporations to build reports without significant amounts of time put into their development. Windward offers several solutions that are designed to make report building easy by creating add-on solutions to Microsoft products.
What they did:
Windward Reports created a mini series of viral videos called "Cubical Wars". In these videos two programming interns become involved in an office war between one another due to all the free-time windward reports apparently gives them. In the "Cubicle Wars" video the two workers talk about their feud and showcase different means of retaliation.
What has happened:
"Cubicle Wars" became an instant viral success with over 66,000 hits within the first 24 hours. Since Cubicle wars has been made available over YouTube it has been watched over 1 million times.
Windward Reports followed one of our rules!
Narrow buying market = demographically targeted content.
If you are selling to a specific market of buyers it makes sense to create content that is appealing to their tastes and relates to their profession. Ex. If you are selling software the principle buyers may be programmers; so in this case it would make sense to develop content that is geared specifically towards programmers so that you drive quality traffic to your website. One of the desired outcomes of a viral campaign is to drive as many qualified buyers as possible to your website. By developing content that is compelling to all, but demographically sensitive to your target market you will have a high chance of attaining this outcome.
Background:
Epuron develops, finances, implements and operates major projects in the field of renewable energy." Epuron provides a wide range of services ranging from preliminary development all the way to implementation of renewable energy alternatives. Epuron strives to deliver the best possible ROI for all of its clients in the alternative energy market.
What they did:
Epuron created a viral video called "The Wind" and posted it onto YouTube. This video cleverly communicates the acceptance of renewable energy resources with a clever story. A story is told by a large shadowy man about his struggle of being accepted and how he doesn't come across in the right way. The story combines well thought out cinematography and humor to reach an epiphany of acceptance in the end.
What has happened:
Since the making of "The Wind" the video has been watched over 500,000 times on YouTube and received the Golden Lion Award at the International Advertising Festival in Cannes.
Epuron followed one of our rules!
Sell a message; it may very well sell your product.
Concentrate on a "Big" message to get a "Big" response. Is your product or service part of a larger cause? Create a story around your message. This will create an affective component to your movie and make it memorable. It will stick with viewers and push them towards taking the next step. Surely a great way to build awareness!
Bad Viral Video Campaign Examples Many argue that bad publicity is better than no publicity at all. Ok, if that is the case, why do the most successful companies in the world spend millions of dollars on managing their online PR efforts? Why don't they just post some pictures of their CEO standing in his underwear on MySpace and call it strategic PR? It would be a whole lot cheaper right? The answer is simple; creating a position strengthening image in the online marketplace takes more than generating noise; it requires the careful seeding of influential content in the right mediums.
The following case examples are meant to serve as a wake up call/reminder of the negative implications a poorly executed influence strategy can have on your reputation. See how the following companies failed at creating successful viral campaigns by not following our simple rules.
Having no Influence strategy is better than having the wrong influence strategy! Disagree? Go ahead, take a look!
The Debacle of the PSP user generated video campaign; consumers are real people, not actors!
What Happened:
Sony tried creating a seasonally related, user generated video campaign about their PSP product.
Why? Sony wanted to build capture PSP evangelists by challenging them to make their own videos about how all they want for Christmas is a PSP. By posting these videos on YouTube and a PSP microsite, Sony believed that this campaign could become viral in nature and promote the PSP.
But, Sony and the PSP campaign broke one of our rules.
Don't be a Poser
The viral effect of user generated content campaigns is the result of consumers, not of posers. Transparency is king in the social world, consumers can easily detect what is real and what is not. Don't try to deceive them!
In essence, Sony hired Posers. They wanted to jumpstart their campaign by posting videos that would appeal to the PSP buying market. In fact, they went out and hired a company claiming to be a "Comsumer Activation Agency", with the promise of getting videos that promoted their product while coming across as user generated content. Soon after these videos hit their blog site and YouTube, disaster struck.
What Happened:
Ruplinger attempted to leverage his knowledge about SEO through a series of video clips to be shared over the internet.
Why? Ruplinger wanted to increase awareness of his services by using a widespread informative video campaign. Ruplinger runs a website called 'The Ultimate Traffic Blueprint' that is marketed as a blueprint for getting customers to spend more time and money on your website. Ruplinger's strategy was like that of appearing in videos containing useful information about SEO strategies would be beneficial to his company.
But, Ruplinger and his videos broke two of our rules.
If you aren't building unique content, you better be unique.
Even if you have the most useful information on the planet if people don't listen to it then what good is it? If you are looking to deliver information about your company or service via off-site activities, they need to be uniquely structured or you better be able to sell it!
