Posts Tagged "dc shoes"

Viral Marketing: Thinking Outside Box

Posted by Rishad Daroowala on Nov 4, 2011 in video | 0 comments

When creating a marketing campaign or commercial, there really are no creative boundaries or limits. The format and style a brand chooses  - is really up to brand itself and technically, there are no “rules” or regulations. But even though this is the case, why do most commercials or marketing campaigns seem so similar to us? How come it’s so rare that they step outside of the box and do something different or unique?

The truth is, most marketers like to play it safe. They like to follow a common formula that has worked for decades: educate customers about their product, convince them why they need it and show them how and where to make a purchase.  Marketers fear the idea of both: failure and not getting their brand or message across - And thus we usually tune them out.

But let’s think for a second. What makes a commercial or advertisement stand out? What makes you respect a company for the way they advertise? For me it’s an ad that’s: creative, less intrusive, humorous, different, something I’d want to share with a friend and something I want to watch again! And these just happen to be most of the common characteristics of a viral campaign or video.

Thinking Outside the Box:

A viral video is generally defined as a video that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email.  A perfect example would the infamous Old Spice commercial series where a man is shown exaggerating the qualities of a body wash, which received over 30 million views for its first commercial and rewrote the book on how to create a style of ad that resonates with today’s viewer. The original clip sparked a series of similar adswhich made Old Spice the number 1 most viewed branded channel on Youtube.   

In reality, there is no exact reason why a video goes viral and usually this process happens organically. In fact, those that try and create fake viral videos usually get busted and suffer the ‘eww’ face of critics and viewers alike.

And as the ‘share’ era of Youtube and Facebook continues to dominate the time of consumers – marketers are doing everything in their power to create videos that will hopefully be linked to, shared and rewatched for months to come. And while there is no formula – one thing thing marketers can do is understand that customers want to see and more importantly respect “outside the box” thinking. I believe that trying to create a “viral video” isn’t the right approach. Of course, you want the video to go-viral, but the idea should be to create something creative, thought provoking, different and non intrusive.

Take for example DC Shoes founder Ken Block who recently created the “Gymkhana” video series which sees him rally racing a street car. The video was shot on the backlots of Universal Studios by Hollywood director Ben Conrad - which soon turned into an internet sensation garnering over 20 million hits. Although DC is a skate shoe (and clothing) brand, there is no scene of either in this video. Have a look:

When the creator was asked “what makes a good viral video”, his response was:  

If there was a formula for that, and everyone knew it, it would make marketing a lot easier. I study and watch new-media marketing all the time and it’s very intriguing to me. I think as things get more and more saturated, original and new content that’s entertaining is what’s always going to work. That’s a key success of the gymkhana series. We did something in a unique and different way.