Top Secrets to Successful Viral Videos

This video of a Coca-Cola vending machine which uses Xbox Kinect technology and encourages Koreans to imitate the dance moves of Korean boy band 2PM has been out for about a month. It's accumulated 1,189,846 views on YouTube to date.

So what's made it so popular? Well let us share our years of experience reviewing such videos and the vast knowledge we have accumulated over the years. The secret to creating a successful video is simple. Ready?

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Ray-Ban Aims For Viral Success With Found Footage And Giant Bug

Found footage? Yawn. Paranormal Activity-like surprises? Yawn. Fear Factor-like scares? Yawn. Blair Witch Project-like adventure? Yawn.

Yes! It's another "viral" video. And we know it's viral because the production company told us so. Yup. it comes to us from Raconteur for Luxottica Group, otherwise known as Ray-Ban. Directed by William Campbell and Wil Johnson of Gentleman Scholar, the video tells the story of a couple who enters and old, rundown home (naturally) and stumbles upon a giant cocoon.

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Will This Office Desk Jumping Fail Video Go Viral?

Whether this Travelport Smartpoint App ad is saying travel agents are so bored they have nothing better to do than jump over office desks or that by using the app they can leap over office furniture in a single bound or that agents should "take the leap" and buy the app we know not. Nor do we care.

We do, however, care whether or not this ad goes viral. Does it have the ingredients? Is it dumb enough? Does it have the holy grail of viral: shot amateurishly, is humorous and contains an epic fail? TIme will tell.

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A Look at Ten Successful Viral Videos

The whole "viral advertising" thing has been around for a while. The term itself has been misused and abused ("let's do a viral video!") and a clear definition has never truly been established. But, no matter. We're going to take a look at ten videos that have, according to our guest writer, Tom Norman, achieved viral notoriety. Take away, Tom.

By nature, viral videos are actively sought out and watched by thousands, often millions of people online and so if one can create an effective "viral" to promote one's brand, surely that's a better ad than paying for banners down the sides of websites or even paying for a spot on prime-time TV, right?

However, there is clearly more to it than that. What makes a successful viral ad? How can you go about making one to promote your brand? Well, all we can do is break down the most successful viral ads out there and try and establish protons and neurons of what makes them work. So without further ado, let's crack on with the top 10.

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Humping Dog Awards Promotes New AMC Show

Early this week, a video purporting to be a display of the first ever Humpy Awards debuted. In the video, judges rate dogs on several humping criteria including speed, stamina, style and other factors.

Of course, there's no such thing as the Humpy Awards. But there is such a thing as Small Town Security, an AMC show, premiering July 15, which highlights private security company JJK Security in Georgia. What dog humping has to do with security, we know not but we assume we'll find out once the show makes its debut.

The video isn't quite what we'd call a viral success but 146,507 people have viewed it to date.

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Coke Security Cam Video A Viral Hit

A video that shows what appears to be security camera footage of good deeds done the world over ends with a Coke sign off. It's the work of Coke Latin America and was produced by Landia. In the video, we see people performing random acts of kindness. Some have questioned whether or not this is a valid Coke ad. Others have wondered if the security cam footage was staged. Others (most everyone) just appreciate its positive outlook on life.

The video, which includes music from Roger Hodgson's "Give A Little Bit," was uploaded to youTube on June 11 now has 1.2 million views.

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Your Adopted Pet Could be the Next Viral Video Sensation

Oh now this is hilarious. Hilarious enough to garner almost half a million views in four days. It's a video from the ASPCA letting us know there are millions of viral videos...uh, animals...waiting to be adopted.

The video, created by Mekanism, features Nightline's Dan Harris and his amazing hovering cat. When Dan leaves for work, Hovercat starts the party which, apparently, doesn't end until Dan comes homes from work at the end of the day.

The cheeky play here, of course, is that pets aren't just pets any longer. They're viral videos waiting to happen. Whatever works. If it gets animals out of a shelter and into a home, we can't really complain.

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Sharethrough Launches Branded Video Search Engine

Looking for that cool, branded video someone just told you about? Having trouble finding it? Now it may be a bit easier. Sharethrough.tv has launched a service that lets you search for the best, most influential and most talked-about branded videos across the web.

Marketers and agencies can use Sharethrough.tv to drill down to the specific videos they are looking for whether it's by a particular brand, video type or industry vertical. For example, a creative agency can use Sharethrough.TV to quickly find examples of documentary-style branded videos in the auto vertical and use those videos to inspire their client and creative team before going into production. They can also use Sharethrough.tv as a mechanism to showcase work and be discovered by potential clients.

Launch partners for the site include companies such as 72andSunny, EVB, Mekanism, Pereira & O'Dell, Seedwell and many others.

Who is Susan Glenn?

A post on buzzfeed entitled, Dudes Failing to Get Their Susan Glenn In 11 Gifs, contains animated gifs of epic fails guys make as they try to impress their girl. A link in the description leads to My Susan Glenn. In the Facebook group Suxorz, a group that collects epic social media failures, BlogAds Founder Henry Copeland wonders whether or not this is just "a lame seeding for some movie... or just the first of some supersmart social campaign?"

A link from My Susan Glen leads to a definition of Susan Glenn on Online Slang Dictionary. One of the definitions is "A hokey attempt at marketing a movie. Possibly one starring Zooey Deschanel."

We wonder too, Henry. It could be interesting. Or it could simply be another epic fail you discuss during your next Suxorz panel.

UPDATE: Susan Glenn revealed.

'Vinyl Throw' Video Promotes Music App

Along the lines of the Ray Ban viral videos, social music app Music Bunk uploaded a video entitled Vinyl Throw last week which features several friends tossing records onto a turntable. Much like the Ray Ban videos, the records land perfectly on the turntable. The video has earned almost 500,000 views in it's first week with no paid distribution.

MusicBunk lets you see playlists created by friends and the songs they're listening to, and allows them to post comments, send them to Facebook and Twitter, and check out new music straight from the app.
For the last week, the video story has remained unbranded. With a hint in the title and subtle logo placement in the video, we've left a cookie trail to MusicBunk.

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