Why It’s Never ‘Just a Viral Video’. Why Brand Matters More in Sharable Content Creation

During my tenure as Global Strategy Director at TBWA, I can’t remember how many times I heard the words…‘C,mon, it’s just a viral video…it’s not going to be seen by a mass audience’, as I discussed the brand inappropriateness of an online creative concept with our team in Brazil, France or just about every other region.  Admittedly, many of the concepts were hilarious, and I hated having to be the killjoy.   

As I look at the recent online content metrics, I’m feeling vindicated for being so hard.  According to Visible Measures, in September, the average online video got 4.5 times more user initiated views than they did just 3 years ago, with an average video now receiving 1.6 million views. Top performers are getting over 20,000,000 views!

While part of this is likely a function of changes in audience behavior and online channel availability, part is likely due to an accelerated learning curve of what makes content sharable.

If you Google ‘tips on sharable content’ you’ll get links to pages of articles that describe how content needs to entertain, elicit positive emotions (humor being one at the top of the list), tell a story, be unique, etc.  All good advice.  But brand owners also need to understand that with the increasing impact that branded content has on shaping the total brand experience, it’s extremely important that in addition to entertaining storytelling, content needs to amplify and extend brand experiences that create value.

September’s top 2 viewed video campaigns were Apple iphone 5s/c, and Motorola Moto X. While both campaigns are for mobile phones, they illustrate vast contrasts in brand behavior, and the resulting customer experience.

The iphone videos are simple, visually engaging and informative, as they romance the phone’s design, while demonstrating the phone’s features.  Their minimalist approach is unmistakably Apple…consistent with the simplicity, elegance and seamlessness that Apple brings to every brand experience, at every touchpoint.

The Moto X video is also a product demonstration.  It features hands free, voice-activated control. It follows the basic rules for sharable content, in that it uses humor to tell a story in a unique way.  The Story: It begins with a couple in bed.  The man is trying to give his partner a massage, while setting the mood with romantic music from his phone.  The phone has been personified, and is portrayed by a somewhat out of shape man, who is lying in bed next to the couple.  ‘The phone’ pulls up his shirt and tells its owner that he must touch the ‘phone’s’ stomach in order to play music.  While it is arguably entertaining, unique and funny, there is a creepy vibe to the whole situation, which probably leaves the majority of the 17.9 million viewers wondering what Motorola is all about.

Like the two examples above, more and more brands seem to be creating entertaining online product demonstrations.  Recently, Mercedes released a video featuring ‘magic body control’, a technology that stabilizes ride quality.  In it, we see the rubber gloved hands of what appears to be an engineer holding and manipulating a chicken to dance to the beat of Diana Ross’ ‘Upside Down’.  It’s catchy, entertaining, engaging, and it does demonstrate the benefits of the technology.  And it’s clearly sharable.  Last week, it was the 9^th ranked viral video, with 1.4 million views.  Released September 23^rd, it has already garnered 6 million views.  However, how does this amplify the Mercedes brand experience?  Is it consistent with the rest of the Mercedes experience?  While premium brands need not be stuffy, should they be silly?

As branded content becomes a large and significant contributor to the entire brand experience, brand owners have a responsibility to ensure that every piece of content is aligned with all other brand behaviors to create brand value.  And as content sources multiply to include technology and media companies, it is ever more important these companies are provided with a clear sense of brand appropriate-ness and out of bound behaviors. ‘It’s just a viral video’ is no longer an acceptable excuse for entertaining, off-brand content because it is, indeed, going to reach a mass audience.