The Staying Power of Viral Videos

"Viral" is my absolute least favourite word to hear in a meeting with clients, "We want a viral video." is an almost impossible request to satisfy.

It's not that we can't make you a viral video; we can if you give us a couple kittens, a kid singing impossibly well and a double rainbow we'll have you at a million hits within 24 hours. But does viral matter if there is no staying power? If your video goes viral and a month later is forgotten about did you invest your funds wisely?

Truly viral videos may disappear from our cache but they don't ever leave our hearts.

Yesterday a friend of mine shared an article by The Onion. The article claimed that United Airlines, "[had] in its ongoing effort to cut transportation costs and boost profits, announced Tuesday that it was exploring the feasibility of herding them into planes and stacking them like cordwood from floor to ceiling." While the idea of stacking passengers like cordwood is both amusing and oddly accurate my first action upon reading the satirical piece was to head to YouTube  and re-watch the very REAL story of Sons of Maxwell lead singer, Dave Carroll and his poor guitar.

United Breaks Guitars was uploaded more than 2 years ago, has over 11 million views and when I think of United Airlines this song ALWAYS comes to mind.

While I may not remember that kitten video I watched last week or the latest viral effort from the "hottest" digital shop in town, I do remember the first time I saw Harley Morenstein and his band of foodies combine bacon, 5 birds and a pig to create the TURBACONEPIC!

Harley and his team have turned their wildly popular videos into a real business; forming partnerships with companies like Netflix and Gamefly. But stories like this aren't as rare as they seem; Jenna Marbles and countless others have led the way for anyone who wants to turn viral success into a legitimate career.

Real viral videos, viral ads and viral efforts have a kind of staying power that is invaluable; when I'm bored or having a bad day I go back to one of Jenna's oldest videos (linked above) and I smile. Because she isn't a trend or a fad, she's funny and unique and even though I've seen all of her Wednesday videos I go back to my favourites the way I go back to my favourite movies.

Before embarking on a quest to create viral video content, brands should remember that YouTube isn't just for amateurs, there are people that are making a career from their exceptional content. If you want to invest your money wisely make sure that the video you're putting so much effort into isn't just about cheap laughs, make it worthy of return visits.

Your video should be my favourite movie in 3 minutes or less, something I never get tired of and always want to see again.

- Shan