The Desperation of Viral Campaigns

Scott Donaton's article on Advertising Age brings up a point that we all know: most viral campaigns suck. The fundamental reason they suck: "They are not the end result of an actual idea or strategy but are born of a desperate desire to do something, anything, in the new-media space."

Scott looks at the Folger's Tolerate Mornings: "This is Folgers' attempt to appear cool and ironic by offering slow risers such appealing goodies as a wake-up call on their mobile phone from "Lucy," billed as a "sexy way to rise and shine (for the fellas)," or a "boss tracker," in case you want to catch a few z's at your desk. The fact that it's meant to be tongue-in-cheek makes it somehow sadder, like a dad trying to act cool in front of his teenage daughter's friends."

Viral campaigns are so hard to create for brands because the viral aspect relies on the content being edgy, irreverent, graphic and funny.  Those are hard to manage for most brands. The best viral videos have, in most cases, not come from the brands themselves, but rather from the consumers, like the Diet Coke/Mentos videos. Therefore one strategy is to be watchful for consumer content and then have a plan to capitalize on that conversation.

Scott's take away: "Doing something just to do something still leads to nothing."