{"id":1046,"date":"2018-11-23T07:48:35","date_gmt":"2018-11-23T15:48:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/?p=1046"},"modified":"2025-09-25T21:59:46","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T04:59:46","slug":"amazing-examples-of-viral-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/amazing-examples-of-viral-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazing Examples of Viral Marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>With Christmas coming thick and fast, these campaigns give you the ideas you need.<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1047\" src=\"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/14977506132_eb5667a00b_b.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/14977506132_eb5667a00b_b.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/14977506132_eb5667a00b_b-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/14977506132_eb5667a00b_b-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/>With Christmas coming thick and fast, these campaigns give you the ideas you need&#8221; width=&#8221;1024&#8243; height=&#8221;768&#8243; \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/tenz1225\/14977506132\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b><i>Source<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe first lesson in constructing viral content is having the strength, courage, and self-confidence to get in touch with your own feelings, thinking about what profoundly affects you.\u201d<\/span><\/i><b> &#8211; <\/b><b><i>Ken Poirot, author on viral marketing<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With the holiday season fast approaching, it&#8217;s time to start thinking about promoting your products and services to a host of gift-hungry festive shoppers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Festive spending in the US is on the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/qz.com\/1165841\/us-retailers-had-their-best-holiday-sales-in-years\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rise again<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and by developing, as well as delivering, a creative, inspiring seasonal marketing campaign, you stand to increase your profits while growing your audience, significantly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The right mix of creative and strategic elements will ensure your marketing campaign cuts through the noise, speaks to your prospects on a personal level and earns you the seasonal success that you deserve. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To help inspire your efforts, we\u2019re going to explore three amazing examples of viral marketing, putting the power of well-timed, well-placed and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/a-step-by-step-guide-to-creating-effective-buyer-personas-for-your-business\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">highly-targeted<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> miniature campaigns into living, breathing perspective.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But before we delve any deeper, let\u2019s consider the power and potential of this seemingly dark artform.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><b>The power of viral marketing<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The phrase viral marketing isn&#8217;t something to take lightly. In fact, becoming a viral marketing sensation is a real challenge. But, a timely campaign delivered with flow, structure and a dynamic mix of creative elements has the potential to get under the skin of a huge online audience of potential customers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If your campaign does \u2018<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">go viral\u2019<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, you\u2019ll be able to promote your brand, business or organization in ways that no other digital marketing model or medium can replicate. Essentially, when a viral campaign gains momentum, it\u2019s almost as if magic comes into play, and this is what makes viral marketing such a powerful promotional artform.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Viral marketing is a powerful force, and with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.targetmarketingmag.com\/article\/using-viral-marketing-effectively-29060\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">80% of online businesses<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> currently using viral tactics to promote their brand as well as enhance their promotional campaigns, it might be time to enter the arena and join the competition.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The average American consumer mentions specific brand names <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/online-pr\/viral-marketing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">60 times a week<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> during both online and offline conversations. By tapping into the emotions of an engaged audience and showcasing your value, you could find yourself being mentioned across the World Wide Web, which will ultimately result in increased brand awareness and a boost to your bottom line.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These three feats of viral marketing genius will give you the inspiration you need for your next marketing campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><b>ALS Ice Bucket Challenge &#8211; social media<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A campaign aimed at raising funds for <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ninds.nih.gov\/Disorders\/Patient-Caregiver-Education\/Fact-Sheets\/Amyotrophic-Lateral-Sclerosis-ALS-Fact-Sheet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (ALS) &#8211; a devastating degenerative motor neurone disease that affects around 5,600 people per year &#8211; this amazing feat of viral marketing began with the single nomination of something called an \u2018Ice Bucket Challenge\u2019, which subsequently snowballed to epic proportions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You may already know about the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge (you may have even participated), but if not, the concept is very simple: you film yourself getting a freezing cold bucket of ice water poured over your head and then post the video, publically nominating three friends through social media to raise money for ALS:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qqobbcK0R-o\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The \u2018challenge and nominate\u2019 idea that formed the foundations of this epic viral marketing campaign is the primary driver of its success.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Speaking about the Ice Bucket Challenge, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/maxlenderman?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Max Lenderman<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, CEO of the agency School explained:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s totally own-able, unique, iconic and simple. It\u2019s highly broadcast-able, but it\u2019s so personal because of the calling-out aspect.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Due to its accessibility, simplicity, mass appeal, organic celebrity endorsement, a strong element of humor and a memorable hashtag &#8211; <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/icebucketchallenge?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Ehashtag\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">#icebucketchallenge<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; this campaign gained viral status in a matter of weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a result of this incredible feat, the ALS ice bucket challenge raised a total of <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Health\/als-ice-bucket-challenge-funding-leads-genetic-findings\/story?id=40919590\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">$220 million<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (\u20ac178 million) for ALS-affiliated organizations, earned a notable 100 billion YouTube views and prompted a total of <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.adweek.com\/digital\/als-ice-bucket-challenge-update\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">28 million Facebook engagements<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in a single summer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The colossal success of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge shows that by offering people a fun, simple challenge with an incentive to share the experience with friends, family and peers through popular social platforms, your campaign has the potential to spread like wildfire.