It’s been 3 weeks since the infamous “Bill O’Reilly Inside Edition” video leaked. For those of you living under a rock, the pre-1993 video shows a younger O’Reilly bashing a producer as he tapes a segment for Inside Edition (which he hosted prior to joining Fox). You can view the original video here.

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