Social video virals
Ever since I learned about the Thresher viral in the UK which generated over £40 million in sales, I’ve been looking for other great examples of viral marketing campaigns. I couldn’t believe it when I came across Will It Blend - an phenomenal viral by Blendtec, a US food blender manufacturer.
The idea is simple, the president of Blendtec Tom Dickson appears in a series of short videos in which he simply blends everything from an iPod, to a golf ball, some glow sticks and my favourite, a video camera. They’re fantastically entertaining and have taken off, especially on the social video sharing sites like YouTube.
Check out a great example with Tom’s iPod
- Link to
YouTube Direct
So was there any value in this viral you may ask?
There’s a quote from Blendtec on Wikipedia and Squid News that would suggest it’s been of tremendously valuable:
“The videos were placed on the internet in early November. Within just a few short days, we had millions of views. The campaign took off almost instantly. We have definitely felt an impact in sales. Will it Blend has had an amazing impact to our commercial and our retail products.
The campaign is all about brand awareness. Helping us to build top-of-mind awareness and establish Blendtec as the premier blender manufacturer.”
So are there opportunities for other small businesses to use social video sites for viral marketing? Of course, but there are potential banana skins to consider also.
There’s a good post on the Protocol in Practice blog that warns of potential problems with copyright. The post also links to a great summary by LA based Feed Company which does these things for a living. Check them both out here and here respectively.
To give you something to think about. Consider how many people use the social video sites like YouTube and then think how much it would cost to reach that many people by traditional advertising tactics. According to the Feed Company, YouTube had 29,6000,000 viewers in December alone.
So how do you produce a good viral? Get creative and think about Feed Company President Josh Warner’s questions:
“Is the content Controversial, compelling, Outrageous, Hilarious, or Sexy. Will it start a conversation?”
Tag:Advertising Virals
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