the secrets of viral ads - post-advertising summit 2012

YORAM (JERRY) WIND The Wharton School’s Future of Advertising Program

THE SECRETS OF VIRAL ADS

YORAM (JERRY) WIND The Lauder Professor & Professor of Marketing Director, SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management Academic Director, Wharton Fellows

THE WHARTON SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

#PASummit

WHAT ARE THE KEY DETERMINANTS of successful viral ads?

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT successful viral ads?

1. DO VIRAL STRATEGIES YIELD ACTUAL BUSINESS RESULTS?

No Unsure Yes

1. DO VIRAL STRATEGIES YIELD ACTUAL BUSINESS RESULTS?

Yes

•  Fame is a more powerful strategy than emotional involvement, rational or combined emotional and rational1

•  Fame campaigns achieve the highest results for profit, price sensitivity, sales, loyalty and penetration1

•  “Fame” means WOM/buzz and turning consumers into brand advocates1

2. ARE EMOTIONAL ADS MORE EFFECTIVE THAN COGNITIVE ADS?

No Unsure Yes

2. ARE EMOTIONAL ADS MORE EFFECTIVE THAN COGNITIVE ADS?

Yes

•  Emotional strategies are more profitable.2

•  Emotional strategies yield stronger business results in terms of sales, share, price elasticity, loyalty and penetration. 2

•  Emotional strategies build stronger brands in terms of awareness, fame (WOM), differentiation, commitment, image, quality and trust. 2

•  “More positive or more negative content is more viral than content that does not evoke emotion.” 1

3. ARE POSITIVE EMOTIONS MORE EFFECTIVE THAN NEGATIVE ONES?

No Unsure Yes

3. ARE POSITIVE EMOTIONS MORE EFFECTIVE THAN NEGATIVE ONES?

Yes

•  “Videos that elicit positive valence emotions (irrespective of arousal direction) were shared 20% more than those that elicited a negative valence emotion.” 2 –  Positive High Arousal Emotions: Exhilaration,

Hilarity, Astonishment, Inspiration –  Positive Low Arousal Emotions: Happiness,

Amusement, Surprise, Calmness •  “Videos that elicit high arousal, positive valence

emotions were shared considerably more on average per day (at minimum 30% more) than videos within any of the remaining arousal/valence groups.” 2

•  “Positive content is more viral than negative content.” 1

4. DO CREATIVE DRIVERS SUCH AS ENJOYMENT, INVOLVEMENT AND BRANDING PREDICT ONLINE VIRAL VIEWING VOLUME?

No Unsure Yes

4. DO CREATIVE DRIVERS SUCH AS ENJOYMENT, INVOLVEMENT AND BRANDING PREDICT ONLINE VIRAL VIEWING VOLUME?

Yes •  “The three individual elements of

enjoyment, involvement and branding all had a significant positive correlation with our logged views per week measure..”

•  “Involvement and enjoyment are clearly the more important of these measures, and will be the main mechanisms by which a film will have most of its effect online.”

5. DOES AD DISTINCTIVENESS POSITIVELY PREDIT ONLINE VIRAL VIEWING VOLUME?

No Unsure Yes

5. DOES AD DISTINCTIVENESS POSITIVELY PREDIT ONLINE VIRAL VIEWING VOLUME?

Yes

•  “Distinctiveness is identified as a key determinant of viral viewing.”1

•  Intriguing content that fosters the imagination is linked to increased viral diffusion online.2

6. DO LEVELS OF CATEGORY AND BRAND INTEREST POSITIVELY PREDICT ONLINE VIRAL VIEWING VOLUME?

No Unsure Yes

6. DO LEVELS OF CATEGORY AND BRAND INTEREST POSITIVELY PREDICT ONLINE VIRAL VIEWING VOLUME?

No •  The study does not conclude

that levels of category and brand interest positively predict online viral viewing volume. (p-value > 0.1)

7. DOES CELEBRITY POPULARITY POSITIVELY PREDICT ONLINE VIRAL VIEWING VOLUME?

No Unsure Yes

7. DOES CELEBRITY POPULARITY POSITIVELY PREDICT ONLINE VIRAL VIEWING VOLUME?

Yes •  Celebrity presence in ads builds WOM.1

•  Celebrity popularity positively predicts online viral viewing volume.2

THE BASIS OF OUR KNOWLEDGE ON WHAT MAKES SUCCESSFUL VIRAL ADS

Berger, Milkman. (2011)“What Makes Online Content Viral?”

