Viral Marketing Examples: 4 Campaigns Explained!

when a product goes viral is it because
of the brand viral advertising or is it
just luck well the truth is that this
type of content usually has a
well-designed viral strategy behind it
but luck creativity and preparation also
come into play so to better understand
how to make a product or a brand go
viral we'll break down the concept
explain how a viral campaign works and
show you some examples
are you ready let's begin
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how does viral marketing exactly work
viral marketing generates interest in a
brand or product and therefore potential
sales through messages that spread
quickly from person to person the idea
is that the users themselves choose to
share the content due to their speed and
the fact that they make sharing easy
social networks are the perfect place
for viral marketing a popular example is
creating emotional funny or unique
videos on tick tock or youtube which are
then shared on facebook twitter
instagram and any other channels now
that you have a better idea of this
technique let's see some examples of
marketing campaigns that went viral
number one ihop or ihob
in 2018 with one single tweet ihop
caused an online frenzy when they
suggested that they were changing their
name from ihop to ihop but no one knew
what the b stood for for the next seven
days the whole world was left guessing
as to what the b could possibly stand
for
ihop's social media accounts played
along with the speculation and fueled
the fire online finally they revealed
the hidden meeting b stood for burgers
this caused ihop to receive over 113
million dollars in earned media and
resulted in an increase in its burger
sales while this campaign was slightly
controversial at the time because some
users felt that the reveal was overhyped
there's no denying that it was a huge
success
two dumb ways to die
in 2012 australia's metro trains wanted
to find a way to encourage people to act
safely around trains instead of going
the traditional route of scary and
off-putting ads mccann australia decided
to let creativity fly and deliver the
instant hint dumb ways to die in this
animated video several characters
appeared dying in different silly ways
with a catchy song explaining the reason
for each death
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i wonder what's this red button do
dumb ways to die
so many young ways to die
and it's not until the end of the song
that we see three train related deaths
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run
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place
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when the song finishes the campaign
slogan appears and we see that it was a
safety campaign around trains the video
was shared worldwide and received over
60 million dollars in media impressions
but most importantly the video's message
caused people to be more aware of safety
issues surrounding trains resulting in a
20 reduction in rail related accidents
number three oreo some of the best viral
content comes from seizing the moment
perhaps the most famous example of this
is oreo's dunk in the dark tweet during
the 2013 super bowl if you don't know
what this is about in the 2013 super
bowl there is a crisis moment when a
blackout happened in the middle of the
game it lasted more than half an hour
and when the power went back on the game
had already finished so what does this
have to do with oreo well oreo saw an
opportunity and took it oreo's twitter
account made a post saying power out no
problem you can still dunk in the dark
along with a picture of an oreo being
what lightens the dark oreo has had the
same slogan for many years twist lick
and dunk so with this blackout incident
oreo is able to put a twist in it with
creativity as you don't have much to do
during a blackout one of the easiest
things you can do is enjoy your oreos
with a glass of milk in the dark this
became one of the most buzzworthy ads of
the 2013 super bowl and it wasn't even a
commercial the tweet went obviously
viral and received thousands of retweets
and likes both on twitter and facebook
oreo also gained thousands of followers
on different social media platforms and
many users created content about it
while content like this can't be planned
it's the quick thinking and creativity
that made this tweet so popular number
four the ice bucket challenge a few
years ago the als association launched
the ice bucket challenge to raise
awareness of the condition and funds for
medical research the challenge consisted
of filming yourself pouring a bucket of
ice water over your head and then
nominating three other people to follow
suit
you have 24 hours to respond you're
gonna donate a hundred dollars to the
als foundation here we
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good go guys
let's do this
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millions of people around the world rose
up to the challenge including
celebrities like oprah bill gates and
donatella versace besides the viral
challenge that reached all the social
media platforms including youtube what
really matters is that the campaign was
a great success receiving over 115
million dollars in donations however
virality can be a double-edged sword
it's important to remember that in this
type of campaign a large part of the
control falls into the hands of the
users and there is a risk that the
message can be misinterpreted on the
other hand a successful viral campaign
can work miracles for your brand you
might have heard of guerilla marketing
though it's similar to viral marketing
it's not exactly the same thing while
bioware marketing is all about users
spreading your content organically and
quickly guerrilla marketing is all about
shattering conventional marketing
methods and reaching users without using
traditional outlets in other words the
aim of gorilla marketing is to ambush
the viewer and build publicity whereas
viral marketing seeks to generate the
organic and voluntary distribution of
content from users
how does a viral campaign work
in theory a viral marketing campaign is
very simple to carry out you create a
video or other content that is
attractive to your target audience put
it on the internet and promote it from
there all you can do is wait for the
fuse to light and for users to start
sharing like crazy in some cases
virality happens by accident for example
when a video is uploaded by a private
user that all of a sudden becomes
popular and begins to circulate all over
the internet as for the dispersion
strategy for brand videos there are two
types visible and concealed in visible
dispersion users are aware from the
moment that they start watching the
video that they are reviewing
advertising or branded content from a
specific brand whereas when it's
concealed the participation of the brand
is only revealed at the end if you apply
concealed marketing techniques it is
important to be very careful that the
user does not feel tricked cheated or
deceived no matter what strategy you
choose remember to never become spammy
or go overboard with your content
instead of repeating your message over
and over the best strategy is to find a
good place in time and let the viral
fuse light itself
what are the main advantages of viral
marketing
one first of all the low cost what
characterizes viral campaigns is that
the users do a significant part of the
work for the brand which drastically
cuts down distribution costs it is
unnecessary to buy advertising or media
space if users are already sharing your
content two it's potential to reach a
lot of users a viral video on the
internet has the ability to reach a huge
international audience without having to
invest a ton of money or make an extra
effort due to this a small company or
even a private individual can go viral
three it is not invasive in viral
marketing the social media user is the
one making the decision to participate
and share content so it lessens the
possibility of the brand coming across
as invasive because of this the
perception of the brand and the
interaction are significantly better
compared to more typical forms of
advertising four it helps build your
brand if you are behind a creative viral
campaign
users will learn about you and develop a
personal connection with your brand as
you can see virality can't be controlled
but it can be pursued if you want to
create a viral campaign make sure to
come up with new and creative ways to
launch your product or brand and make
people know about you if you like this
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