Viral Video - Be Careful With That Stuff

With viral video becoming a fad tool for generating word of mouth for brands and companies, it was interesting to read a post on Organic Frog that questions the use of such videos. The videos are compared in the title to reality TV, perhaps alluding to the sometimes hollow yet entertaining nature of reality TV shows.

"Froggy," the blogger persona of Organic Frog is a junior planner at an interactive agency, Agency.com. As surprising as it was to hear a dislike of viral videos voiced by an interactive specialist, his/her main argument revolved around the fact that these videos are being created simply to entertain, and often conflict with the brand message or " brand storytelling."

The evils of posting cool videos simply to entertain is exemplified in the post through the Quicksilver "Dynamite Surfing" video. In this video, dynamite is used to create an artificial wave. Definitely cool and in the spirit of Jackass, the video has been successful on YouTube and sites where video is featured. However, the message that the video sends, although catching the feeling of thrill seeking that is often associated with the surfer culture, is directly in contra to Quicksilver's stand on environmental issues.

With so many new online opportunities to exploit as an advertiser, we might be seeing a bit of the, "I'm not sure why I'm here but I need to be here" phenomena. Everyone is in a rush to get into the internet mix of social networking/sharing sites that they might not be so carefully crafting their messages to get there. And who wouldn't be in a rush? Major portals such as AOL, Lycos and yahoo feature hit viral videos off of their main pages and to be among the top-ranked videos translates to thousands upon thousands of click-through opportunities. Infiltrating the viral video scene also results in major word of mouth coverage. Viral video has become so popular among the young demographic that get togethers among college friends often result in the showing and sharing of favorite viral videos.

So, the message here is:
Advertisers and brand-builders, slow down and make sure that the viral videos you are creating are really 100% in-line with your campaign and perpetuate the integrity of the brand. Of course we want people talking, but we want to give them something good to say.

Lycos.com viral videos
AOL Video Blog
MSN Videos - Click the Viral Video Tab