Video Marketing: How to Create a Viral Campaign with Examples

So, you’ve finally unlocked that additional digital marketing budget and you’re thinking about investing in video content? Best idea for business success!

However, if you are still weighing out your different content options for your marketing strategy or ads, these stats should convince you that video marketing is the best way to go:

• According to Facebook, over 8 billion video views happen daily on the platform.
• New social media network TikTok reported an average of 1 million video views per day during its very first year.
• 1 billion hours of YouTube videos are watched daily.

Are you interested in creating a marketing campaign that boosts engagement overnight, but don’t know where to start? Keep reading this article to learn some of the best tips and tricks for your business!

Our 10 Favorite Viral Video Marketing Campaigns 

Now that you know more about viral marketing videos and how to make your own, why not check out some inspiring ads to get your creative juices flowing?

Check out some of the best marketing campaigns below with strong audience engagement. 

1. DollarShaveClub.com - Our Blades Are F***ing Great

This video is the perfect example of virality on a budget! The company spent just $4,500 for a video that generated 12,000 subscription orders in the first 2 days after it was posted and 4.75 million views within 3 months.

Total views: 28,000,000

Why it went viral: 

• Humor: This ad is hilarious and uses deadpan delivery in order to engage and entertain any audience. 
• Disruption of industry: DollarShaveClub focused on showing how unique their product is. By telling consumers how their products are cheaper than other big companies’, they were more likely to appeal to a wider audience. 

2. Always - #LikeAGirl

The power of emotions (and a good hashtag): By using a hashtag as the title of its new video, Always is encouraging social media users to use this hashtag and as a result - are able track the impact of its campaign more easily. Plus, content that evokes emotions is almost guaranteed to perform well! A good example of video storytelling!

Total views: 90,000,000

Why it went viral: 

• Emotional appeal: The ad focuses on girls’ lowering self-esteem as they go through puberty, making the ad relatable to woman who experience similar struggles. 
• Challenging social norms: Always challenged gender stereotypes, which made their message more powerful and daring. Women around the world resonated with the message and felt the company’s support. 

3. GoPro - Fireman Saves Kitten

Genuine content + animals = 🔥: Internet users look for entertainment and cat/ dog videos are almost always a sure winner. Ever heard of Jiffpom, the adorable Pomeranian with 10 million Instagram followers?

In this video, using a GoPro also helps the audience project themselves into the story.

Total views: 50,000,000+

Why it went viral: 

• Heroism: This video shows an act of bravery, which touches the hearts of many online viewers. It can be considered aspirational as it is a testament to human kindness. 
• Wide audience appeal: It’s no secret that animal videos tend to be very popular online! Any animal lover or person with a pet may find this video of a saved kitten extremely appealing. 

4. Code.org - What Most Schools Don’t Teach

An aspirational video: This nonprofit managed to convince both Bill Gates & Mark Zuckerberg to appear in a video promoting coding to students. In its first week, this video racked up 9 million views and within two weeks, about 20,000 teachers contacted the nonprofit.

Total views: 60,000,000

Why it went viral: 

• Celebrity endorsements: Once you show someone famous in a video, you’re sure to improve your reach! Viewers are automatically attracted to watching videos featuring people they know.
• Celebrity sharing: Since there were celebrities in the video, they were more likely to promote the video on their social media platforms. With a high number of followers, the videos are more likely to go viral in a short period of time!

5. GOTSTYLE - Naked Man

Because taking risks is worth it: Fun to watch and featuring a very handsome actor showing a lot of skin, this video has over 7 million views. This proves that being daring can be worth the risk... as long as you play your cards right!

Total views: 100,000,000+

Why it went viral: 

• Humor: The video’s storyline is about how dressing poorly is almost as bad as being naked. This is a funny premise that is relatable to any audience!
• Shock value: The video features a naked man, which is clearly a shocking sight to any viewer! Because of the shock, they’ll be intrigued and more likely to keep watching. 

6. Blendtec - Will It Blend?

Promotional videos can get viral too: With this series of infomercials demonstrating the power of their blenders, Blendtec got 1 million subscribers on a dedicated YouTube channel and over 50 million views… And the first episode cost just $50 in production costs! 

Total series views: 700,000,000

Why it went viral: 

• Uniqueness: No one is used to seeing phones, golf balls, or marbles go in a blender! The video engages its audience by shocking them with a scene they aren’t used to while proving how powerful the product is.  
• Length: Since the video is short, it’s easily shareable. Blendtec was able to make this video viral by making it easy for viewers to share it with their family and friends. 

7. Dove - Real Beauty Sketches 

A heartwarming video: Dove wanted to teach women around the world a lesson about their self-esteem. Featuring a forensic artist, the emotional message was all about showing women that they describe themselves as less beautiful than they actually are. 

Total views: 163,000,000

Why it went viral: 

• Emotional appeal: The video tapped into deep, universal themes of self-esteem and body image. The emotional weight of this content was relatable for millions of women, making the video easy shareable between viewers. 
• Powerful storytelling: Using a forensic artist with a successful career made the story more reliable and believable. His sketches were also powerful in showing the strong contrast between how women perceive themselves and how a stranger would. 

