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Video Transcript: Now we’re just going to talk a little bit about viral and branded content. Now everyone has heard of viral videos, some of you may or may not have heard of branded content. I’m just going to talk about the differences. Does everyone remember Chris Crocker? ‘Leave Britney alone!’ Remember him? That’s viral, that’s exactly what viral is about. It’s for a short term gain. It’s hey, I want everyone to know that I push my kid down the stairs and it’s really funny. It gets passed around the world.
In terms of viral, it’s something you can’t control. People say, I want to make a viral video. Well, in the sense of viral, it’s up to the world whether they want to see it. Generally it’s not a good long term brand building, here’s my great company, it’s like this is a flash in the pan. Some of them are. There are some things that are really effective. If you bring out things that are discrete, separate, then it can be really effective.
Question: I’ve noticed recently on YouTube that since they’ve released an update, that a lot of big companies are starting to do viral YouTube videos. There was a pizza store in New Zealand and it was this big story where it started off with this guy and it was the end of the world and a girl ordered a pizza. He was stuck at the end of the world and he went on this adventure and you had to choose.
At the end of the video it stopped and it said, will he jump the fence or will he attack the zombie? It went all the way through this viral video and there were all these funny things. This one I watched the other day was this guy about to attack a bear and it was, what will he do to the bear? White out comes and white outs the name of the YouTube video and you can write a new name of the YouTube video and press enter and the video changes to what you type. So he kisses the bear, he does what ever you want and the video changes, so they’re using viral video.
Ben: So do you remember what the brand was or what it was for?
Question: The one was for Hal Pizza in New Zealand and the other was for one of the white out things.
Ben: How long were the videos?
Question: The videos? They were probably about in fifteen to twenty second snippets and then you chose what you wanted to do next. Overall if you watched them all, they probably went for fifteen to twenty minutes. Each little snippet was nice and short and you got to choose your way along the way.
Ben: Yes, it is a really effective thing, but again, behind that viral video is a very clear plan and structure. They know exactly what they want you to do and where they want you to take it. Viral started out, I saw one where these guys threw a piece of dynamite into the Seine River in Paris and this guy surfed on the wave that came out. That’s amazing but I think Quicksilver jumped on that one, but ultimately, this is what we’re leading to, turn it into a branded thing if you want it to be viral. Try to have a plan for it.
A branded content is more niche and it’s a bit more about telling a story and information about a product or a service that you have. Again, it will have a long term effect. It will make them connect to a brand. I’m sure all of you have seen the Old Spice ads now, the I’m a man, those ones. Those ones are just going off tap and I’d say they’re leading the way in terms of utilizing that kind of viral message which is highly branded. It breathed new life into this brand which was a dying old man brand.
Now you might have seen on YouTube that guy who is answering tweets and questions from people. So they’ve taken something they’ve put this video out there and now it’s very structured, brand building branded content delivery that they have. This example is really quick. (video)
Five seconds. Twenty-three million views on the chipmunk. Now I’ll just show you a little bit of this other one. (video) That guy I think has fifteen million views. That’s an example of viral video. He has got his own website and he goes and gives talks about why he’s doing it, etc. We’re almost out of time, I’m sure we’re over time.
Now I want to show you some branded content. I won’t show you the whole of this one. This is an example of a much more structured one.(video) This is a little film, it’s for Reebok and it’s just this story about a guy who messes everyone up. Now you might have seen our Google versus Yellow Pages.
David: The main difference I can see and this is a distinction that Ben brought to my business as viral versus branded content. A lot of times people are talking and they’ll get the two terms mixed up. Corporates do it all the time, they’ll talk about making something go viral.
Really viral content tends to be that content that is that chipmunk with the music, whereas branded content is all about having a message that you’re trying to get across. As Ben said, it’s usually more niche because things that spread viral, sometimes don’t go viral if it feels like it’s got an underlying message, like something is being sold. People don’t like to spread that as much because they not looking to sell their friends unless it’s really funny and you get a few home runs like your Reebok and your Old Spice.
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