The document discusses how content can go viral, identifying factors like humor, sexuality, shock value, and creativity that may trigger people to share content widely. It also analyzes different types of viral triggers and provides a scale to rate the viral potential of content. The document concludes by defining viral potential as the likelihood of viewers passing on content by posting, emailing, downloading, or linking to it.

1. Encouraging
things to
spread

2. We are living through the disorientation that comes
from including 2 billion new participants in a media
landscape previously operated by a small group of
professionals.

4. Sharing Content
The internet has always encouraged us to
publish and share the good things. The way
& speed by which this happens is changing

5. Understanding people and their
motivations is the key to creating
spreadable content.
Make it easy for people to find your stuff
and make it easy for them to share it.
Talk about it. Pass it on. If the web is a
mass of conversations, then you need to
create stuff that is worth talking about.
People don’t share things to make
brands look cool. They share things to
make themselves look cool.

6. Different forms of sharing

7. Different forms of sharing
• Sharing Goods - the hardest, if you give
physical goods you no longer have them, you're
deprived of them.

8. Different forms of sharing
• Sharing Goods - the hardest, if you give
physical goods you no longer have them, you're
deprived of them.
• Sharing Services - like helping someone across
the road - you don't lose out on physical stuff
but it's an inconvenience.

9. Different forms of sharing
• Sharing Goods - the hardest, if you give
physical goods you no longer have them, you're
deprived of them.
• Sharing Services - like helping someone across
the road - you don't lose out on physical stuff
but it's an inconvenience.
• Sharing Information - like giving someone
directions - you don't lose stuff, it doesn't take
much time, no inconvenience.

10. Different forms of sharing
• Sharing Goods - the hardest, if you give
physical goods you no longer have them, you're
deprived of them.
• Sharing Services - like helping someone across
the road - you don't lose out on physical stuff
but it's an inconvenience.
• Sharing Information - like giving someone
directions - you don't lose stuff, it doesn't take
much time, no inconvenience.
• We're taught that sharing is good. We get hits
of pleasure when we share things with people.
It's neurological and social. We like to share.

11. "We have a word for not sharing if there’s no
cost to you: that word is ‘spiteful.'" The music
industry is not battling against a generation of
digital criminals, it's fighting a bunch of kids
doing what their parents have been telling them
since they were two - sharing nicely

12. The currency of online

13. Why else do we share?

14. Why else do we share?
• To be the first

15. Why else do we share?
• To be the first
• To look good by association

16. Why else do we share?
• To be the first
• To look good by association
• To help people solve problems

17. Why else do we share?
• To be the first
• To look good by association
• To help people solve problems
• To help people find good things

18. Why else do we share?
• To be the first
• To look good by association
• To help people solve problems
• To help people find good things
– filtering the infinite

19. Why else do we share?
• To be the first
• To look good by association
• To help people solve problems
• To help people find good things
– filtering the infinite
• To connect with others

20. www.youshouldhaveseenthis.com
www.dipity.com/tatercakes/Internet_Memes/fs

21. Viral
Triggers
& Amplifiers

22.
Client:
Campaign:
VIRAL TRIGGERS VIRAL POTENTIAL COMMENTS
An aspect of the video likely to trigger sharing activity! Low Mild High Hit
with example
Funny...ROFL! Humour is notoriously subjective: will your audience be
10
tickled by a banana slip or a nip slip? Satire or farce? Either way, a top‐notch N/A 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Durex:
'pay‐off' is a must‐have. “Get It On”
Sexy...HOT! This one's a slippery pole, ranging from amateur booty‐
shaking through celebrity upskirts and full blown sex tapes. Approach with N/A 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
caution: this is hot stuff and if you misjudge your target audience you'll get Agent Provocateur:
your fingers burnt. “Kylie”
Shocking...OMG! As a species we find disturbing content strangely
compelling. This includes physical shock (where we're 'frightened' by an N/A 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
unexpected image) and moral shock (outrage at shocking/scandalous Carlsberg:
behaviour or events). “Carlsberg and Mentos”
Spectacular...AWESOME! Has to be seen to be believed . Large
explosions, freaks of nature and brilliantly done‐visual effects such as stop‐ N/A 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
motion photography sequences. Oren Lavie: “Her Morning
Elegance” music video
Random …WTF!?! Will often involve a verbal, visual, or conceptual non‐ 10
sequitur that is as funny/weird/surprising as it is bewildering. Why is that N/A 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Cadbury's:
gorilla playing the drums? I Like Turtles? You bet we do! “Drumming Gorilla”
Original…wow! Something that’s not been seen before – a novel N/A 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
concept or execution that is guaranteed to astonish and surprise Sony Bravia:
“Balls”
Moving...AWWWW! There's more to viral videos than T&A. Sneezing
pandas, laughing babies, or free hugs, these are the videos that melt our N/A 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
hearts. The best ones give us goose bumps, uplift our souls, and renew our Will.I.Am:
faith in humanity. “Obama Song”
Illuminating...COOL! This is one for geeks of all persuasions.
Guaranteed to make your synapses tingle or your money back. Whether it’s an
in‐depth exploration into web 2.0 culture, a demo of Google’s latest tech, or an N/A 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
explanation of atomic physics , this is brain‐food of the highest quality
CERN: “Large Hadron
Collider”
Hyper‐Relevant…thought of U! clips that feel so NOW,
and so YOU, that you HAVE to share them with your friends – before they send N/A 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
them to you! Could be a flash mob at your local station, the latest track by your Film 4:
fave band, or the film you want to see tonight. SlumDog Trailer
12

