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02/04/2009 by
33345 views

Five Facts On Ray-Ban’s Viral Marketing Success

Earlier in March, I discussed on ViralBlog the fact whether an entire campaign message should be communicated inside one viral asset or not [Embed The Entire Campaign Message In A Viral?] My statement in that post was;

Viral video’s should only be used as a part of a campaign – an entire brand message can not be delivered in just one (entertaining) video. If a brand’s message or campaign message does get to be communicated entirely, people will value it to commercial and won’t pass it along – gone is the viral effect.

This week I came across the new video of Ray-Ban, which is totally supporting my statement.


Super Chameleon

Let’s have a look at some facts that make this video – and the entire campaign Ray-Ban launches – so successful.

There are 5 things I’ve noticed about the Ray-Ban videos which I also noticed among other videos with great viral success.

1. Its not about the entire brand message
Yes, Ray-Ban does communicate its brand message in the video. But it’s not just about that message. They’re not making the video to communicate the message “Never Hide”, they make the video to entertain the audience. To make Ray-Ban a cool brand.

never_hide

They’re not telling how cool the sunglasses are, how scratch resistant or how durable the framework is. Ray-Ban creates a asset to subtle show you some cool things about a pair of glasses and manage to communicate the message “Never Hide” in an almost subliminal way.

2. Consistent communication
The communication is consistent, it’s embedded in both on- and offline campaign, showed everywhere and even became the tagline of Ray-Ban.

timessquare

Never Hide on Times Square

By combining several media channels and consistently communicate one message in different ways, the assets empower each other and communicate one clear message.

3. Entertaining video – on the edge of realism
The “Never Hide” viral assets are on the edge of believable. They’re highly entertaining and almost unrealistic.

Guy catches glasses with face

These kind of videos make people talk. “Do you believe this?!” Because it’s not just about the brand and the brand message, but about the entertaining value, consumers don’t rate these video’s as a commercial, which makes it more convenient to pass along.

4. Its not just about the product
“ViralBlog is the most awesome blog on social media you’ll ever read!” That is a message that’s only about the product, ViralBlog in this example. If we would create a whitepaper on social media – purely on the informative side – and spread it among bloggers, it would give way much more credibility. Its not about the product, its about the expertise. Ray-Ban campaigns are about a deeper message in sunglasses, not about the sunglasses.

5. It could have been amateurs
Why are the videos entertaining and on the edge of realism? It’s average Joe that’s the lead actor in the video. Not Tom Cruise, not David Backham and not Homer Simpson. Videos look like they are shot by hand. No big editing, 3d modeling and hardcore after effects. That’s what making it realistic and believable.

Ray-Ban understands that viral video is something different then the ordinary 30 seconds TVC. A one on one copy from a television commercial to the web has a low chance in going viral. Do you know other brands that are worth mentioning when it comes to understanding viral video? Drop it in the comments!

Sources and influences: Motiongrapher, Adverblog.