Sometimes to create a viral video all you need is to be at the right place at the right time.
This what happened to Neil Monday while on a plane flying from Orlando, Florida when space shuttle Discovery’s final launch took off and flew by his left window.
Monday took out his video camera and filmed the flight.
Besides this amazing spectacle before him, the pilot gives great commentary in the background.
This viral video has been viewed over 5 million times.
Click on Play to watch the space shuttle punching through the clouds —
Marketing professor Brent Coker of the University of Melbourne, Australia, researched vial videos and how they occur. He came up with 4 necessary ingredients.
They are:
1. Congruency – consistency of our perceptions as consumers about a particular brand or event. In the case of the space shuttle, we are still transfixed by space travel and think of it as a grand event. This video delivers grandeur.
2. Emotive strength – emotions can be disgust, fear, sentiment, humor, and happiness. For me, this video brings up sentiment over remembering watching Apollo missions on television with my grandpa.
3. Network involvement – the ability to share with like-minded individuals who are more likely to share what they see with their peer group. YouTube is a network in itself, but then, so are science enthusiasts and those who love space. Connect with the right network and everyone will share your content, especially if your content is shared by an “influencer” of that group.
4. Paired meme synergy – when certain memes are more effective when paired with certain other memes. In this video it’s the fact that an airline passenger sees something amazing out his window and has the presence of mind to film it. We feel like we are sitting right there with him. The commentary by the pilot makes you long for air travel and how lucky they were to witness such a space event. It’s the meme of air travel pared with the meme of space flight.
Other marketers say that the thumbnail photo you chose is equally as important as the above ingredients in attracting YouTube viewers, or even viewers from Google. Titles can also play a role in the number of views.
I think Neil Monday does both equally well:
Dentists, have you enjoyed any success with video? Why do you think some videos go viral?
To see Brent Coker’s article on viral videos see: What Makes a 30 Second Movie Go Viral?