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13

24. 10 million fans on Facebook

25. Hello
ladies...

27. TV Ad on Superbowl Feb 2009
(most watched program in
American television history
with 106.5 million viewers)
Introduced new character, Old
Spice Man
Played by Isaiah Mustafa, a
former NFL wide receiver
with a polished comedic sense
of timing
"The man your man could
smell like"
17

28. 18

29. 19

30. "Today could be just like the other 364 days you log
into Twitter, or maybe the Old Spice Man shows up
@Old Spice" on Twitter & Facebook

31. How they got buzz started
As people tweeted questions about
manliness to the Old Spice Man, he
began posting near-real-time video
vignettes responding to the queries
In a two-day blitz, the team produced
more than 180 video "shout-outs“
Key to the effort was the response
to Kevin Rose, the founder of social
network Digg.com. Rose tweeted the
Old Spice Man about his own illness
that day.
21

34. 24

35. Hacking The Graph

36. Hacking The Graph

37. Input
TV Commercial
Old Spice Website
YouTube Channel
Promoted Tweet

38. Output
Blog Postings
Twitter Replies
Video Comments
Facebook Likes

39. In Two Days
15 Million +
YouTube Views
1/2 Million +
Facebook Fans
68,000 +
Twitter Followers

40. “These tools don't get
socially interesting until
they get technologically
boring. It isn't when the shiny
new tools show up that they
are used to start permeating
society, it's when everyone is
able to take them for
granted...”
Clay Shirky, TED

41. Sooooo, was it a great use of
social media?
30

42. Sooooo, was it a great use of
social media?
30

43. 31

44. Sometimes you just want a
one night stand

45. More often than not..
... a moment of distraction &
entertainment can be enough

48. Coke Happiness
36

50. Key Concept
Don’t forget the maniacs
The web is ruled by maniacs
like Perez Hilton, Britney
adorers, Apple fan boys, blog
commenters & animal lovers
Content is more viral if it helps
people fully express their
personality disorders
Couch potatoes don’t matter
on the web, crazy people do

53. Other things to consider...

54. Give away stuff

56. Key Concept:
The Bored At Work Network
Millions of bored office workers blog,
Tweet, Facebook, and IM all day
The BWN is bigger than the BBC, CNN
and any other media network

57. Chive

60. 10 tips for Virality

61. 10 tips for Virality
• Be realistic, only a few ads make the big time

62. 10 tips for Virality
• Be realistic, only a few ads make the big time
• Creativity rules: a distinctive and engaging ad is a necessity

63. 10 tips for Virality
• Be realistic, only a few ads make the big time
• Creativity rules: a distinctive and engaging ad is a necessity
• Don’t forget, an ad must leave some impression related to the
brand in order to be effective

64. 10 tips for Virality
• Be realistic, only a few ads make the big time
• Creativity rules: a distinctive and engaging ad is a necessity
• Don’t forget, an ad must leave some impression related to the
brand in order to be effective
• Consider using celebrities

65. 10 tips for Virality
• Be realistic, only a few ads make the big time
• Creativity rules: a distinctive and engaging ad is a necessity
• Don’t forget, an ad must leave some impression related to the
brand in order to be effective
• Consider using celebrities
• Consider an idea’s campaign potential; is it more than a one off?

66. 10 tips for Virality
• Be realistic, only a few ads make the big time
• Creativity rules: a distinctive and engaging ad is a necessity
• Don’t forget, an ad must leave some impression related to the
brand in order to be effective
• Consider using celebrities
• Consider an idea’s campaign potential; is it more than a one off?
• Seed widely: The more broadly seeded a campaign is, the more
people it will reach, irrespective of the pass-along rate.

67. 10 tips for Virality
• Be realistic, only a few ads make the big time
• Creativity rules: a distinctive and engaging ad is a necessity
• Don’t forget, an ad must leave some impression related to the
brand in order to be effective
• Consider using celebrities
• Consider an idea’s campaign potential; is it more than a one off?
• Seed widely: The more broadly seeded a campaign is, the more
people it will reach, irrespective of the pass-along rate.
• Seed well: Different media placement strategies may well be
required based on the nature of the target audience.

68. 10 tips for Virality
• Be realistic, only a few ads make the big time
• Creativity rules: a distinctive and engaging ad is a necessity
• Don’t forget, an ad must leave some impression related to the
brand in order to be effective
• Consider using celebrities
• Consider an idea’s campaign potential; is it more than a one off?
• Seed widely: The more broadly seeded a campaign is, the more
people it will reach, irrespective of the pass-along rate.
• Seed well: Different media placement strategies may well be
required based on the nature of the target audience.
• Make the ad easy to find – use simple naming, and consider paid
video search

69. 10 tips for Virality
• Be realistic, only a few ads make the big time
• Creativity rules: a distinctive and engaging ad is a necessity
• Don’t forget, an ad must leave some impression related to the
brand in order to be effective
• Consider using celebrities
• Consider an idea’s campaign potential; is it more than a one off?
• Seed widely: The more broadly seeded a campaign is, the more
people it will reach, irrespective of the pass-along rate.
• Seed well: Different media placement strategies may well be
required based on the nature of the target audience.
• Make the ad easy to find – use simple naming, and consider paid
video search
• Integrate across media

70. 10 tips for Virality
• Be realistic, only a few ads make the big time
• Creativity rules: a distinctive and engaging ad is a necessity
• Don’t forget, an ad must leave some impression related to the
brand in order to be effective
• Consider using celebrities
• Consider an idea’s campaign potential; is it more than a one off?
• Seed widely: The more broadly seeded a campaign is, the more
people it will reach, irrespective of the pass-along rate.
• Seed well: Different media placement strategies may well be
required based on the nature of the target audience.
• Make the ad easy to find – use simple naming, and consider paid
video search
• Integrate across media
• Cross your fingers!

71. thank you