Saturday, April 2, 2011

OK Go: Masters of Viral Videos

As Internet marketing becomes more widespread, marketing professionals obsess over creating Web content that goes 'viral'. Unfortunately, marketers have little control over whether or not their content spreads like wildfire throughout the Internet, thus earning the honor of being referred to as viral. Consumers yield the power to turn content that is tucked away in a little corner of the Internet into the 'next big thing.' The two simplest ways to make sure content is pre-disposed to going viral is to create content that is entertaining or valuable to consumers. The band OK Go has mastered the art of creating entertaining music videos that quickly reach the viral status. 

OK Go, a funky power pop quartet formed in 1998, remained relatively unknown until 2005. During that year, the band created a low-budget music video for their song "A Million Ways." They filmed themselves in the backyard of a band member performing a choreographed dance to the song and sent the video out to some friends. Within a few months, both the video and OK Go became Internet sensations. 





In 2006, the band released yet another creative low-budget music video featuring the song "Here It Goes Again."  For this video, the band performs a complex dance on treadmills. With more than 5 million views, the music video for "Here It Goes Again" help catapult OK Go into the national spotlight. The viral video even earned the band a Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video in 2007.




OK Go continues to generate viral music videos. I've included the videos for both "A Million Ways"  and "Here It Goes Again" , but you can see all of the band's music videos on their website. By creating entertaining and unique content, OK Go created a name for themselves on a tight budget via the Internet and viral videos. Their success with viral videos should be provide a clue to marketers in every industry that great content can go a long way. To paraphrase a famous quote from"The Field of Dreams", "If you create interesting and entertaining content, Internet users will spread it." 

1 comment:

  1. HAHA- The last video gives me the motivation to quit trying at school and try to be that cool with my friends instead! :)

    And I LOVE the Field of Dreams paraphrase! :)

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