Are Viral Videos Really Just Adverts in Disguise?
We spend a lot of time here at Republic pushing the idea of community and getting the message out organically. It’s the enthusiasm for a subject that helps drive content, not just the brand name. Once, that was the idea behind viral videos but these days they just seem to be an extension of TV advertising, or are they? Viral Video: ‘A video clip that gains widespread popularity through the process of Internet sharing, typically through email or Instant messaging, blogs and other media sharing websites.’ Source: Wikipedia There was a time when viral video campaigns felt organic and about community and the best ones still work on the principle of getting the message out there. However, the latest crop, to my mind at least, seem to be little more than adverts better suited to a cinema audience than the internet. The problem seems to be that Ad agencies have gotten involved and that means every increasing budgets and higher expectations. The latest two videos that seem to have taken this a