8. Old Spice - The Man You Could Smell Like 

Reaching a larger target audience: this ad was all about selling the product to a different type of customer. Usually for men, this deodorant was targeted at women as well by suggesting they should buy it for their male partners!

Total views: 60,000,000

Why it went viral: 

• Humor: The ad used fast-paced humor which any audience would find funny and engaging. This made the video easily shareable for a laugh!
• Wide audience appeal: Instead of just advertising their masculine product to men, Old Spice decided to speak to women as well. The ad encourages women to buy the product for their male partner, making the video resonate with a wider audience. 

9. P&G - Thank You, Mom 

A global event: this video campaign by P&G was launched during the 2012 London Olympics, the event with the largest global audience. Showing the athletes and their mothers, the video had a touching effect on the widest audience. 

Total views: 54,000,000 

Why it went viral: 

• Timing: The ad was launched during the 2012 London Olympics - the event with the largest global audience. The ad featured 
• Emotional approach: This video took a heartwarming, emotional approach toward its audience. By showing the athletes with their mothers, the people that supported them the most in their athletic journey, P&G was able to strengthen their connection with consumers. 

10. Evian - Baby & Me 

To promote their water, Evian featured dancing babies in their ads to show their water can be consumed by any person of any age. The company also used babies in their commercial to show that drinking Evian keeps you young. 

Total views: 100,000,000

Why it went viral: 

• Music: This video uses catchy and playful music - a type that any audience would enjoy listening to. 
• Universal appeal: Everyone was once a baby! Evian uses this playfulness to connect to every single person who watches the video. 

What is viral video marketing? 

Online, “going viral” means that a piece of content—and yes, usually it is a video—is being shared so often and so quickly that it reaches a high number of Internet users within a short period of time.

This means the video is seen outside of a business’s initial community of fans or followers, without spending any marketing budget on reaching a wider audience.

Virality was born in the age of social media. The “sharing” features on most social media platforms allow people to highlight their favorite content to their networks. For example, people can retweet, repost, share an Instagram post with a friend via private message or tag people under a video they think they might enjoy.

But how do campaigns reach this success, grow engagement, and ultimately go viral, you ask? Let’s try to get to the bottom of this.

What makes a video marketing campaign viral?

Unfortunately, there is no foolproof formula to making a specific video go viral. But this is also why digital marketing is so exciting for your brand!

However, you can set your campaigns up for success if your goal is for one of your ads to  go viral to boost your marketing strategy by increasing brand awareness, generating leads, or simply to promote a new product.

To go viral, a video should:

• Resonate with its initial audience, which means it should be relatable by expressing what people think or describing something they’ve experienced better than they could.
• Trigger either strong positive emotions such as joy, excitement or awe,  or more negative feelings like fear or sadness. Check out this study by FRACTL if you would like to know more about the psychology behind social media video sharing.
• Be timely by following the latest trends. The best brand videos that go viral usually do an excellent job of capturing the here and now.  
• Show a more human side of the brand behind it. As a product or service marketer, try to take a step back from your corporate world and come up with content that showcases the best parts of your brand’s personality in a genuine way.

The dos and don'ts of viral video marketing

As we mentioned before, unfortunately, there is no way of predicting exactly which video campaigns will go viral and why they do.

The good news, however, is that our dos and don’ts should help you create a video marketing campaign that is set for social media success, so keep reading!

Dos

• Publish your video on the appropriate platform: while a challenge video would do great on TikTok, a campaign launch video should be posted on YouTube. This platform has the widest audience and is the second largest search engine.
• Make sure your video has the right format depending on the platform you choose. We also recommend including subtitles to help you get your point across. Actually, did you know that 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound?
• Remember that most social media networks use an algorithm to sort posts in a users' feed based on relevancy instead of publishing time. The attention that a post gets right after being posted—which is measured by engagement metrics such as the number of likes, comments and shares—means it will be shown to more users who, in turn, might share it. Check out this article to learn more on how to make engaging videos.
• Another way to boost the potential reach of your post within the first hours after posting is asking influencers to share it. You definitely should also encourage your employees to share with their networks for some extra word of mouth!

Don'ts

• Always double-check internally that your video isn’t offensive considered a controversial commercial in any way. It’s a fine line between being bold and having to deal with a PR crisis.
• On the other hand, being boring is not going to get your content shared either, so do take some risks.
• If you are trying to piggyback off of a meme or any other pop culture reference, make sure it’s still relevant. Using a tool such as Google Trends can be helpful to help you find trending topics.
• While you can totally make a viral video on a budget, it should meet some quality requirements. Your brand’s image is on the line here! If you lack resources, there are many helpful services and platforms that can help you create a high-quality video for less and without hiring an agency.
• Lastly, don’t miss out on the additional benefits of your campaign. Always include a CTA either at the end of your video or in its description, or you may miss out on a significant amount of qualified leads or website traffic. Be smart and thorough.

Over to you

Creating a viral video marketing strategy isn’t impossible, but it does take some research, planning, and a spark of creativity.

Check out some of the awesome video examples we mentioned above and see if they’ll inspire you to create your own video marketing campaign.

Discover how PlayPlay's marketing video maker effortlessly empowers you to create professional videos for your business, captivating your audience and maximizing your brand's reach.