22-04-2014, 12:26 PM
Consumer Sharing of Viral Video Advertisements: A Look into Message and Creative Strategy Typologies and Emotional Content
Abstract
This study seeks to examine and define a division of Online Word-of-Mouth
known as viral advertising. Online word-of-mouth advertising, or viral advertising,
allows messages to spread throughout a social circle organically, garnering earned
media for the brand and advertiser. This paper analyzes existing research and provides
new qualitative research on qualities and elements of advertisements that are likely to go
viral through consumer sharing. Findings suggest positive emotions and brand image
play an important role in video advertisements’ virality. Success for viral video
advertisements lies in branded content. This work highlights the value of considering
specific creative typologies, which, if used effectively in video advertisements, may shape
the outcomes of what becomes viral.
INTRODUCTION
Thanks to the TV ad, which then became a YouTube hit, millions of people,
women especially, now feel something for Isaiah Mustafa, and are linking his manly abs
to the Old Spice brand. Created by Wieden & Kennedy Agency for Proctor and Gamble,
Old Spice in 2010, the Old Spice campaign became a viral sensation on YouTube. Old
Spice has created their own YouTube channel where viewers continue to watch and share
“The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” advertisements. A series of videos has been
created for the campaign and have become some of the most popular videos on YouTube
(Parpis, 2010). The advertisement’s target audience is women and men. The ads appeal
to the consumer’s ideal picture of what every man wants to be and the man every woman
wants, through humor and irony. A real time social media campaign was launched by Old
Spice to share and engage in conversation with consumers. Isaiah Mustafa responded to
questions from Twitter and blog commentary with personalized response videos that
resembled the current advertisements.
The Role of Social Media
Online advertisements are usually distributed through independent third party
sites such as YouTube, which is known to compile viral videos. “YouTube has become
the most successful Internet website providing a new generation of short video sharing
service since its establishment in early 2005” (Cheng, Dale, &, Liu, 2008, p.1). While
traditional advertising is non-personal, viral advertising is personal. The intent is for the
advertisements to go viral organically and be distributed by online word-of-mouth
communication (Porter, & Golan, 2006).
According to the International Association of Business Communicators, “more
than half of all Internet users have joined a social network; social networks have become
the number one platform for creating and sharing content” (Young, 2009). All this has
placed production of media such as images, words, video and audio in the hands of a
significant fraction of consumers. It's a fundamental shift in human communication
behavior toward participating and sharing. Essentially this means there is a switch from
push to pull marketing.
CONCLUSION
This paper provides knowledge and research significant for advertising and
marketing practitioners to produce, and more importantly, optimize their videos for the
greatest chance of viral success. The criteria of viral video advertisements that were
analyzed in this study were important because it was a framework of previous academic
research and perspectives, and creative typologies for creating online word-of-mouth not
previously explored.
For consumer sharing of video advertisements companies must keep in mind that
consumer sharing is now happening through social media. Without social media, viarlity
would not be possible on such a large scale and in such a small amount of time. Positive
emotions and brand image play an important role in video’s that are shared. Success for
viral video advertisements lies in branded content. This work highlights the value of
considering specific creative typologies if used effectively in video advertisements may
shape the outcomes of what becomes viral.