The definition of viral marketing that I prefer, because of its simplicity and straightforwardness is: “any marketing technique that induces Web sites or users to pass on a marketing message to other sites or users, creating a potentially exponential growth in the message's visibility and effect.”
Viral videos have been around for a while. Some of the videos that come to mind when we think viral are ‘Gangham Style’ (2.3 billion views), ‘Double Rainbow’ (41.6 million views) and 'Charlie Bit Me' (860 million views).
We used to tend to think of viral videos for entertainment purposes but we’ve seen a surge in corporate viral marketing in recent years (think WestJet’s Christmas Miracles series). Yet this is in the B2C marketing world. What about business to business, do viral videos work? One of our partners, EMC, believes so.
Viral marketing case study
In the company’s latest viral video, a giant tractor-trailer bearing the EMC logo jumps over a ramp at over 110 km per hour, flies through the air and lands 83 feet, 7 inches further. According to Guinness World Records, who were on site to observe the feat, it’s the longest tractor-trailer jump ever. And if that were not incredible enough, the second the tractor-trailer is in midair, a Lotus Formula One racecar crosses underneath the truck, in a death-defying stunt.
Take a look :
The video has been viewed more than 11.5 million times. Corporate viral videos spread so rapidly for the same reason non-branded videos go viral; they are compelling and sharable. These videos let viewers engage with a brand in a candid fashion. Ultimately, people will share viral videos (corporate or not) because they think it is worth spreading the word, regardless of a brand's ulterior motives.
Go big or go home
Recently, I had the chance to meet the CMO of EMC, Jonathan Martin, at the C2MTL conference in Montreal. He’s taken EMC to a whole new level in terms of marketing. He began one of his conferences by saying “If you are sitting next to a marketing person in the room, hold their hand because you are going to realise how difficult their job really is. Marketing is undergoing the biggest change in over a century.”
And it’s never been truer, the clutter factor is extremely high and marketers wake up every day thinking how they will break through the clutter. Viral videos seem to be a way to drive awareness of your brand, engage with your audience and the key to success seems to be ‘go big or go home’. So will the Present team undertake an extreme feat, like jumping out of a plane, to promote our offer? You’ll have to wait and see!