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><b>Dove&#8217;s &#8216;Real Beauty Sketches&#8217;- video content<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this notable feat of emotive marketing, internationally-renowned beauty brand Dove drilled down into their brand message of promoting inner beauty and encouraging self-affirmation with a visually captivating, creative video-centric campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This simple yet effective short film featured an FBI-trained forensic sketch artist drawing various women first based on their self-perception and then based on that of a complete stranger. During each sketch, the stranger&#8217;s descriptions were far more stereotypically attractive and akin to what the subjects truly looked like &#8211; locking in the brand&#8217;s message that women can be overly critical of their appearances and as a result, fail to see their true beauty.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/litXW91UauE\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Despite a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/why-people-hate-doves-real-beauty-ad-2013-4?IR=T\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">certain level of criticism<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the campaign captured the hearts of both men and women from all walks of life, resulting in millions of views in more than 110 countries and becoming one of the most watched viral videos of all time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The campaign&#8217;s emotionally-driven message, coupled with its unique concept, tasteful production and sheer shareability, earned viral status in a relatively short space of time. And with a savvy, content-based distribution campaign, articles based on the video published on the likes of the Huffington Post, Mashable and other targeted digital publications, the campaign benefited from a healthy number of social media shares.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Speaking to Business Insider on the power of Dove\u2019s campaign, David Waterhouse, global head of content and PR at viral tracker, said:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI think what made this campaign perform particularly strongly is the content, which elicited the intense emotional responses of &#8216;warmth, &#8216;happiness&#8217; and &#8216;knowledge&#8217; from its target demographic &#8211; one of the key factors behind a video&#8217;s sharing success. But, more importantly, we are really seeing social motivations behind sharing becoming a lot more important. Brands have to give people a reason to share the video.&#8221;<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here the message is simple: inspirational video content plus a positive emotionally-driven message equals engagement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><b>Marvel\u2019s \u2018Deadpool on Tinder\u2019 campaign &#8211; creative multichannel marketing<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a style=\"color: #0f3647;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2016\/02\/deadpool-marketing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b><i><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1048\" style=\"margin-top: 0.857143rem; margin-bottom: 0.857143rem;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Deadpool_Tinder-289x514.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"289\" height=\"514\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Deadpool_Tinder-289x514.jpg 289w, https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Deadpool_Tinder-289x514-169x300.jpg 169w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 289px) 100vw, 289px\" \/><\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2016\/02\/deadpool-marketing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b><i>Screenshot<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To promote the release of its first movie featuring Marvel\u2019s most sassy and subversive comic book character to date, Deadpool, the brand put its best creative minds together to build a multichannel marketing campaign that picked up serious momentum in a matter of weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Based on the concept of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deadpool on Tinder, <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Marvel\u2019s marketing team created a fake Tinder profile and used this stunning piece of visual mastery as a social media sharing tool. To keep the viral pace going, the brand also created a humorous series of YouTube shorts featuring the anti-hero and even developed custom Deadpool emojis for fans to utilize when sharing relevant content.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a result of this ultra-creative multichannel marketing campaign, the film became a roaring box office success, grossing its <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.boxofficemojo.com\/movies\/?id=deadpool2016.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">$132,434,639<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in its opening weekend, earning countless social media engagements in the process.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While Marvel may have a colossal marketing budget, the takeaway here is that by using your creativity as a promotional weapon, building a marketing campaign based on a stand out concept and creating content across a multitude of channels, from YouTube to Facebook, blogs and beyond, you stand to gain real traction in your niche &#8211; which could well result a healthy seasonal return on investment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While strikingly different in their approach, these three epic viral marketing campaigns all share common traits:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A unique concept, idea or hook that has a wide-ranging appeal.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A strategic approach that is centered around one medium but uses a wealth of consumer-facing platforms such as Twitter or Facebook to deliver a strong campaign message.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A tone of voice and imagery that has a strong sense of brand identity and is driven by empathy, self-reflection or humor.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A hashtag or visual asset (image, graphic or video) created for shareability.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cUltimately virility is all about helping others express their reluctantly shared feelings while doing so from a safe distance.\u201d &#8211; <\/span><\/i><b><i>Ken Poirot<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By exploring these three inspirational examples of marketing in greater detail you\u2019ll see that all of the above elements are present in these campaigns &#8211; and by taking note of these innovative approaches, you\u2019ll be able to make your next campaign (and all of your future market efforts) a roaring commercial success.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We wish you the best of luck with your next marketing drive. For more insights that will steer you to success, you should read our definitive guide on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/classic-examples-of-how-not-to-market-your-brand\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">how not to to promote your brand<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, including real-life examples that will keep you away from any potential marketing-based calamities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/tenz1225\/14977506132\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source to the featured image display on the index of the blog<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With Christmas coming thick and fast, these campaigns give you the ideas you need. &nbsp; With Christmas coming thick and fast, these campaigns give you the ideas you need&#8221; width=&#8221;1024&#8243; height=&#8221;768&#8243; \/> Source \u201cThe first lesson in constructing viral content is having the strength, courage, and self-confidence to get in touch with your own feelings, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1052,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.agiliron.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}