TNR

Amid the sickly romantic gestures and unnecessary displays of public affection brought to us by Valentine’s Day 2010, the world, this weekend, rather complacently celebrated the fifth birthday of YouTube, the mass video-sharing site which has changed the way that many of us live our lives.

For the enthusiasts amongst us, it seems impossible that we could function before the 14^th February 2005, the day on which Chad Hurley and fellow Paypal employees registered a URL which would unwittingly become the forefront of the ‘online revolution’. So, was there life before YouTube?

From a consumer’s point of view, YouTube has completely revolutionised the way we view video entertainment. Not only did it pave the way for a bridge between Televison and the Internet, YouTube created its own market entirely; and brought with it the trend of the ‘viral video’.  

Examples range from the incredible (Straight No Chaser’s ’12 Days’ saw 10 college friends launched into pop stardom thanks to 8 million views of their phenomenal A Capella take on Christmas carolling) and the bizarre (the ‘Keyboard Cat’), to the downright disturbing (Gary Brolsma’s ‘Numa Numa’ truly has to be seen to be believed). These videos, diverse in their nature, share one distinct trait; they have all become ‘viral’, each receiving millions of views from keen YouTube visitors.   It’s no surprise then that once YouTube was launched and begun to gain popularity, it wasn’t long before corporations began to experiment with using this viral video trend as a marketing tool.  Viral marketing was born and corporate mentality changed forever.

Viral marketing, or a ‘viral campaign’, is defined by the PRCA as “a communications campaign which is designed to exploit the potential of the internet to spread messages rapidly”. A famous example is a video simply entitled ‘Guys backflip into jeans’, which has accumulated over 6 million views since it was first uploaded in May 2008. The video, which at first seems like nothing more than light entertainment, was in fact commissioned by Levi’s, the jeans manufacturer, as a viral campaign for their line of 505 jeans. This is the basis that viral marketing moulds itself on; the videos are much more subtle than adverts – the crazier and more outlandish they are, the more views they will get (cue surfing with dynamite from Quiksilver, HD camera trickery from Samsung and glasses-throwing stunts from Ray Bans). These videos are not created to directly advertise their products, but to encourage interest in the product they are associated with in entertaining and interesting ways.

Certainly, the explosion in social video has significantly changed the shape of our communications business.  The debate about where online video fits alongside traditional PR activity is now part of nearly every conversation we have.  But then, when you consider that a £3K video we produced for computer game, Rabbids has so far received nearly 34,000 hits on YouTube – just because it’s funny and a bit bonkers – you can see why a lot of companies are keen to give it a go.

From both a cultural and corporate standpoint, it is hard to imagine life without such a useful resource – YouTube has become second nature to almost anyone with internet access.  Here’s to another five years of innovative developments from a corporation who have come so far and gained such influence in such a small amount of time. 

 Post by Bob Palmer (A-level student and currently on work experience for TNR Communications)