Chris Jaques's Blog: What Goes Viral?

One of the most critical challenges today is how companies can create branded content that customers don’t just want to watch – but content that customers want to share.

Why?

Because 92% of people trust recommendations from friends and family above all other forms of advertising when making a purchase decision, according to Nielsen’s latest data. That number’s up nearly 20 percent in the last 5 years.

Word of mouth is one of the most critical communication channels in the new world of business.

So – how do companies create it?

I’ve looked at the hundred most successful viral brand videos of all time, to try and identify some of the secrets of success.

Just click on the links below to view the 10 Most Successful Viral Videos Of All Time.

The data comes from one of the world’s leading viral agencies, Unruly. Its ranking counts the number of shares on Twitter, Facebook, and the blogosphere as opposed to just the number of video views.

In short, it measures “virality,” as opposed to simple ‘views’.

And the top ten most shared Brand Videos of all time are these:

10. In tenth place is Red Bull’s incredible bike journey from Edinburgh to Skye in Scotland, which has now achieved over 23 million views and over 1.9 million shares.

9. Next up is T-Mobile’s hilarious Angry Birds Live Game in Barcelona, which clocked up over 14 million views, and 1.96 million shares.

8. The beautiful P&G video for the London Olympics, ‘Best Job’, has touched a nerve around the world, achieving over 13 million views in only 4 months. It has already been shared over 2 million times.

7. The Budweiser TVC that was created for the 2002 Superbowl, commemorating those lost in 9/11, has been clocking up consistent attention recently, reaching almost 8 million views and over 2 million shares.

6. The brilliant Roller Babies for Evian is the world’s most-viewed brand video. It’s now amassed over 75 million views, and has been shared almost 2.2 million times on-line.

5. The Christmas Food Court Flash Mob ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ video for Alphabet Photography has now been viewed 38 million times, and shared almost 2.3 million.

4. The spectacular, terrifying and occasionally disgusting video for DC Shoes: ‘Ken Block’s Gymkhana 4’, has now received almost 20 million views, and 2.8 million shares.

3. DC Shoes and Ken Block again – this time it’s ‘Gymkhana 3, Part 2: Ultimate Playground at l’Autodrome, France’. This incredible feat of driving has now been viewed over 45 million times, and has been shared over 2.9 million times.

2. The hilarious “Dramatic Surprise On A Quiet Square”, for TNT has now amassed over 45 million views and almost over 4.6 million shares.

1. Number one, by far, is Volkswagen’s mini Darth Vader ad: The Force. Not only has it now been viewed over 61 million times on-line. Much more importantly, it’s been shared more than 5.5 million times.

What Can We Learn?

These are the Brand Videos that most people chose to share with others. Having seen these videos, I’d love to hear your views. What do you think is the formula for success? Let me know what you think.

I will summarize my own conclusions in my next post.

If you would like to look at these conclusions now, please click here to read the complete post, including a summary of key learning and recommendations.

For more perspectives on Social Media, look at some recent posts on Social Media and Social Content.

In the meantime, if you would like to recieve regular tweets about the latest developments in New Media and New Asia, you can follow twitter.com/HEREcomesNOW .

The article first appeared on Campaign Asia