Viral Intelligence: Election Edition
In this Viral Intelligence we unearth the virals which hiddenly persuaded millions and helped to accummulate record voter turnouts in the US presidential race - from beer ads and news bulletins remixed to full-on dance-offs. Which candidate were you voting or reppin' for?
We also bring the industry news that may have been easily lost in these Obamanating times...
Quick Links
News Round-up:
The increasing value of viral video
A recent study by Feed Company - entitled "Viral Video Marketing Survey: The Agency Perspective" - has yielded some interesting indications of where we could see the ever-expanding world of virals heading in the future.
80% of (presumably traditional) ad-agency executives and media buyers were accustomed with viral video, with some 72% say that advertisers were interested in utilising viral video in their marketing strategy. These figures correlate with 70% of said agencies and media buyers planning to increase their viral video marketing budget.
The report also states that agencies are turning to viral video due to its inherent value compared with traditional media and its cost effectiveness in the face of an "economic downturn".
While this undoubtedly being promising news for companies like Rubber Republic, the report also gives feedback on agency and media buyer qualms with viral marketing, and their suggestions for improvement in this area. Responding to the concerns and expectations of our clients will be key in maintaining these positive steps in the future.
I would like to see a study like this also take into account industry attitudes towards viral game content. It is surprising that - despite some of the great virals of the last few years being in game format and the platform's appeal and versatility - viral video still maintains a place as the 'default viral' form.
Nonetheless, this is a valued and insightful piece of research.
Read the study
Reference: Marketing Vox
Your mum credit crunch, your mum
Various brands / media commentators seem to be jumping on credit crunch gag bandwagon at the mo - trying to get us to see the lighter side of the present dire economic situation. My least favorite of these comes from the newly humorless Absolute Radio - who've been running a series of particularly unfunny credit crunch gags voice-overs for the last week or so.
Where brands and mainstream media seem to be treading on the wrong side of line on credit gags, user-gen communities (as always) have hit it bang on.
This is my fave so far - spotted by one of my Orient-loving colleagues:
Red Cafe
"Suck on my moobs credit crunch!" - genius!
Google shows ad networks will bloom even in this financial climate
Google announced an increase in both profit and revenue today - showing a 26% jump in profits - showing that the advertising networks (such as our own Viral Ad Network) have the potential to not only weather the current economy, but grow within it.
The fact that Google's stock rose 8% on the news may also be a sign that the markets have room to recover - since even with reduced inter-bank lending there is obviously enough liquidity in the markets to make the most of a clear opportunity.
When viral food goes wrong
By Chris Q
There was a time I loved Jamie Oliver. Then I hated him. Now I'm loving him again. I'm loving him because he's invented "viral food". This is Jamie's idea of spreading recipes around Rotherham by getting people to "passing on" recipes to friends.
In the first programme Jamie boldly laid out his plans by drawing out his his nice viral food theory in which within 10 turns of "passing on" all 200,000 people across Rotherham would have been reached. Simple.
Or not so simple as it turned out in practice. As a viral theory geek it was clear why his theory isn't working as well (or simply) as he first thought. These are:
- Make it simple to engage with: Jamie's recipes are too complicated to get to grips with and pass on. The first 2 recipes that he tried to get people to pass on were meat balls and salmon. Meatballs may sound simple - in practice they're a pig to make and easily fall apart. Spag Bol would have been a much simpler option.
- Make it simple to pass it on: Worse than a complex idea, is bad execution of the "viral agent" itself. In this case the viral agent was a recipe card - or in fact a piece of paper with a badly laid out recipe on it (as one of the Rotherhamites pointed out!) A Sainsbury recipe card kinda format would have been much better. Nicely compact and easy to pass on . . .
- Target influencers: First off Jamie's approach to finding people to "pass it on" was to cast his net wide for anyone at all to create the viral effect - which largely consisted of socially awkward single mothers. Rather than picking at random, a clever approach would have been to pick community influencers - e.g. pub staff, cornershop workers etc. People who are connected and likely to more easily create his ideal food viral.
Got an opinion? Send your views to chris@rubberrepublic.com.
5 of the best
A myriad of politically orientated virals has caused a temporal distortion to our usual 'five best'. These six just had to make it in a year where politics truly went viral. We may be witnessing the future shaping of the political public sphere online but right now don't they just make infotainment far better viewing than ever before?
Sarah Silverman and The Great Schlep
Sarah Silverman wants Jews to gets their butts down to Florida for the Great Schlep. For www.thegreatschlep.com.
Wassup 2008
It's been eight long years since the boys said wassup to each other. Even with the effects of a down economy and imminent change in the White House, the boys are still able to come together and stay true to what really matters.
Obama's Loss Traced To *Insert Name Here*
The "Don't Let Your Friend Lose The Election" video has been seen over 15 MILLION times.
Obama and McCain - Dance Off!
Obama and McCain get it on...for www.minimovie.com
Google's "Vote Hour"
CEOs around the country have come together to encourage their employees to take an hour on November 4 and go vote. Watch the video and learn why "too busy" is no excuse this Tuesday.
Donate Your Status
Millions of Facebook users have changed their status in dedication to Obama or McCain using this app - and even more have been exposed to their status update.