Don't confuse your Why To Buy statement
If you choose to "release to-all" your strategies, insights, and knowledge, make sure not to leave your market asking; ok why should I buy from you? If you are going to be transparent with such information, it should be structured in a way that says: 'These people know what they are doing'.
The videos appear to possibly undercut his own business- viewers are left with the impression that after watching the videos there isn't any additional value in taking the next step. The why to buy isn't clear and his delivery is not unique.
What Happened:
Bank of America was merging with MBNA and was having a company conference to celebrate the event. Two Bank of America employees worked together and re-wrote U2's popular song, 'One', in order to capture the spirit of the merger. At the Conference one of the employees performed this song in front of Bank of America and former MBNA employees and it was later released on YouTube.
Why? Bank of America was trying to embrace MBNA into their corporate culture by having a musical performance symbolizing their acceptance. Since the performance seemed well-received at the conference, Bank of America probably thought it would help their company image online.
But Bank of America broke one of our rules.
Content conveying strong corporate culture is not always shareable.
Culturally related content can have negative effects on outliers. If content only makes sense from a cultural context, then it is not suited for outside sharing.
Bank of America took a well known song with a well established meaning and tried making it their own. This song might have been appealing to B&A culture, but after being released on the web it was viewed as a hokey corporate display.
What Happened:
In hopes of retaining Subway as a client, Agency.com thought it would be a good idea to make a viral video campaign about the research process behind making a viral video campaign for Subway. They tried to shoot a humorous video about some of the research steps involved in getting to know the Subway product. The first video that was released on YouTube was over 9 minutes long. It failed.
Why? Agency.com was trying to show Subway a piece of their culture and how dedicated they were to create a viral video campaign for Subway. Agency.com thought building a video about their attempt to get Subway as a client would be a fun way to get people involved in this process and ultimately increase awareness for the Subway Brand.
But Agency.com broke two of our rules.
Keep your viral videos at a length of one to three minutes.
The average length of video watched on YouTube is 2.5 minutes. However, some of the most successful viral video campaigns have been less then a minute in length. People are less inclined to watch a video over 3 minutes in length unless it absolutely captivates their attention!
Don't Overproduce!
Giving viewers the impression that you are trying to create a viral video is not a valuable tactic. Remember: the viral nature created by video content is a naturally occurring phenomenon, so shoot a video with this thought in mind. Put less emphasis on developing the perfect 'setup' and more emphasis on capturing something that seems inherently entertaining.
Though Agency.com set the "Going to Work for Subway" video up as being a raw, inside look at theri research process, the entire video came off as being scripted. In addition, the video was over 9 minutes long. 37% of videos watched on the internet occur on weekdays between the hours of 7 am - 5 pm (Cuban 2007). This means a large percentage of the online video market watches videos within workday hours. What does this mean? Workers typically want to watch multiple short videos because their time to do this can be limited.
What Happened:
Dove tried to create a user generated viral video campaign about a new cream oil soap product line. Dove shot a simple advertisement appearing on YouTube that challenged Dove users to create their own commercial about the cream oil product. Dove announced that the winner of the campaign would have their ad make its debut appearance during the Oscars. When the advertisement became available to the YouTube community it received such harsh criticism that Dove had to shut down the comment section.
Why? Dove was trying to capture the true essence of consumer generated material and support their "campaign for real beauty" which places emphasis that beautiful women come in all shapes and sizes. By running a consumer generated campaign Dove wanted create high levels of consumer involvement with their product and have raw content that supports their non-judgmental image.
But Dove broke one of our rules.
Pay attention to demographics when seeding viral videos.
The internet is by no means a homogenous group of people that share the same values, interests, and content preferences. If you have a well defined target market with easy to identify demographics, this information is imperative for finding the appropriate place to seed your viral content. For Example: If you are a running a campaign for Dove Cream Oil, at the highest level your demographic is composed of females. So, YouTube might not be the best place because people want broadly appealing entertainment. Dove moved the campaign to AOL Living and had better success. (VOX, 2007)
What Happened:
Chevy created a user generated viral ad campaign for the Chevy Tahoe. Chevy established a partnership with the popular television show "The Apprentice" and ran a co-sponsored ad campaign about the Chevy Tahoe SUV. Apprentice watchers and internet users were given the opportunity to download a series of customizable advertisements in which they could add their own text and a choice of pre-approved music. Prizes for contest winners included a trip to Jackson Hole and tickets the to MLB all-star game.
