Viral Video to Increase Brand Recognition
You may have heard about videos “going viral” in the past but not quite understood what this means. In essence, a video goes viral when it is liked and shared heavily, and often in quick succession. Most people participating in sending a video viral don’t know they are involved in this phenomenon, they are just sharing a video they want others to see and love as much as they do.
The ‘viral’ outcome was once associated with funny cat clips but is now being used to the advantage of businesses worldwide. Having a video advertisement go viral can reap tremendous benefits for businesses by increasing brand recognition on a mass scale. So why do businesses want their ads to go viral? It’s believed that businesses can see an average of 5 times return on their investment providing the video does, in fact, go viral. Such a method of advertising is often only used by the most ballsy businesses as there is a huge level of risk involved, sharing video content is highly valued but extremely difficult to drive forward. The success of such a technique relies on people sharing the video, a voluntary action which is personal and can only be encouraged, rather than forced.
Upon review of the top 100 viral ads of all time, stats show they fall into 10 common categories, which are attributed to their success, these are:
1. Wholly relatable
2. Shock viewers
3. Juxtaposition of opposing factors
4. Large workload, timescales
5. Captures the reactions of unsuspecting strangers
6. Controversially challenges cultural tensions
7. Strange and meme focused
8. Uses technology in an unusual way
9. Piggy-backs off another current viral trend or figure
10. Offers some form of wish fulfilment
Businesses need to take the above into account in the creative stages of producing their next video advertisement. It should never be the sole intention of the business that a video should go viral and this cannot be forced, however, if the video content produced is interesting enough it will do this of its own accord.
Increasing brand recognition for a business will drive new customers towards the service or product on offer, whilst making current customers feel part of an ‘elite’ group.