Building verve into the viral
By Simon Fuller. Veritable video. From dancing at London’s Liverpool Street Station to babies rocking on roller blades in Manhattan, viral ads moved and shook in 2009. And some of these viral pushed the whole sector forward.
“This [was] the year smarter agencies and brands stopped trying to make viral videos that looked like a kid just uploaded it to YouTube,” says Josh Warner, president of video seeding outfit Feed Company. “It has evolved from mimicking the audience and speaking at them to having a conversation as an equal. Agencies are leaving the gimmicks behind. They are going back to what they’re good at which is to make quality creative.
“We’re seeing more involved videos that are much more than just faux viral tricks,” he adds. “The videos are more thematic and stylized.”
Warner points here to the popular Bicycles, a viral video – more a short film – featuring Danny MacAskill, the Inspired Bicycles team rider, which plays as a montage of his technically impressive street trial riding, as he and his trusty bike take on Edinburgh. The clip is soundtracked with the song Funeral by Band of Horses, lending added weight to proceedings.
The production values of many virals were certainly ramped up a notch, too. Take Carousel, for example, from Stink Digital, which showed off the Philips Cinema 21:9 TV. With its long tracking shot and dramatic content, the clip certainly nailed that cinematic feel.
Then there was Signs for Schweppes, which at a run time of 12 minutes, was a viral with epic aspirations. ‘The video followed the trials and tribulations of a lonely, ordinary guy looking for love, and possessed a real sense of film-making style, taking its time to tell a poignant, emotive story.
“If you make a video that’s emotional or a bit sexy and outrageous, and it’s worth talking about, people won’t mind seeing it and, if you’re lucky, sharing it,” says Warner.
The overriding trend throughout 2009, then, was that this was the year when videomakers turned to content that wasn’t just about the shock factor.
“Brands and agencies are working harder to develop content that isn’t all about the can-you-believe-that-just-happened moment,” says Warner. “It’s about connecting to your audience and respecting that particular community through your creative.”
