Tag Archive for 'viral'

From the mailbox

This one’s going to be good…

Good afternoon.

My agency created two viral videos for client [name deleted to protect the poor unfortunate client] that are being featured on Inside Edition tonight because of its immense popularity in just two weeks.

Hold on a minute.. because of Inside Edition’s immense popularity in just two weeks? Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

The first video “[deleted]” is on YouTube, IFilm, Break.com, etc and has been picked up by MSN, AOL video and loads of other sites and by bloggers as well. Web chatter is raging to the tune of “Is this really happening ‘now;” “Another happy Vista company,” “Shoulda used a Mac.” . Just 2 weeks old, it has created a major sensation - so much so that Inside Edition is today interviewing the video company that created the video

OK, where to start.

The sloppy punctuation? Nah, too easy.

I’m sure you told your clients you got them placements on YouTube, iFilm, AOL video etc…. But bragging about that to a list of 50+ bloggers and journalists (you put us in the carbon copy field, not the blind copy field) is asking for a smack down.

6,000 views on YouTube is not a major sensation. That you would assert that proves to me that you don’t know we can check these things very easily.

Inside Edition? Afternoon TV is where your target audience is? What’s next, a hit on Judge Judy?

And most of all… all together now…

VIDEOS ARE NOT VIRAL.. AGENCIES DON’T MAKE THEM VIRAL… CONVERSATIONS AND CONNECTIONS ARE VIRAL

Get it?

Baking the world’s largest cake

Frequently in conversations with clients, prospects and other PR peeps it seems that folks been confusing “viral” with “stunts.”

Viral comes from something intrinsic to the product or service in question. a jetBlue attendent helping my wife and I get our kids settled and in the process creating another happy customer is just as viral as the “get email for free with Hotmail” sigs of the 90s. It gets you talking about the product and how it makes you feel down deep in that place where loyalty is born.

A stunt is just that. It’s a guy in a clown suit in front of the car dealer.

If you are confused, just ask yourself what the clown suit has to do with cars.

Note: a guy in a clown suit occupying the kids at your favorite family restaurant is not a stunt. It’s a godsend.