What makes a video go Viral??

Have you ever wondered what makes a video become extremely popular and go viral online? if so join the club, as so have we.

We believe that for a video to touch the heart and minds of the audience then it needs to firstly consider the audience, giving focus to what images would connect with the audience to move them into action/thought. Equally first the video should have a solid understanding of what the brand is, to give across a clear brand message. Cadbury’s executed this well – with their “Glass and a half full productions” subscribe to them from their YouTube channel here.

A viral that works won’t leave people thinking “so what!” “I don’t get it”, it will have the ability to be understood and liked/loved even, making the audience go “oh right clever” or “wow that is amazing” "how moving" or simply as a fan of the subject matter “cool”.

It is these connections with the audience that make the viewer of the video want to share and pass it on, “Simples” :

View the Compare the Meekat Bloopers Video here:



We would love to make our own viral video at Rocktime, we have our video production and brand agency connections and it is on the “things to try board”. Our vision would be to capture the hearts and minds of our clients, potential clients, possible thought “Education in a no nonsense/jargon way with some talking pebbles”. Sounds crazy doesn’t it, great, watch this space.

Mashable presented a list of the 10 most innovative viral video ads of 2009 and share a similar view point on what makes a video go viral, they also mention that:

“This year’s Top 10 is certainly a glimpse of how the viral video ad business is evolving, and as marketers, we can learn from that evolution”

View the Viral video ads Mashable favoured in 2009 here.

If you know us and have any thoughts of a hilarious thing that we could do as a Viral send us a Tweet.


Author: Sarah Griffiths