Izawa. (2010) “What Makes Viral Videos Viral?: Roles of Emotion, Impression, Utility and Social Ties in Online Sharing Behavior”

Field. (2011) “The Link Between Creativity and Effectiveness”

Porter, Golan. (2006) “From Subservient Chickens to Brawny men: A Comparison of Viral Advertising to Television Advertising”

Southgate, Westoby, Page. (2010) “Creative Determinants of Viral Video Viewing”

Teixeira. (2012) “The New Science of Viral Ads”

Peretti, Frumin. “Viral Marketing for the Real World”

Woerndl, Papagiannidis, Bourlakis. (2008) “Internet-Induced Marketing Techniques: Critical Factors in Viral Marketing Campaigns”

Nelson-Field, K., Riebe, E. and Newstead, K. “Emotional Drivers of Video Sharing: A Multi-Study Approach,” (working paper, forthcoming 2012)

YOUR EXPERIENCE

PLUS:

The WHARTON

Study

1.  Identify the key differentiating characteristics of viral vs. non-viral ads.

2.  Design new test and control ads based on these (and other) findings.

3.  Test the new ads to validate our findings.

THE OBJECTIVE:

73 pairs of ads – high vs. low viral distribution for the same brand and if possible the same campaign.

THE FIRST PHASE OF THE RESEARCH DESIGN

SELECTION OF THE ADS

TITLE INDSUTRY AGENCY BRAND SOURCE VIEWS

VIRAL Live Young Beverages BETC Euro

RSCG

Evian Visible Measures 160,576,979

NON-VIRAL

Baby and New Evian Bottle Beverages Evian YouTube 352,542

TITLE INDSUTRY AGENCY BRAND SOURCE VIEWS

VIRAL Responses Health & Beauty Weiden +

Kennedy (Portland)

Old Spice Visible Measures 81,054,872

NON-VIRAL Farewell, Fabio Health &

Beauty Old Spice YouTube 332,401

73 pairs of ads – successful vs. unsuccessful in getting viral distribution

•  Criteria for selection of the viral advertisements •  Used the top 100 viral advertisements according to the Visible

Measures database •  Eliminated videos that were no longer available online •  Eliminated videos that did not have an appropriate non-viral pair

•  Criteria for the selection of non-viral advertisements •  If the viral ad was aired on TV, the matched non-viral ad must have

also aired on TV •  Must have fewer than 1,000,000 views according to YouTube •  Must have been released within 1 year of the corresponding viral

ad

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SELECTION OF THE VIDEOS

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INDUSTRY BREAKDOWN

Beverages Health & Beauty Automotive Apparel & Accessories Electronics Food Telecommunications Financial Services Insurance Software Household Products Energy Dining Sports Media Retail Other

Only 10 Brands had more than one viral video in the top 73.

TOP 6

1. OLD SPICE VIRAL NON-VIRAL

Title: Responses* Title: Farewell, Fabio

Aired on TV: No Aired on TV: No

Views: 81,054,872 Views: 332,401

Comments: 86,877 Comments: 886

*In addition to the video shown here this data refers to all the videos in the Old Spice Responses campaign.

2. VOLKSWAGEN VIRAL NON-VIRAL

Title: The Force Title: That’s what he says?

