Great Viral Videos That Just Make You Crave What They Offer
Can I just say that Honda has the best viral ads? From the Element crab’s “I peench, I peench!!” to the CR-V ad of chocolate-covered strawberries, they’re the best. Short, simple, funny, memorable — the things you want to share with your friends. Which is why we bring you these examples of fine viral video marketing from 2 different ad campaigns:
Why are these viral videos so, well, viral?
Because you just love them and can’t resist sharing them. Which turns into free advertising pumped up with word of mouth. They’re also called Link Bait, because people enjoy them so much that they link to them from their blogs, forums, etc.
Are these one-offs, or part of a campaign?
Honda is so smart that they know people love a good thing and want more, so these are parts of two different ad campaigns. Crave chocolate-covered strawberries, coffee, popcorn, snow. Some of them fall a little flat, but here’s another good one, “Crave Popcorn”:
Here’s one that’s less motivating for me, although those that like boarding in powder might like it:
Frankly, I think this one might fall a little flat, pun intended, since it kind of makes the CR-V look like a light-weight. If you’re into fuel economy, that’s a good thing; if you’re into safety and ruggedness, not so much. But in that case, you’d be going for a different vehicle, anyways.
Here’s a fun beach crave:
How Can You Use This Technique?
Think first about your audience and what makes them laugh. Create a video that they want to see over and over again and share with their friends, that is cool enough that they would want to put it on their website or blog. Post it to YouTube so that people can copy it and embed it on their own sites. Post it to your company’s Facebook page. Tweet about it on Twitter. It doesn’t have to be slick, just usually it needs to be amuzing if not downright laugh-out-loud funny. It must tickle your target market’s funny bone.