Why? Chevy was trying to engage viewers by encouraging them to participate in a user generated ad campaign. Hoping to build brand awareness both on television for a unique approach and online with it's interactive experience.
But Chevrolet broke one of our rules.
Understand the broad implications of your product before utilizing user generated content.
It is imperative to fully understand how your product is perceived before deciding to run a user-generated ad campaign. Certain products have very negative associations because they conflict with strongly held beliefs about a particular cause such as the environment. If you haven't had an open communications structure in the past then realize you might be opening a floodgate of people who want to get their point across in ways that may end up damaging your product's reputation.
Contact Us
See how our in-depth knowledge of Social Media and its ability to create Digital Influence can take your brand to the next level!
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SERVICES
- Online Competitive Analysis
- Social Media Adoption
- Online Market Research
- Digital Influence Planning
Digital Engagement Services- Blog Strategy, Blog Implementation
- Podcasts
- Wikis
- Viral Video Campaigns
- Viral Video Campaign Rules
- Good Viral Video Campaign Examples
- Bad Viral Video Campaign Examples
- Microsites
- Influence Medium Utilization
Content Publishing Services- Blog Publishing
- White Papers
Campaign TrackingViral Video Campaign Rules
The viral effect of user generated content campaigns is the result of consumers, not of posers. Transparency is king in the online social world. Consumers can easily detect what is real and what is not. Don't try to deceive them!
Example: Rule Breaker
Sony Hires Actors To Be PSP Evangelists!
TO SELL IT
TO SELL IT
Example: Breaker of Two Rules
Gary Ruplinger, Good Information, Bad Delivery.
Example: Rule Follower!
"Will it Blend?" Great Product With an Atypical Twist.
Example: Rule Breaker
Bank of America: Sing Your Heart Out!
Example: Breaker of Two Rules
Agency.com, Remember, Less is More.
Example: Rule Breaker
Dove Cream Oil Ad Campaign, YouTube Is Not The Right Place!
A Further Explanation
Example: A Rule Follower!
Windward Reports: "Cubicle Wars" A little Humor and Demographically Targeted Video Goes a Long Way...
GENERATING CONTENT
GENERATING CONTENT
Example Rule Breaker
Chevy Tahoe User Generated Ad Campaign; Great Idea, Wrong Car!
Example: Rule Follower!
Epuron: Sells Their "BIG" Message and Ulitmately Sell's Their Products
Good Viral Video Campaign Examples
Here is what happens when you follow our rules: Your content becomes viral and creates a positive buzz around your brand on the internet.
Blendtec manufactures several models of commercial and residential blenders. Blendtec was started in 1975 and primarily sold its products to commercial vendors. As word began to spread about the outstanding performance of their blenders, homeowners began to inquire about getting a Blendtec blender for residential use. Blendtec has now experienced phenomenal growth in the home/residential blender market thanks to building a superior product and having the viral marketing efforts to support it.
What they did:
Blendtec has created a series of viral videos that are part of an overall video campaign called "Will it Blend?" In this video series, Blendtec CEO Tom Dickson uses a residential blender to shred atypical objects (iPod, footballs, crowbars, etc.) at the request of online users. These videos range from 30 seconds to two minutes in length and can be seen on the "Will it Blend?" microsite and on YouTube.
What has happened:
The "Will it Blend?" campaign has become a tremendous online success. After its debut in November of 2006 the viral video campaign has received over 12.5 million hits on YouTube alone. Blendtec has drastically improved awareness around its brand for a small price by creating an entertainment based product experience available to users online.
Blendtec followed one of our rules!
If your product is clearly in a category above the competitors, like Blendtec, use simple transparent entertainment.
Sometimes you don't have to come up with an elaborate plan for developing compelling video content. Why not let your product do the entertaining? Come up with a unique approach for showcasing your product (like Blendtec did with their blender). Videos that involve your product, but don't seem like direct advertisements do a great job of increasing awareness, building customer relationships, and creating brand loyalty.
Windward reports provides solutions that enable corporations to build reports without significant amounts of time put into their development. Windward offers several solutions that are designed to make report building easy by creating add-on solutions to Microsoft products.
What they did:
Windward Reports created a mini series of viral videos called "Cubical Wars". In these videos two programming interns become involved in an office war between one another due to all the free-time windward reports apparently gives them. In the "Cubicle Wars" video the two workers talk about their feud and showcase different means of retaliation.
What has happened:
"Cubicle Wars" became an instant viral success with over 66,000 hits within the first 24 hours. Since Cubicle wars has been made available over YouTube it has been watched over 1 million times.
Windward Reports followed one of our rules!
