New Dove Ad: It’s Totally “Viral”
There’s a new Dove ad out. And, whether you agree wholeheartedly with a campaign meant to cram beauty products down your throat while saying “we’re not cramming beauty products down your throat,” this is inarguably a really, really good ad.
It’s good enough that I’m using it for content this morning, propagating the Dove message for free. Execs and directors at interactive companies worldwide are looking at this thing and saying
See, we should totally do something “viral,” where bloggers get the word out for us, expanding our market share and leveraging Web 2.0 social media space networking CTR impressions Facebook. And, since it’s viral, we don’t have to spend any money on it, right? It can be, like, I dunno, viral. And grow organically.
Not that I’m bitter …
October 2nd, 2007 at 7:30 am
I’ll give you that it’s a good add with a good message about self-esteem. However, I don’t see it really popping the seams of the internet with a viral explosion.
Then again, it’s impossible forecasting viral trends, isn’t it? I think for something to become virally successful, it has to be equal parts outrageous, subtle, entertaining, and easy to digest.
There’s also a huge downside when corporations broadcast that they are posting content with the sole intention of it becoming viral. That’s pretty much the kiss of death since most users would rather create their own viral trends as opposed to simply following them. So, I think, in the end, you will simply wind up with someone saying “Yeah. It’s a great video, but I’m not going to be a tool for these guys and their wannabe viral content.” Thus, no matter how great the project is, if a company comes along and says, “Push this content for us, internet users,” it’s just going to stagnate and become yet another commercial.
I s’pose it’s not entirely unlike fishing. You need the right lure and the right hook at the right time and place. A good ad exec. would find a unique yet subtle approach with which to push a product while incorporating the current trends and prevalent thoughts of our culture into their content.