In December we were excited to collaborate with Director Michael McDermott to produce a new video for  The University of Oregon Admissions Department, featuring the U of O men’s a cappella group On the Rocks. It was a perfect storm of circumstances to create a successful viral video campaign.  The combination of national exposure for On the Rocks through the NBC show “Sing Off”, fan frenzy for the University of Oregon football national championship bid, and the assembly of a talented production crew, all promised to yield a video that would be watched… a lot.  We shot the music video on a Friday, cut it the following Wednesday and it went live that Friday.  It now has over 220,000 views on YouTube.  Through the process we learned some valuable insights into the forces at work that can launch a video into cyberstardom.

1.  Build the video concept around current events or trends.  In this case we capitalized on the national exposure of both On the Rocks and the University of Oregon football team and the dedicated fan base of both

2.  Plan a strategy for seeding the video.  The power of social media sites like Facebook to carry a video instantly around the world is startling.  But to get it started, it has be initially broadcast to a lot of people.

3.  Make it look and sound good.  If it’s not something that nobody has ever seen before, or if its not insanely funny, it has to be produced well.

4.  Keep it short.  Never underestimate the minimal attention span of your audience.  They are a critical, fickle, and distracted crowd.