Narrow buying market = demographically targeted content.
If you are selling to a specific market of buyers it makes sense to create content that is appealing to their tastes and relates to their profession. Ex. If you are selling software the principle buyers may be programmers; so in this case it would make sense to develop content that is geared specifically towards programmers so that you drive quality traffic to your website. One of the desired outcomes of a viral campaign is to drive as many qualified buyers as possible to your website. By developing content that is compelling to all, but demographically sensitive to your target market you will have a high chance of attaining this outcome.
Epuron develops, finances, implements and operates major projects in the field of renewable energy." Epuron provides a wide range of services ranging from preliminary development all the way to implementation of renewable energy alternatives. Epuron strives to deliver the best possible ROI for all of its clients in the alternative energy market.
What they did:
Epuron created a viral video called "The Wind" and posted it onto YouTube. This video cleverly communicates the acceptance of renewable energy resources with a clever story. A story is told by a large shadowy man about his struggle of being accepted and how he doesn't come across in the right way. The story combines well thought out cinematography and humor to reach an epiphany of acceptance in the end.
What has happened:
Since the making of "The Wind" the video has been watched over 500,000 times on YouTube and received the Golden Lion Award at the International Advertising Festival in Cannes.
Epuron followed one of our rules!
Sell a message; it may very well sell your product.
Concentrate on a "Big" message to get a "Big" response. Is your product or service part of a larger cause? Create a story around your message. This will create an affective component to your movie and make it memorable. It will stick with viewers and push them towards taking the next step. Surely a great way to build awareness!
Bad Viral Video Campaign Examples
Many argue that bad publicity is better than no publicity at all. Ok, if that is the case, why do the most successful companies in the world spend millions of dollars on managing their online PR efforts? Why don't they just post some pictures of their CEO standing in his underwear on MySpace and call it strategic PR? It would be a whole lot cheaper right? The answer is simple; creating a position strengthening image in the online marketplace takes more than generating noise; it requires the careful seeding of influential content in the right mediums.
The following case examples are meant to serve as a wake up call/reminder of the negative implications a poorly executed influence strategy can have on your reputation. See how the following companies failed at creating successful viral campaigns by not following our simple rules.
Having no Influence strategy is better than having the wrong influence strategy! Disagree? Go ahead, take a look!
What Happened:
Sony tried creating a seasonally related, user generated video campaign about their PSP product.
Why? Sony wanted to build capture PSP evangelists by challenging them to make their own videos about how all they want for Christmas is a PSP. By posting these videos on YouTube and a PSP microsite, Sony believed that this campaign could become viral in nature and promote the PSP.
But, Sony and the PSP campaign broke one of our rules.
Don't be a Poser
The viral effect of user generated content campaigns is the result of consumers, not of posers. Transparency is king in the social world, consumers can easily detect what is real and what is not. Don't try to deceive them!
In essence, Sony hired Posers. They wanted to jumpstart their campaign by posting videos that would appeal to the PSP buying market. In fact, they went out and hired a company claiming to be a "Comsumer Activation Agency", with the promise of getting videos that promoted their product while coming across as user generated content. Soon after these videos hit their blog site and YouTube, disaster struck.
Ruplinger attempted to leverage his knowledge about SEO through a series of video clips to be shared over the internet.
Why? Ruplinger wanted to increase awareness of his services by using a widespread informative video campaign. Ruplinger runs a website called 'The Ultimate Traffic Blueprint' that is marketed as a blueprint for getting customers to spend more time and money on your website. Ruplinger's strategy was like that of appearing in videos containing useful information about SEO strategies would be beneficial to his company.
But, Ruplinger and his videos broke two of our rules.
If you aren't building unique content, you better be unique.
Even if you have the most useful information on the planet if people don't listen to it then what good is it? If you are looking to deliver information about your company or service via off-site activities, they need to be uniquely structured or you better be able to sell it!
Don't confuse your Why To Buy statement
If you choose to "release to-all" your strategies, insights, and knowledge, make sure not to leave your market asking; ok why should I buy from you? If you are going to be transparent with such information, it should be structured in a way that says: 'These people know what they are doing'.
The videos appear to possibly undercut his own business- viewers are left with the impression that after watching the videos there isn't any additional value in taking the next step. The why to buy isn't clear and his delivery is not unique.
Bank of America was merging with MBNA and was having a company conference to celebrate the event. Two Bank of America employees worked together and re-wrote U2's popular song, 'One', in order to capture the spirit of the merger. At the Conference one of the employees performed this song in front of Bank of America and former MBNA employees and it was later released on YouTube.
