Have you noticed how expensive viral marketing seems to be getting these days? Evian 'Roller Babies' is just the latest in a line of quirky, adventurous and costly TV campaigns that have 'gone viral'.
Following on the tremendous popularity of TV commercials that have gone viral like Cadbury’s "Gorillas", Evian's 'Roller Babies’ has smashed YouTube records with 14M+ views since its launch on July 1 according to Visible Measures.
I'm a big fan of the campaign. It's simply an awesome piece of entertainment (props to BETC Euro Paris for making it). But you can certainly imagine the huge production costs. Way more than budgets dedicated to a 'viral' campaign, and more than many other traditional TV-led advertising campaigns.
So do you really need a few million dollars to get a viral hit these days? The answer is no. All you need is a good idea.
The viral success of Evian’s Roller Babies relies on the power of a great idea plus the quality of execution. The home movie version of this idea might have only made it as far as Australia's Funniest Home Videos and a $500 cheque.
But there are more ways than one to get this kind of attention.
For a low budget viral that didn’t rely on TV to bring fame and fortune, look no further than Blendtec's fantastic 'Will it Blend?' campaign. An amazing set of viral videos inspired by a culture of product testing at the company went further than you might expect!
The idea is simple, as is the execution. In terms of bang for buck, these videos could not have worked harder. By June 2009, the Blendtec series of videos had 83,238,033 views (an average of 967,884 views per video) on YouTube.
The result of all this low-cost exposure? In a recent interview with Net Magazine, George Wright, BlendTec’s Marketing Director, said online sales increased by a factor of five, and all areas of sales, including commercial, have enjoyed a significant positive impact.
Not only this, but the videos themselves have generated income through online syndication. As George puts it, "Our marketing department actually generates revenue!"
So great viral results don’t need to rely on deep marketing department pockets. In fact, in some cases the best brand virals come from people other than the brand. The Diet Coke + Mentos phenomenon is a good example.
This incredibly clever and entertaining idea cost little more than 101 litres of Diet Coke, 523 Mentos, 2 'scientists' and a handheld cam.
What’s even more encouraging is the way this video opened up the opportunity for sharing content and fun between brand and consumers (something that 'blockbuster' viral ads struggle to do).
If you need any evidence of long-term value through consumer engagement, a quick Google search will tell you that over 13,000 videos devoted to this idea have been made and uploaded by the public over the past four years!
The fact that Diet Coke and Mentos didn’t come up with the idea in the first place doesn't matter (lucky them!) In fact, it just proves that people are happy to promote products and services in the name of entertainment – so long as it’s fun!
So if you’re a marketer with a little less budget than the cast, crew, and digital lab that made Roller Babies, then take heart. A good idea alone can take you further than millions of YouTube views. It might even create an army of active viral marketers that used to be known as your 'target audience'.