A viral campaign isn’t viral until it goes viral. Viral is a measure of success of a brand communication not a foregone conclusion. That unfortunately doesn’t stop brand managers and their marketing service agencies from speaking about their viral campaigns as if achieving viral status was as guaranteed as placing a print ad in a magazine.
Tom Fishburne, my favourite cartoonist, encapsulates the viral mania perfectly in the cartoon above. In his notes, Tom writes:
“This year, it feels like every marketing plan features viral video as a tactic. Yet, many brands treat these videos in the same dull way as placing a grocery cart ad or staging an on-pack promotion. They feel like infomercials. These brands assume that if they build it, viewers will come (and watch, and share).
“Brands sometimes forget that videos become viral, not by how interesting the content is for the brand, but by how interesting the content is to the viewers. They also forget that ‘viral’ is, by nature, unpredictable.”
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