Why? Bank of America was trying to embrace MBNA into their corporate culture by having a musical performance symbolizing their acceptance. Since the performance seemed well-received at the conference, Bank of America probably thought it would help their company image online.
But Bank of America broke one of our rules.
Content conveying strong corporate culture is not always shareable.
Culturally related content can have negative effects on outliers. If content only makes sense from a cultural context, then it is not suited for outside sharing.
Bank of America took a well known song with a well established meaning and tried making it their own. This song might have been appealing to B&A culture, but after being released on the web it was viewed as a hokey corporate display.
IT WON'T BE VIRAL!"
IT WON'T BE VIRAL!"
In hopes of retaining Subway as a client, Agency.com thought it would be a good idea to make a viral video campaign about the research process behind making a viral video campaign for Subway. They tried to shoot a humorous video about some of the research steps involved in getting to know the Subway product. The first video that was released on YouTube was over 9 minutes long. It failed.
Why? Agency.com was trying to show Subway a piece of their culture and how dedicated they were to create a viral video campaign for Subway. Agency.com thought building a video about their attempt to get Subway as a client would be a fun way to get people involved in this process and ultimately increase awareness for the Subway Brand.
But Agency.com broke two of our rules.
Keep your viral videos at a length of one to three minutes.
The average length of video watched on YouTube is 2.5 minutes. However, some of the most successful viral video campaigns have been less then a minute in length. People are less inclined to watch a video over 3 minutes in length unless it absolutely captivates their attention!
Don't Overproduce!
Giving viewers the impression that you are trying to create a viral video is not a valuable tactic. Remember: the viral nature created by video content is a naturally occurring phenomenon, so shoot a video with this thought in mind. Put less emphasis on developing the perfect 'setup' and more emphasis on capturing something that seems inherently entertaining.
Though Agency.com set the "Going to Work for Subway" video up as being a raw, inside look at theri research process, the entire video came off as being scripted. In addition, the video was over 9 minutes long. 37% of videos watched on the internet occur on weekdays between the hours of 7 am - 5 pm (Cuban 2007). This means a large percentage of the online video market watches videos within workday hours. What does this mean? Workers typically want to watch multiple short videos because their time to do this can be limited.
WRONG PLACE"
WRONG PLACE"
Dove tried to create a user generated viral video campaign about a new cream oil soap product line. Dove shot a simple advertisement appearing on YouTube that challenged Dove users to create their own commercial about the cream oil product. Dove announced that the winner of the campaign would have their ad make its debut appearance during the Oscars. When the advertisement became available to the YouTube community it received such harsh criticism that Dove had to shut down the comment section.
Why? Dove was trying to capture the true essence of consumer generated material and support their "campaign for real beauty" which places emphasis that beautiful women come in all shapes and sizes. By running a consumer generated campaign Dove wanted create high levels of consumer involvement with their product and have raw content that supports their non-judgmental image.
But Dove broke one of our rules.
Pay attention to demographics when seeding viral videos.
The internet is by no means a homogenous group of people that share the same values, interests, and content preferences. If you have a well defined target market with easy to identify demographics, this information is imperative for finding the appropriate place to seed your viral content. For Example: If you are a running a campaign for Dove Cream Oil, at the highest level your demographic is composed of females. So, YouTube might not be the best place because people want broadly appealing entertainment. Dove moved the campaign to AOL Living and had better success. (VOX, 2007)
Chevy created a user generated viral ad campaign for the Chevy Tahoe. Chevy established a partnership with the popular television show "The Apprentice" and ran a co-sponsored ad campaign about the Chevy Tahoe SUV. Apprentice watchers and internet users were given the opportunity to download a series of customizable advertisements in which they could add their own text and a choice of pre-approved music. Prizes for contest winners included a trip to Jackson Hole and tickets the to MLB all-star game.
Why? Chevy was trying to engage viewers by encouraging them to participate in a user generated ad campaign. Hoping to build brand awareness both on television for a unique approach and online with it's interactive experience.
But Chevrolet broke one of our rules.
Understand the broad implications of your product before utilizing user generated content.
It is imperative to fully understand how your product is perceived before deciding to run a user-generated ad campaign. Certain products have very negative associations because they conflict with strongly held beliefs about a particular cause such as the environment. If you haven't had an open communications structure in the past then realize you might be opening a floodgate of people who want to get their point across in ways that may end up damaging your product's reputation.
Contact Us
See how our in-depth knowledge of Social Media and its ability to create Digital Influence can take your brand to the next level!
Call us at: 603.430.1110