So to start the year off right, I wanted to remind everyone of what a good viral video is.  If you haven’t yet read my brilliant analysis on the viral medium, go check out my post on the Bill O’Reilly “We’ll Do It Live” video.   My point being that most viral marketing efforts suck, and few really understand what is required to make something “viral.”

But………..apparently someone at Samsung does!  I have been pondering getting a new phone, and the Samsung Omnia has caught my eye.  Curious, I trolled youtube for any out-of-box reviews or demos and came across this little gem.  Make sure you watch the whole thing – it gets good:

A fine example of what a viral video should be.  Let’s review why this piece works:

1. The video is based in the “mundane reality” or the “common everyday.”  Its anchored in something expected (in this case a product demo) and there’s no indication you’re going to be knocked off guard.
2. The piece then DOES knock you off guard!  After the button gets pressed, the rest of the video is total eye candy and a suspension of reality.  The effects are SO good you scratch your head wondering how they did that!
3. It’s a backhanded soft sell.  You’re not ready for it.  You’re engaged when it happens.  Your attention belongs to the marketer.
4. Due to the above, you as an individual have several legitimate reasons to share it with friends.  Maybe for the humor of it.  Maybe for the visual awe.  Maybe you want to play a quick practical joke and bate your friends into being fooled as you were.  Or maybe you just really like the product and want to use this as a sales tool yourself.

Ultimately, these traits are really no different than a Super Bowl commercial (the ORIGINAL viral video).  Granted, in this video you may not get to see the product ACTUALLY demonstrated, but that’s not the point.  The point is to create a memorable, sticky and sharable marketing experience that engages folks to dig deeper.

I encouragage you to go find another great example of viral marketing and keep it handy throughout 2009.  We are what we read and watch after all, so why not read or watch the best.

(ps, check out our kick-ass tag cloud we just installed on the blog page!)

While this was certainly an “oops” moment for O’Reilly, it served as a powerful lesson in just how far viral marketing, mashups and online culture have come. There are several interesting nuggets to take away from this:

1. Something can only be viral if it’s shocking, funny or in this case both. I’ve been irked for a while at companies and brands who seem to think ANYTHING can lend itself to “viral distribution” – as if merely calling content “viral” makes it so. As a result, there have been countless failures, and there will likely be more. What few understand is that a true “viral” moment occurs when you, the consumer, are so intrigued by a piece of content that you immediately email or IM 5+ friends telling them about it. The ONLY kinds of content which apply to this psychology are media that are truly shocking/violent or truly funny to you the user. And in the rare case you can have both, it’s golden. More than anything the O’Reilly video proves this point as it was circulated to every video portal and had 10 million + views within the first 3 days. After only 2 weeks it reached total saturation.

2. Content adaptation or “mashups” come with the territory. Remember when Saturday Night Live used to be in tune with our cultural conscience? When the show dabbled more in relevant parody and was THE cool, hip place to find it. These days mashups have taken that role, and engage the under-25 crowd. Only 5 days after the O’Reilly video leaked, the folks at BarelyPolitical.com released their update on the original, brilliantly taking the same footage and adding reactions from the “producer. ” If SNL was still relevant, Lorne Michaels would have beaten them to the punch – debuting something similar on the SNL website then airing it on that Saturday’s show.

The very same day, Stephen Colbert aired his own parody of the video which was fortunately different than the BarelyPolitical version.

Youtube is also filled with other mashups, parodies and remixes of the original video, which have gone on to generate millions of hits themselves. Further proof that the orignial video was TRULY viral.

3. The time frame to capitalize on viral media is SHORT! The response time to this video was already incredibly fast, but if you want to be TRULY hip and “in the now” you’ve gotta monetize the hype and viral before it fades. The guys at BustedTees did just that and in 6 days from the release of the video were pre-selling these T-Shirts. Think about how perfect their timing was – the early adopters who had already discovered the video were ripe to be sold something, and new/casual viewers were just finding out what all the buzz was about. If BustedTees had waited a day longer, they would have missed out on being in the HEAT of the moment, and likely several hundred sales.

Remember when “Vote For Pedro” shirts were all the rage, and then several months later a bunch of sad wanna-bes started wearing them, long after the fad had faded? Well, that was 2005 and today the time frame would be cut down to 3 weeks. You’ve got to be THAT FAST if you want to capitalize on cultural fads, internet hype and viral marketing. Free tools and services today give anyone the chance to join the fun and make some fans or money off of these experiences.

On a final note…
Wouldn’t it be truly something if Bill O’Reilly actually created this video on purpose…….as a way to generate viral traffic? Obviously he didn’t, but just pause for a moment and consider if he had. Watching the original video, it’s almost as if the angry pauses he takes were created on purpose, to allow for mashups and parodies. Lisa Nova is already doing exactly that!

And “We’ll Do It Live” is a classic one-liner that lends itself to all kinds of products……it’s even a brand onto itself! So again I ask, wouldn’t it be truly something if O’Reilly was smart enough to manufacture this whole thing on purpose, as a way of keeping his brand relevant and hip? He didn’t…….surely. But then again, he was the first one to sell “Don’t Taze Me Bro” bumper stickers.

Links:
Original Video
BarelyPolitical Mashup
Stephen Colbert Parody
Buy the T-shirt