Why Do I Think this WON’T Go Viral?
Yankee Candle’s world headquarters is a few miles up the road from me. Today’s paper had a short article about recruiting people to dance in one of their commercials, to be filmed in the flagship store, in an attempt to go viral and be shared around thousands of times on YouTube.
The company is modeling the attempt after the very popular series of videos of performances appearing to erupt spontaneously in public places, such as the massive dance rendition of Do Re Me in the Antwerp, Belgium central train station, which has accumulated 18,245,307 views since March 2009 (an average of 1,140,332 views per month).
But I think the company fails to grasp something important: you can’t force social media, and it’s very hard to deliberately get a commercial to go viral. The ones that do, like Honda’s “The Cog” video, are innately interesting and only secondarily promoting a product or brand.
Interestingly, even that famous example has only had 759,774 views, 11 months after it was posted. I’d have expected several million at least. This was a commercial that must have cost a fortune to engineer and set up, and who knows how many takes to get everything in the two-minute sequence working perfectly. Yet only an average of 69,070 people are seeing it in a typical month. When you consider that several million probably watched it as it aired on TV, that’s rather pathetic, ultimately.
Of course, I haven’t seen Yankee Candle’s commercial yet; it’s still being filmed. But I doubt it will have anything like the power of the Antwerp dance.
A lifelong activist, profitability and marketing specialist Shel Horowitz’s mission is to fix crises like hunger, poverty, racism, war, and catastrophic climate change—by showing the business world how fixing them can make a profit. An author, international speaker, and TEDx Talker, his award-winning 10th book, Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World, lays out a blueprint for creating and MARKETING those profitable change-making products and services. He is happy to help you craft your messaging and develop profit strategies. Learn more (and download excerpts from the book) at http://goingbeyondsustainability.com
Thank you for sharing that informative, rational, and detailed critique of the bias against progressive voices on Meet the Press. Jay Rosen, as so often, also gave an illuminating example of selective media bias as they ignored Powell’s top aide’s insight that Bush-Cheney policymakers were “radical” in their agendas.
Moyers, Rosen, and Greenwald are also too polite to point out who actually advertises on Meet the Press and how that might cause some bias too.
Again, thank you for keeping an eye out for us “little people.”
@Eric, you’re welcome and thanks for your support. It is frustrating to e how much of a double standard there seems to be n the media, and I think its at least in part because the progressive media tend to want to “play well with others”; the other side doesn’t extend that courtesy.
Thank you for sharing that informative, rational, and detailed critique of the bias against progressive voices on Meet the Press. Jay Rosen, as so often, also gave an illuminating example of selective media bias as they ignored Powell’s top aide’s insight that Bush-Cheney policymakers were “radical” in their agendas.
Moyers, Rosen, and Greenwald are also too polite to point out who actually advertises on Meet the Press and how that might cause some bias too.
Again, thank you for keeping an eye out for us “little people.”
@Eric, you’re welcome and thanks for your support. It is frustrating to e how much of a double standard there seems to be n the media, and I think its at least in part because the progressive media tend to want to “play well with others”; the other side doesn’t extend that courtesy.
Thank you for sharing that informative, rational, and detailed critique of the bias against progressive voices on Meet the Press. Jay Rosen, as so often, also gave an illuminating example of selective media bias as they ignored Powell’s top aide’s insight that Bush-Cheney policymakers were “radical” in their agendas.
Moyers, Rosen, and Greenwald are also too polite to point out who actually advertises on Meet the Press and how that might cause some bias too.
Again, thank you for keeping an eye out for us “little people.”
@Eric, you’re welcome and thanks for your support. It is frustrating to e how much of a double standard there seems to be n the media, and I think its at least in part because the progressive media tend to want to “play well with others”; the other side doesn’t extend that courtesy.
Thank you for sharing that informative, rational, and detailed critique of the bias against progressive voices on Meet the Press. Jay Rosen, as so often, also gave an illuminating example of selective media bias as they ignored Powell’s top aide’s insight that Bush-Cheney policymakers were “radical” in their agendas.
Moyers, Rosen, and Greenwald are also too polite to point out who actually advertises on Meet the Press and how that might cause some bias too.
Again, thank you for keeping an eye out for us “little people.”
@Eric, you’re welcome and thanks for your support. It is frustrating to e how much of a double standard there seems to be n the media, and I think its at least in part because the progressive media tend to want to “play well with others”; the other side doesn’t extend that courtesy.
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