Give me back my 5 minutes, Bounty (hypothetically)

Genesis. The Dancing Baby. Pop Icon of the Internet generation. Several others followed and before long “Virals” had their own TV shows. These days, “Virals” are a household name in Internet Advertising. You’ve got a product and we’ve got a “Viral” campaign in the works for it. And we guess that’s all fine and dandy, but it’s getting a teeny tiny bit ridiculous.

Just because you spend a million bucks shooting your spot with a shaky-cam doesn’t mean its going to go “Viral”. The term “Viral” is really more of an achievement than a delivery platform, much like a double platinum album. Beyonce might aspire to make a multi-platinum record, but if she didn’t buy all the right songs from the right faceless producer, then it was just a missed goal and a bunch of jelly we aint ready for.

A lot of times, “Viral” projects fail because clients don’t understand the level of risk involved in making something noteworthy. Lets not forget most of the “Virals” that have been successful had something a little less PC about them that made some viewer say “HOLY SH*T, I GOTTA SHOW THIS TO SOMEONE!!”. That’s what makes something “Viral” in the first place. People want to pass it along.

A lot of times “Virals” get killed mid-way through the creative process… when it hits legal. What the HELL is legal doing dictating creative now? Remember, it’s the legal departments job to AVOID conflict, so anything ran past that train is castrated immediately. How did this happen? Was it the ball-less ABM afraid to lose their job? or was it the lazy agency more concerned with payroll than payoff to stand by an idea that would work.

So when you corporate blokes decide to do your next “Viral”, think about this: The medium was built on risk. Don’t repurpose your commercials in hopes that the 90% of us that skipped it on our DVRs would even care for your watered down lil’ crappy TV spot.

We like getting paid just as much as the next guys. But honestly, shouldn’t we love results even more? Playing it safe never makes the highlight reel, especially when it comes to ”Viral”. Point blank. So go suck on that after your turkey dinner. Cheers!