Virals without the interaction-Funny one's!

With the cost of TV advertising skyrocketing, and potential consumers being over a variety of different channels, by this I mean, more TV channels are being created, therefore creates a diversity amongst your potential target audience as they view different channels at different times, making it harder and much more expensive to advertising over many TV channels.

Ok, a well conducted piece of market research into where your consumers go, and what they do may limit the cost, but still, advertising to your potential audience at the right time in the right place seems more trickier than ever, leaving your budget looking very low.

I have noticed many brands are moving towards the internet to advertise their products or services. But not straight away. Brands advertise themselves of various traditional advertising mediums first, mainly TV. Without the advert on traditional mediums the is pass along and recognition is minimal as Millward Brown points out in his POV in his article 'To Pass Or To Pass On: That Is The Viral Question'

'Viral campaigns rarely reach significant numbers of people unless prominently featured in traditional media, packaging and other promotional materials. Therefore, viral ads need a clearly defined role in the overall marketing plan, and it may be difficult to evaluate these ads fairly unless they are considered in their overall context'

Firstly the ads are communicated via traditional advertising mediums such as TV, then brought to they web. Once on the web, it can be sent around via mash-ups, emails, and on applications such as YouTube via a simple link and for free eliminating media space costs and potentially reaching out to vasts amounts of people, which you couldn't reach via the traditional approach.
The success of many viral ads has been increased due to social networking.
Social networking increasing + the increase of people online = More people connected with each other. The success of viral ads depend on us being able to pass it on within our social network. It has to remarkable, amusing, have shock value, and even interaction.

Lighting Bug
a viral advertising specialist show that is not just simply putting a TV ad on the internet, and expect it to work.

'Although viral video has proved to be the most popular viral marketing format, putting a TV ad on the internet does not constitute a viral campaign. Although there have been successful instances of this, what works on TV often does not work on the web. Because people have to actively choose to view it the viral campaign allows, demands even, a different approach. Viral advertising needs to be contagious, unlike TV big companies can not buy audience attention, it can only be captured by providing content people want to see'

It needs to have that little something special in order for it to be a viral success. It has to have an element that gets the user to pass it on.

I have found a few examples which work on humor:

Cadbury's 2007 advert





Ikea's Pig Advert- Time to leave home? use Ikea to furnish your new home!




Budweisers Magic Fridge - Played during the Superbowl in 2006




John West Samon-Bear fight




All of these viral ad campaigns work on the fact the clip is so funny, funny enough for one to send on via a link or email within our social network of friends.
If the brands make to much of a corporate approach, the message dies before it has lived. With these examples they don't push the brand upon the consumer, the humor is the main ingredient. At the end their brand is visualized, but its still up to us if we what to find out more about the product. Humor sells.