Viral Commercials Pay Off Big For Businesses
When you think viral videos, you think about "David After Dentist" or “The Evolution of Dance.” You don't usually think about "viral commercials" by brands, but that's exactly what happened twice over the past couple weeks with commercials from Dove and Kmart. Dove's "Real Beauty Sketches" commercial enlisted the help of several ordinary women and a forensic sketch artist to conduct an experiment on how women see their beauty compared to how others see their beauty.
Dove's Real Beauty Sketches commercial struck a chord with men and women around the country. Where every other beauty brand is convincing women they need their products to be beautiful, Dove is telling women they're more beautiful than they think they are already. A clever and innovative concept that flies in the face of the way beauty brands have always marketed to their target audience.
Their unconventional idea worked out well for them. Between all versions of the commercial, it's racked up almost 32 million views on YouTube in less than 2 weeks. Pretty staggering, considering that uploading to YouTube didn't cost Dove anything, and resulted in 32 million intentional views of a three to six minute long commercial. That’s a much better return on investment than paying for ad space for a 30 second TV commercial reaching 30 million people who have the power to mute, fast forward, walk out of the room, or tune it out.
Another viral commercial that has gained a lot of attention this week is K-Mart's tongue in cheek "Ship My Pants" commercial. The commercial hasn't even aired on TV yet, and it already has almost 16 million views on YouTube in two weeks.
The humor is sophomoric and may not appeal to everyone, but putting the commercial on YouTube instead of TV gives Kmart a lot more flexibility to reach the people that will find it funny and really make an impact.
If you have an innovative or clever idea, don't sit on it because you don't have the budget to air it on television. Make it happen! Consult with a video production company like Spoken Motion Studio about how to make your great idea happen, and take advantage of free platforms like YouTube to boost profits and raise awareness for your business
About Spoken Motion Studio Headquartered in sunny Orlando, Florida, Spoken Motion Studio is offers our full-scale video, photo and event production services to local businesses and national clients alike.