Eagles Are Viral

We all would like our video or ideas to go viral.  But most of what we would like people to spread virally is just not of interest to a wide public.  Baby eagles are viral.  Or more accurate, live baby eagles are viral.  (http://www.raptorresource.org/falcon_cams/index.html)

Have you heard of the Decorah eagle cam?  If not, you will.  My wife was watching the Decorah eagles live on her computer while I was watching MSNBC in the other room.   It was Sunday at 7:50 am.  70,000 people were also watching the Decorah eagles.  MSNBC ran a story about the eagle cam and in just a few minutes, the number of people watching the eagles live on computer increased to 104,000.  Now that is viral.

What can we learn about this?  Viral video must be:

• Unique (there is only one eagle cam with babies)
• Look Behind the Curtain (someone’s life, birds in a nest, dorm room, surgery)
• Go Beyond Expected (Decorah eagle cam is live, 24/7 for days on end)
• Utilize Traditional Media to Push Viewers (MSNBC’s story pushed the viewers by 34,000 on a Sunday morning)
• Eagle Effect (This is that unknown quality that makes something incredibly compelling.  I don’t know what it is but babies, puppies, Lady Gaga and now eagles have it.)

I do believe one of the reasons this cam is so compelling is that it is live with sound: You hear geese in the background and the chirps of the little newborn eagles.  Viral doesn’t guarantee financial success, but a commercial now airs before you can watch the eagle cam.    Time for your viral video to fly.

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Smell Like a Marketer

Have you watched any Old Spice commercials on YouTube?  Only 17 million people have watched the one I’ve included here.  It has aired on traditional media, but these ads are gaining a broad social marketing boost.

There are contradicting reports on the success of this campaign: Time magazine says no increase in sales; Nielsen says sales are up 55%; and some bloggers are reporting sales up 107%.  What has happened is that this campaign has lathered up the buzz enough to get people to think about body wash.  No matter the actual results, this campaign is considered a clean sweep.

Old Spice has spent millions of dollars on this campaign mix of social media and traditional media.  One blogger wrote about why you should not mimic the Old Spice campaign because of the small campaign budget and the difficulty of controlling spokespeople.

I think we can learn a few key ideas from this campaign.   Here is what I think you can take away:

• Humanize your product, service or organization.
• Do a campaign, not just one approach.
• Invest in production quality.
• Extend your campaign into some surprising and highly personalized ways. (The Old Spice man proposed to a woman. It was fun not only for the couple, but for everyone.)

Personalization is something everyone can do.  The next time you are recording your spokesperson, record some personal messages to your best clients, your top contributors, your important stakeholders and then post them on YouTube.  You can then easily send the URL to the targeted people and have some key impact.

People want to do business with people they like.  These personalized videos will really make your business or organization seem very appealing—even if you don’t wear a towel.

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