Even though it had to compete with Apple’s iPad announcement and President Obama’s State of the Union Address, we may have the year’s first great viral video on our hands. And, believe it or not, it takes the form of a 17-minute admissions video for Yale. Here it is:
According to Yale Daily News, “the video was written and shot in-house at less than one-tenth the cost of a professionally-produced admissions video.” Wow.
As AdFreak points out, a generation of young people reared on High School Musical–and, more recently, Glee–would seem to make this video a natural candidate for breakout success. And while it’s nearly impossible to understand exactly why and how a specific meme spreads, I think we can comprehend why this video worked so beautifully.
Tamar Weinberg recently discussed what she calls the seven traits of highly effective viral videos, listing the main characteristics of successful videos: identifiability, spontaneity, genuineness, humor, information, creativity, and inspiration. I would argue that Yale’s video isn’t necessarily identifiable, inspirational or informational (is anyone really watching to learn more about the meal program?) and it’s certainly not spontaneous. But it scores direct hits on Weinberg’s three remained traits. It’s funny, in a Lazy Sunday kind of way, meaning: it’s a song about an incongruous topic. (Though, after several viewings, I still can’t tell how much of the humor here is intentional.) It’s definitely creative, as, I think it would be safe to say, this is a completely new direction in Ivy League recruiting videos.
But, most important, it’s genuine. These volunteer students really love Yale and that comes smashing right through my laptop screen. Something to keep in mind when you’re planning your next effort to create a viral sensation.
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