Viral. Probably the most abused term in advertising at least in my experience. Every marketing manager briefs their agency by saying that they want to make a viral campaign (but I have no budget for it.)
The client wants what the client wants. if he wants a viral campaign with a minimalistic budget, that is what the agency has to achieve for them. How do we do it?
Content is KING. But that is not enough to know, we need to know what kind of good content will be shared and carried forward and made viral and for that that we need to understand what and why do people share things on social media.
There is a six stepps program for virality.
Yes, there is a grammatical error in the above statement, but if you look at the six points below you will know why.
1. Social currency
2. Triggers
3. Emotion
4. Public visibility
5. Practical value
6. Stories
The content we create does not need to satisfy all the six pointers, there will be some that are more dominant than the others and the will depend on the content and the channel.
Another important point is that the message does not need to be targeted to everyone in the whole wide world, the people you need to target are the innovators and the early adopters, because, they will listen and then we just have to hope that they share.
Of the STEPPS, the one I want to talk about is Triggers.
Triggers have a very direct link to boosting sales. It is what can be easily linked to Top of Mind recall and Word of Mouth. As marketers and advertisers, the job is to convert immediate sharing to on-going Word of Mouth. That is something that KitKat and Kodak have achieved with Have a Break, Have a KitKat and Kodak Moments.
Triggers are interesting and complex. It is quite difficult to identify what will cause the trigger and that is the key challenge. Once the trigger is identified, the job is to form a strong association by repeating the messaging in a artful manner to not annoy audiences and get the message across.
A great example would be when KitKat tied up with India’s version of Dancing With the Stars and before every commercial, the break was brought to you by KitKat because have a break, have a KitKat.
Do share some examples of viral campaigns, that you liked.
PS:
Here is an amazing film by Google about taking some of the most iconic advertising campaigns and re-doing them digitally. So grab some popcorn, sit back and enjoy. It’s brilliant.
elisecheng
says:I also believe that content is vital for a successful ‘viral’ campaign. The Kit Kat campaign was absolutely brilliant because the slogan and timing of the commercial served as a trigger to remind customers about the brand. Nice post!
I hope you can check out my blog too. https://contentnode.wordpress.com/
flyingcentaur
says:I liked the bang on message that you gave with triggers plus good content = sales as end of the day the brands expect sales. I think todays youngsters are triggered more by humour than anything else when it comes to things becoming viral or something that gives them an adrenaline rush that they feel like sharing and making it viral. 🙂
mincedmarketingblog
says:Yes, it’s interesting how triggers work so well for a few brands. It also brings in an element of stickiness while referring to some activities. Our searching habits have become so unanimous that we use ‘Google it’ more often than ‘Search it online’. Other one is how immediately you can only think of CASIO as a brand when it comes to talking about Pianos Is it just me? Maybe.
cia
says:https://youtu.be/IIGyVa5Xftw
This is a link of GoldieBlox video. Goldieblox is a toy company and they created a campaign so that they could show empowerment for girls to the the world. It has a very powerful message incorporated in a unique and creative video.
watnxtdunoo
says:I loved the way you started. Yes I completely agree how clients demand everything in minimal budget. Great article and thank you for that amazing Google film. I really enjoyed reading your blog. To the point with a humorous touch 🙂
sunil taparia
says:cadbury- kuch meetha ho jaye