Viral for the Sake of Viral

I read this morning about the popularity of the Megawoosh Waterslide video and it’s subsequent unveiling of illegitimacy - excuse my attempt at sounding like a dictionary, feels like a day for big words. Summary: the video’s as fake as one would suspect after viewing, and guess who’s behind it…MICROSOFT?



Forget the fact that large companies are trying their hand at viral video. With the amount of views Charlie Bit My Finger has garnered, why would you not jump on this train of low cost, high visibility? Plenty of people are talking about this, but the question I want to ask is, how has this helped Microsoft? How has it helped MRM WW in Germany – the organization behind the video?

First point (and one that is often argued by my friend Dominic Pannone): No agency is any more equipped to create a video that goes viral than my youngest brother and his friends with a crappy video camera. If you hear an agency claim “expertise” in viral or even the ability to make a video go viral, run the other direction. Videos can certainly be created with the intention of generating buzz on the web and hopefully being shared on a grand scale, but when agencies claim to be able to do this themselves, there’s an issue. This video is fake. Why would anyone want to watch it now? For it’s artistic value? If we suit up Knoxville and Steve-O in football pads and have them film Jackass 17, no one is going to go watch it. Why?

It lacks credibility and genuine origination.

Sure, we’re talking about it now, but we won’t be for long. Examples like this show me how little we still know about social media and content sharing and what causes (borrowing Gladwell’s language) something to tip. By all means, keep making videos with the hope of them going viral, but keep it real. Deception doesn’t pay off…ever.

Point 2: MRM will benefit from this…Microsoft will not. MRM was following orders and trying to generate a video that would deliver a subtle message of planning and organization that was fresh and people would want to watch and share (not sure if that was a run-on, but it felt like it). Most of us hadn’t heard of them, and we have now. In terms of concept and execution, they nailed it. It just wasn’t real.

Microsoft, on the other hand: nice try. You’re a smart company with brilliant people at the helm, but this one came in under the radar. First of all, had the deception played out as planned, how do you use this to sell MS Office? I’m sure you wanted it linked to you at some point, but this will probably sell more slip ‘n slides than Office suites. Secondly, you tried to deceive your audience. Yes, it was all in the name of fun, but the first time I saw it, my jaw hit the floor – certainly the reaction you hoped for. What now? MS made an attempt at video with the intention of viral spread. They apparently didn’t think it possible to generate this level of buzz truthfully. Chalk it up as a loss.