If you’ve ever wondered what makes a good viral social media campaign then take a look at the Old Spice campaign, which receives a great write up from Mashable (the social media blog). The whole point is that customising content engages people because it makes you feel special. As Mashable highlight, the team behind it managed to engage half of the Internet (yes, there are very impressive figures behind this hyperbole!). So how did it work and could something similar in health communications be even half as successful?
To summarise, the videos featured a strapping, booming voiced actor in nothing but a towel who answered questions and messages from fans over the internet. You can still watch them all at the official Old Spice YouTube channel on which they appeared. The actor came up with funny, and mostly bizarre, rapid responses to each question – one of which was a proposal on behalf of a male fan to his girlfriend - and delivered them all as if he was acting at the Royal Shakespeare.
The idea of customising viral videos to individual users is not new. MySpace ran a video in which your MySpace or Facebook profile picture becomes a framed picture Alisha Keys sings love songs to, or that 50 cent places on his wall. It was a big internet hit.
The return on investment for Old Spice will be phenomenal. Although we might be talking about a completely different setup for healthcare, there is still potential here. It’s all about thinking a bit laterally, being brave enough to become slightly detached from brand and product and create positive perceptions about an idea or subject. More please…
Tags: digital pharma, pharma online, social media, viral, YouTube
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