What makes a corporate video go viral?

Don’t people only share silly cat videos?

These are the questions I’m regularly asked when it comes to creating a corporate video. Big companies spend thousands, if not millions of pounds, on researching and creating videos that people will want to share. While not all of us can afford this, we can definitely learn from watching their videos. Below, I’ve listed my three favourites from well-known organisations. Give them a quick watch and try to guess what they have in common.

Always – #LikeAGirl

I’m sure you’ve probably heard the expression before: “You do ____ like a girl!” Often used to insult, Always tried to set things right with the #LikeAGirl campaign. Aimed towards empowering adolescent girls, the campaign shows a change of perception amongst a group of girls when focusing on how girls perform physical actions, such as running or throwing. The main result of this video: Claimed purchase intent for the Always brand grew by over 50%.

Dove – Real Beauty

Launched in 2004, this campaign is another example of a product-based company trying to empower women. This time it’s physical beauty rather than athletic ability. The above video is actually just one in a series, but it’s often called one of the strongest in the whole campaign. It’s interesting to note that this corporate video actually went viral before the term was even widely used!

British Heart Foundation – Heartless

The most recent of the three. This one shows a boy having a final conversation with his father. It’s the realisation that his father has died from heart disease and the emotional impact it has on the child. This video actually generated some controversy when 219 people complained, finding it “distressing”. They say that any publicity is good publicity: It just brought more attention to the charity.

What these three adverts do is use the ultimate corporate video tactic: They play on our emotions. Anything that makes us feel a particular way, whether it be strong, sad or happy, really sticks in a person’s mind. As discussed in my Video Content Marketing Strategy post, we end up linking these emotions with the brand. In the case of Always, for example, people who see the #LikeAGirl corporate video will associate the brand with empowering women. It should be noted that that video achieved over 4.4 billion media impressions within 3-months, tripled the brand’s Twitter followers within 3-months and grew their YouTube subscribers by 4,339%.

If you’re looking to create a truly memorable corporate video, give me a call today or send an email so we can chat!