Aired on TV: Yes Aired on TV: Yes

Views: 59,262,107 Views: 10,482

Comments: 36,720 Comments: 41

3. DC SHOES VIRAL NON-VIRAL

Title: Gymkhana 2 Title: Epic Meal Time Presents the Reasons why Gymkhana 4 is the Best

Aired on TV: No Aired on TV: No

Views: 59,169,659 Views: 337,685

Comments: 33,425 Comments: 896

4. MICROSOFT VIRAL NON-VIRAL

Title: 2009 Xbox Project Natal Announcement

Title: Kinect for XBOX 360 Entertainment

Aired on TV: No Aired on TV: No

Views: 54,071,560 Views: 555

Comments: 198,987 Comments: 5

5. OLD SPICE VIRAL NON-VIRAL

Title: Odor Blocker (campaign) Title: Jungle Wilderness

Aired on TV: Yes Aired on TV: Yes

Views: 52,808,713 Views: 355,459

Comments: 51,112 Comments: 151

6. EVIAN VIRAL NON-VIRAL

Title: Roller Babies Title: Baby and New Evian Bottle*

Aired on TV: Yes Aired on TV: Yes

Views: 160,576,979 Views: 352,452

Comments: 55,111 Comments: 56

BOTTOM 5

69. KIA VIRAL NON-VIRAL

Title: A New Way to Roll Title: Night Court

Aired on TV: Yes Aired on TV: Yes

Views: 7,944,479 Views: 239,683

Comments: 13,863 Comments: 23

70. LANE BRYANT VIRAL NON-VIRAL

Title: Not What Mom Would Wear Title: 3 Truths

Aired on TV: Yes Aired on TV: Yes

Views: 7,822,518 Views: 17,133

Comments: 8,643 Comments: 5

71. NIKE VIRAL NON-VIRAL

Title: Today Was a Good Day Title: Don’t Fear the Sweeper Tour: Part One

Aired on TV: No Aired on TV: No

Views: 7,520,772 Views: 153,880

Comments: 18,543 Comments: 591

72. CHEVROLET VIRAL NON-VIRAL

Title: Misunderstanding Title: Transformers 3 ‘Getaway’

Aired on TV: Yes Aired on TV: Yes

Views: 7,449,159 Views: 388,027

Comments: 2.931 Comments: 121

73. GOOGLE VIRAL NON-VIRAL

Title: Gmail Motion Title: Google Chrome: The Johnny Cash Project

Aired on TV: No Aired on TV: No

Views: 7,297,871 Views: 258,159

Comments: 16,527 Comments: 76

The ANALYSIS Content analysis by two independent coders based on literature review

1. CONTENT ANALYSIS BY TWO INDEPENDENT CODERS BASED ON LITERATURE REVIEW

2. CONTENT CATEGORIES BASED ON ANALYSIS OF PREVIOUS RESEARCH ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESSFUL VIRAL ADS

–  Superbowl –  Call to action –  Cause –  Co-creation –  Mascot –  Creative –  Children –  Animals

–  Celebrities –  Humor –  Cute –  Sex –  Rational Appeal –  Emotional Appeal –  Facebook Likes –  Twitter Followers

3. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF THE DATA USING A TWO PHASE APPROACH:

•  Univariate analysis of the pairs using McNemar test

•  Multivariate analysis using logistic regression

The RESULTS

RESULTS (1): PAIR WISE MCNEMAR TEST

•  The significant variables:

– Super Bowl.....................11 viral and 0 non-viral – Creative…......................35 viral and 4 non-viral – Surprise….....................18 viral and 1 non-viral – Children…....................18 viral and 8 non-viral – Humor…......................19 viral and 8 non-viral – Cute…..........................19 viral and 2 non-viral – Emotional....................15 viral and 3 non-viral – Rational…...................4 viral and 16 non-viral

RESULTS (2): MULTIVARIATE TEST—LOGISTIC REGRESSION

•  Only 4 of the variables are significant – Surprise – Cute – Creative – Emotional

•  These results in 60 out of the 73 (82%) viral to be above the “best” cutoff and 52 out of 73 (71%) non-viral to be below the cutoff.

Discussion and CONCLUSIONS

NEXT STEPS:

•  Moving forward in designing ads based on the study and testing them for actual impact in the marketplace

•  Encouraging every one of you to design viral ads and test their impact.

END OF STORY

YORAM (JERRY) WIND The Lauder Professor and Professor of Marketing Director, SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management

The Wharton School windj@wharton.upenn.edu

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