The daughter of Fallon's own ECD Al Kelly has confounded much of our agency "viral" science in recent days with her unexpected and cute lil' YouTube vid entitled "Kittens, Inspired By Kittens".
In only a few days "Kittens..." has garnered over 300K views, made boingboing, Cute Overload,trended #3 top shared link last nite on Twitter, YouTube honors now incl #3 - Most Responded (Today) Pets & Animals, #13 - Most Responded (This Week) - Pets & Animals category. 
Now, the reason this video is confounding to a strategist at an ad agency: it's all serendipity, folks, no budget, no client, no strategy, no objective intent - just Al Kelly sharing the infectious joy of his 6-year-old girl reading a childrens' book. That's the brief simple and plain. Either she's way smarter than us strategerists, or we're way overthinking it sometimes.
The success of "Kittens..." (and hundreds of goofy vids like it) often flies in the face of much of our well-produced, branded, and strategized factory "virals". So what gives? Is "viral" still just a roll of the dice - particularly for brands? Do we embrace the more-faster-cheaper ethos that drives the users? Do we recruit 6-year-olds to generate ideas for us? Do we get her to replicate the magic - this time for a brand? And it makes me wonder, if we had pitched "Kittens..." to a client would they ever have approved it? And if a client would've approved "Kittens..." would they have added too many brand mandatories that would slow down its "viral" appeal?
I do think we may learn 7 applicable lessons from "Kittens..." to add into our "viral video" toolbox for surefire success:
1) Embrace Silly - stupid is ok, too! (serendipity)
2) Getit?Gotit?Good. - make it a fast, easy "get": a girl reading a childrens book about kittens - got it. (science)
3) Embrace 'Good Enough' - shoot it fast and cheap, poor production value is good enough as long as they see it and hear it. (science)
4) Tap an emotional core that people want to share in spreading - people are immediately on this girl's side, we want to help her succeed at this book report. (serendipity)
5) Add Cute Kid - like Billy Dee Williams always said: "Works every time!"(science)
6) Add Cute Kittens (science)
7) Try, Try Again - rinse and repeat the above - the old broadcast method dictated we shoot one big production a year. The YouTube method says shoot more micro ideas and release them freely to the wild. (serendipity)
Friday, February 13, 2009
What "Kittens, Inspired By Kittens" Teaches Us
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Seed Newsvine
7 comments:
I wonder if one reason for why it works is because it's so authentic? She really isn't asking for anything or demanding that we visit her website or download a coupon. It's kind of a relief sometimes to just see people or kids being nothing but themselves, no agenda.
Next step: a re-mix with a sponsor, ala Matt's dance around the world.
Leah
Actually, the next step was being honored with a David After Dentist mashup. This is pure social media synergy...
Kittens Inspired by David After Dentist
Kittens Inspired By Kittens has officially arrived, and we're all playing catch up.
Don't forget it was yesterday's TODAY"S BIG THING
http://www.todaysbigthing.com/2009/02/12
As an elementary teacher of ESL students, let me tell you: this little girl is a genius. If even ONE of my students took a picture book & added their own words to tell a story, I would have fainted clean away! I use every strategy known, but still they struggle. Need I tell you what country they come from? We can't figure it out. Immigrants from Asia and Europe learn English within weeks. It gives me pleasure to watch this little girl.
I think that there's one very strong thing: consistency. it's just one concept from many, smart and funny angles.
ivan
I think you nailed it with the "we are over thinking it" comment. Advertising is ART serving COMMERCE. Kittens is art. If we strive to consistently make art in our industry, everything else falls into place.
Post a Comment