“I would like a viral video that will make me sell all over the world”. But there are no magic wands. We need study, application, the right professionals, creativity and luck. And perhaps not even all of this.
“I would like a viral video that will make me sell all over the world”. Sure why not. It often happens that in front of a good commercial or video many people smile thinking about how brilliant it was and that after all… well, what will it ever take to create a viral content? The truth is that various complexities lurk behind such content. From study to creativity, up to the selection of the right professionals, to trends and luck.
Here’s what you need to know about how to record a video . Or how it can’t be done.
The big misconception of “Simple to use, simple to do”
There are days that inevitably change the life of those involved in creativity in a substantial way . On a day in 2006, for example, the Mac vs Pc mini commercials created for Apple by TBWA Media Arts Lab came out . At the time I was involved in photography and I did not understand the changes that day would bring about my future and that of many colleagues who deal with video-making and viral videos .
The great misunderstanding of “simple to use therefore simple to do” is still the difficult legacy left us by that silent revolution.
In fact, it is not uncommon nowadays that one hears a customer ask ” a simple commercial, in form and concept … something like Mac vs PC “. I have several friends / colleagues who have repeatedly reported the work drama in being faced with this request. Mac vs PC is neither simple in form nor in content .
The intricacies of viral video
As it is easy to imagine, a commercial created by / for Apple requires careful and accurate study ; creatives who work for months trying to find the right key and the idea that it can have an impact while remaining within the company guidelines.
The finished product, the video that we all know, can then be extremely simple to the end user, the typical project that, looking at it, makes us say “ I could have thought of it! “. Well, that’s not the way it is.
Even from the point of view of construction , the apparently simple form of the spot has put several directors of photography in crisis who, having to deal with projects with tight budgets, literally did not have the means to emulate a similar lighting setting. Not to mention the choice of the clothes of the two protagonists, their look in general, what they say and how they say it … Besides all this we must consider that it was a commercial that had the courage to dare . It is in fact a comparative advertising that, although overall it makes you laugh, hits the competition hard and declared by taking a rather decisive position and affirms Mac better than the PC.
The formula for a viral video? Nothing to chance … or maybe something
Taking a time jump of several years, a similar example can be found in the Volvo commercial .
Released in 2013, it sees film hero Jean Claude Vann Damme doing his famous split supported by the rear-view mirrors of two trucks traveling in reverse.
The spot currently records 88,929,206 views , of which 50 million made in the first two weeks of launch.
This spot, like the previous one, has produced powerful aftermaths in many of the figures who find themselves working in communication and video production . It goes without saying that, given the enormous success achieved, it has stirred up a healthy emulative spirit in many companies.
Many times we have been asked to make viral videos accommodated in luxurious meeting rooms of large companies. And then you find yourself in the meeting rooms of large companies waiting. Here comes a projector and the aforementioned Volvo video starts. Each time my sympathetic system follows the same path:
- a moment of strong excitement;
- the thought “ here we are, here we are, we make the video of life ”;
- equally strong depressive moment.
In fact, the people in front of you are probably underestimating the difficulties , the time required and above all the consequent budget required , without counting the studies and knowledge necessary to create a similar product.
To all this must be added a strategic dissemination plan that can activate sharing mechanisms and guarantee maximum visibility.
And if we add a bit of luck, it wouldn’t hurt.
Yes, because if on the one hand you can study a project that leads to many views, on the other you cannot decide at the table that a video will go viral .
Keyword for a viral video: dare
The big stumbling block that we face every time is, first of all, trying to convince the customer to dare , to take a little risk.
It is very difficult to construct the contents of a video that claims to go viral if you do not abandon the schemes that a company usually uses in its more “conventional” videos.
Which is not impossible, of course, having so much time and a lot of budget available so as to be able to involve the required professional figures… but normally we find ourselves short of both.
So what we usually propose is something that plays with the brand or product , with its history or with the concept you want to communicate. But sometimes you have to take advantage of lateral thinking.
“But the product is not there! Where is the product? “
Most of the time the product is not even visible inside the commercial except in the final part (where it is “revealed”) or even only in the closing sign. An example of this is the commercial made by Le Trefle (toilet paper) which with a very nice commercial with more than 12 million views.
Throughout the commercial we do not see the product and even on the last shot what we “see” is the lack of the product. The final sign then with the right copy closes the circle and gives meaning to the spot.
But in almost all cases, what you hear from the customer is “What about the product ?! Where is the product? You have to see the product! ”.
It is not easy to imagine a commercial in which for 30 seconds you see toilet paper that can make you want to be shared by millions of users.
The “surprise / revelation” effect is in fact one of the essential mechanisms that a viral video must use without which you risk losing the user after a few seconds and, of course, sharing is also played with it.
And the product? And the product is not seen, or at least it is apparently overshadowed by what the video tells.
It must be considered that those who decide to share the content of a viral video expose themselves by doing it: they share a content that for some reason feels close and that arouses emotions (from laughter, to romance, to exaltation) but by doing this we puts his face.
The “virality” is a tug of war between creativity, common sense and realism
Therefore, the creation of content with the presumption of virality is not to be taken lightly. On the one hand there is a strong need to remain within a pavement that is as politically correct as possible and which supports the guidelines and company “values” , on the other the need to create a product that amazes and arouses strong emotions.
In the middle we are in an eternal imaginary tug of war between creativity, common sense and realism
Author Bio: With experience in News Media company for many years with Journalistic Touch and knowledge of how to create and recreate information into News. Now serving ‘The Next Hint’ and ‘Netflix Trends‘ to serve people with right and original Content.
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