Consumer product companies are paying more attention to the power of social media, recognizing that online videos can have as much impact as a television ad, at a fraction of the cost. Targeting demographics like students or women are paying huge dividends for the brands that consider promoting products on digital channels like YouTube.
One of the stronger cases demonstrating this is Dove’s “Real Beauty Sketches,” which is arguably one of the most viral ads of all time. If you aren’t one of the 54 million (and counting) people who’ve viewed the video, Dove makes the statement that women are too critical of themselves and are more beautiful than they believe. There was a roll-out strategy when it was released, which provided a website link, however, the rate at which it was shared was most impressive with 3.17 million shares in the first two weeks it was released. The importance of a share is that people appreciate it enough to pass on to a friend, 10 friends, or their Facebook friends, giving the ad validation. If your friend shares something on your wall, you are probably more apt to like it, since you value your friend’s opinion.
But is there any common denominator to successful viral ads? When looking at the top 10 viral ads of 2013, there appear two characteristics common in most of them: Emotions and Humor. Obviously the Dove campaign has a very powerful and emotional message, similar to other ad campaigns like Ram Truck’s “Farmer” and Budweiser’s “Brotherhood” ads, both shown during this year’s Super Bowl. Regarding the Budweiser “Brotherhood” commercial, for example, Liz Schwartz, a senior at University of Illinois, said “it was a feel good commercial that I would share with my friends on social media. “It would make everyone else’s day, like it made mine”.
A TV ad, which might be enjoyed equally as much as an online campaign, doesn’t have the power of being instantly shared with someone with a few clicks. Not to mention every time it gets shared it is seen by someone else at no cost to the company. How can companies gauge whether their ad will truly go viral; or be seen as dumb, corny, or simply not funny? Millions of dollars are being poured into advertising budgets and analytics, but sometimes it’s just luck.
Targeting ads on social media platforms is another powerful way to build momentum in online consumer promotion. Beginning in the summer of this year, Facebook started developing new algorithms to target ads in a more transparent way. Since users have already been able “like” or “hide” ads for some time, they are trying to make it so that when someone hides multiple ads in a certain category they stop showing up on their news feed. Facebook among other websites, TV networks, and online radio stations are trying to tailor ads to appeal to individual users. There is also a push to focus marketing efforts to appeal to specific demographics.
Here are some of the ads that did it right; earlier this year AdWeek posted the top 10 most viral ads (so far) in 2013:
10. Google “How It Feels [through Glass]”
Views: 20,837,117 Shares: 576,650
9. Microsoft Internet Explorer “Child of the 90s”
View: 34,285, 417 Shares: 634,237
8. H&M “The Chase”
Views: 9,675,507 Shares: 910,222
7. Three “The Pony”
Views: 6,674,695 Shares: 1,003,929
6. Ram Trucks “Farmer”
Views: 15,212,390 Shares: 1,846,348
5. Evian “Baby & Me”
Views: 50,887,852 Shares: 2,569,179
4. Pepsi MAX “Test Drive”
Views: 36,548,886 Shares: 2,573,826
3. Budweiser “Brotherhood”
Views: 11,967,599 Shares: 2,706,381
2. Kmart “Ship My Pants”
Views: 17,960,377 Shares: 2,744,451
1. Dove “Real Beauty Sketches”
Views: 54,444,532 Shares: 3,850,098
http://adage.com/article/digital/facebook-give-users-ads-news-feeds/244450/
Photos Courtesy of UW-Madison Archives
