Look at that, a two month gap in between posts… shameful.  On behalf of VMG to our many thousands if not hundreds of millions of loyal VMG blog readers I offer our humble apologies and our promise- nay our easily broken agreement, to put up at least one new, insightful, or at the very least incoherent blog post per month.  In the meantime thank you for your patience and without further ado, Today’s subject: “Viral Hope”

What is Viral Hope you ask?  Viral hope is something we’ve identified many brands, companies and individuals from suffering from.  It’s a condition brought on by misunderstanding the extent of the online video ecosystem.  Put simply there’s a lot of video online.  A lot.

Fact: It would take you 600 years(!) to watch the entirety of the YouTube video library.  There are 13-15 hours of video submitted to YouTube every hour.

Now, Viral Hope occurs whenever a company, brand or individual puts up a video in the “hope” that it will go viral.  There was once a time when you could argue that content was king.  Upload a funny video or a strange video or a video of someone caught lighting their pants on fire and you stood a relatively good chance of  finding a big audience online.  This unfortunately is no longer the case.  Even the best content, with the most viral potential, from the very best talent needs cajoling to get it in front of the right eyeballs. The problem is, no matter how good your content you’re still throwing a needle in a haystack hoping someone (with a lot of friends) will find it and share it.

Doing the old upload and hope is now an exercise in futility.  So what to do? We’ve been asking this question since our earliest days (and the earliest days of YouTube) when we first started experimenting with viral video distribution.  Now with much trial and error under our belts we can confidently say that we are quickly becoming masters, not of Viral Hope, but of Viral Science.  And yes there is a science to going viral online.  Certainly quality and relevance of content is still important but just as important is how that content is optimized for discovery.

In our strange economic times many brand and marketing managers may find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place. Shrinking budgets mean the cost of broadcast spots are becoming less and less feasible.  Print readership is disappearing and advertisers are jumping ship like rats on sinking galleon (sorry advertisers).  Online video has always held a great allure but little in the way of guaranteed or quantifiable returns.  That no longer needs to be the case.  With our latest viral distribution efforts we’ve achieved our viewership volume goals and then some.  But the buck doesn’t stop at view counts.  In our opinion a successful viral campaign is a blend of views generated and discussion started.  We aim to get people talking, whether on blogs or as video comments or direct video responses.  Internet communications is a two way street after all and the success of online media, whatever it’s form is largely dependent on how well it’s been optimized for consumer dialogue.  A video with 200,000 views and 2 comments is a failure in our opinion while a video with 50,000 views and 220 comments could be considered a great success.

Check out our last two viral efforts:

Volkswagon Jetta TDI - (we did distribution only, not production so please be kind)

Current stats:  248,140 views – 235 comments - 1302 ratings totalling 4.5 stars - 5 distinctly seeded blog link backs.

Originally seeded for a target viewership of 150k to 200k. Target viewership goal was surpassed 2 weeks after upload.

Motorola – MotoReel Phone Films – The Sacred Orchid - (Production and Distribution)

Current stats  187,154 views – 178 comments – 1 video response – 529 ratings totally 4.5 stars – 6 YouTube Honors including 5th most viewed video in Canada for the month of January 2009.

The Sacred Orchid was originally seeded for a target viewership of 100k.

Both spots achieved their target numbers within 3 weeks of being released, viewership and comments continue.

These were not accidents, they were not flukes, our viewership numbers are not artificially generated (no astroturfing here).  These are real viewers, making real unbiased comments, leaving unbiased ratings and sharing as they see fit.  We have become online media agriculturists, planting seeds in the right places to get the right amount of viewership nurishment.  It is a process that can be repeated, measured and refined.

Viral doesn’t have to be a dirty word anymore, online video can be embraced as a viable alternative to broadcast and print, especially when targeting niche audiences.  This is what we’re doing. This is what we’re all about.  Great creative production with quantifiable results.

Leave hope at the door and embrace viral science.  Also, tell your boss you’ve found a company that can maximize your marketing budget for 2009, you’ll probably get a promotion.  You can thank us later.

- Evan Aagaard

Partner/CD – VMG Cinematic