This is a cool little video a friend sent me. It’s 36 freeborders taking over a hilly San Francisco street to create a neon tetris (or tetris-like) video game. If you want to start a movement, this is a great way to begin. I’ll go over what makes this video viral after the jump.
36 Skaters Make Downhill Neon Video Game w/ Freebords
Here’s what makes it great.
- It’s an awesome idea. A big budget only gets you so far, and usually a good chunk of it gets spent in the most uncreative of ways. Just by watching you get an idea of what freebording is about, you can see and feel it’s culture and personality. Or as a facebook comment said, “OMG THIS IS SOOOOOO SICK !”
- It’s short. A minute thirty is about as long as you want it to go. I usually say keep it under a minute, but this video has other qualities (mentioned below) that help pull in viewers for the extra 30 seconds. You want a flashbang. I know you feel like you have tons to say, but think about it, would you sit through a 5 minute movie trailer? You actually know you’ve done a good job if you leave people wanting more.
- It’s low on branding. Your marketing or branding guy may hate you for this, but you’ll need to tone down the branding. The point is to get spread and some people will ask more about the video. The majority will just think it’s cool, a few will spread it on and even fewer will look into it or associate it with you. That’s ok. Even if no one remembers you, you will get to brag about how many views you got to potential customers you find elsewhere, or to the press or to investors or sponsors. Plus, if you’ve done a good job with your awesome idea, and it gets across your company’s culture & personality (see point 1), then the amount of views you get is just an excuse to indoctrinate people into your brand. Trust me, if you’ve done a good job with point 1, then you’ll have plenty of uses for it.
- It moves and feels quick and has a natural progression. Not only is it short to begin with, but it feels like it’s even less than a minute thirty. There’s a build up and you obviously know where the video is headed but you stick around to see it out. You sorta get the idea after the first couple of blocks, and if there was no end in sight many might have left sooner. But because it moves quickly, with different camera angles and upbeat music, and it has a clear ending in sight, I think more people stayed till the end.
- Surprise twist at the end. Imagine how many people told their friends, “wait for the end” to show them the the strobing neon blocks. It started strong with a great idea, built up with along the way and then had a great finale. How many people saw the last piece go in place and then seconds later gasped, “no way!” Just like in sales, you’ve got to close.
Sick! So true!
In your comments, I got kind of hung up on this quote:
“Even if no one remembers you, you will get to brag about how many views you got to potential customers you find elsewhere, or to the press or to investors or sponsors.”
It’s true that it can open other doors when you do something really cool like this, but you have to make sure the client knows how to open those doors and that it doesn’t end up being about the agency — too many of these cool, viral things do more for the agency than the client, and clients are starting to realize that.
Of course, you follow up with the key point, you have this piece as something you can integrate into other aspects of your campaign. I think when people expect the viral video to be the WHOLE campaign, they are completely missing out on what it means to tap into social media.
Great point and I think that’s traditionally true in TV and other forms of advertising. There are tons of agencies that get to go to Cannes, but their work doesn’t show off the client.
Originally my point was you don’t have to see all of your ROI online. But I guess the real point is you should know how to leverage a great video online and offline, especially as the client.
Thanks Michael!
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