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June 19, 2014

The Golden Age of “Viral” Branded Videos & How To Create Your Own

lego-hands-sugru

If you’re thinking of producing a video or series of videos for your brand to unleash on YouTube, know this:

there is no viral button.

No amount of tags or description & title optimization will get your video seen by millions of viewers. Heck, brands with huge followings often struggle to get millions of views. And so what? In our space, we tend to measure success online with things like fan bases, subscribers, impressions, click throughs and views. But there are plenty of awful videos out there with millions of views (there’s a Facebook page with enough examples if you just can’t help yourself), so I challenge you to change how you think about “viral” videos, and start thinking about videos as creative, useful content. If you focus on the numbers game, chances are you will rarely be satisfied. Instead, focusing on useful content in a creative way will make both you and your viewers happy, which is exactly what you want.

There’s a framework for creating content (beyond videos) that I’ve been keeping in mind lately, from Dan and Chip Heath’s Made to Stick that sounds like a 12-step plan but is actually very helpful. It’s called SUCCESs:

mts-made-to-stick-model

If you can get your message across in a way that maximizes the number of the traits above (and as it says, you don’t have to find the rare idea that uses them all), chances are your content will be stronger and what Dan and Chip call “stickier”, meaning it’s easily recalled. We all know Old Spice has some of the best branded videos and commercials out there, so let’s put the SUCCESs model up against some solid branded videos that I’ve seen very recently.

Laphroaig: Opinions Welcome

Out of our SUCCESs traits, this one is simple, unexpected, concrete and credible. Simple because it’s just a random assortment of people tasting and describing something everyone seems to have an opinion about: scotch. Unexpected because some of the opinions are hardly flattering; it’s unfiltered honesty. Concrete, for sure, because everyone’s using sensory language: “I can even smell the seagulls’ arm pits.” Credible, because it’s an array of ordinary people old and young who may or may not have tasted scotch before. The thing I like most: Laphroaig makes it okay for you to not like their scotch, but they give you enough positive opinions and interesting personalities that you might just want to try it.

Flipbook Goal: Van Persie

This video is almost as amazing as Van Persie’s World Cup header goal. I’d say this is simple, unexpected, concrete. Simple because it takes a big moment in pop culture and recreates it using something I haven’t seen since I was a kid: a flipbook. My favorite trait for this one: It’s unexpected. When I first watched this, I thought it was a mere art project from a Netherlands soccer fanatic. Turns out it’s a Stabilo pen branded video. It doesn’t get much more concrete than showing the potential of a product like a pen. The thing I like most: that header! So buttery!

Sugru: Lego Hands

Simple, concrete, credible, stories. As I was looking for the Sugru video I had seen before, I found this one that was posted about 5 hours ago, and it’s just as good, if not better. If you don’t know what Sugru is, check out their YouTube channel. They have plenty of videos to explain BUT they only do so in the most entertaining ways imaginable. Simple: they’re showing you an easy and fun way to clean up your cable game. Concrete: so many examples and situations this could come in handy. Credible: a user from their online community discovered the idea, so they made it into a video. Stories: in this case, Sugru is telling the story of how helpful Sugru is when paired with a Lego figure. You’re definitely going to see one of these at my desk in the near future.

Most Shocking Second A Day

This video probably has the most views out of all the videos on my list and for good reason other than the message they’re trying to get across: They hit nearly all the traits. Simple, unexpected, concrete, emotional, stories. Simple because it shows very short clips of one girl’s life. It’s unexpected due to the turn of events from happy UK life to terrifying war zone. Concrete because it shows us the entire journey. It’s obviously emotional and it tells a very abridged story of what life can be like in a place like Syria.