By Chris Lee

YouTube, the online video site, now receives two billion visitors each day and 24 hours-worth of video is uploaded every minute by users. One of its most successful recent campaigns has been the Old Spice video viral, which has led to a 107 per cent upturn in sales for the famous brand. The video has been seen almost 18 million times (at time of going to press) and the online campaign behind the Old Spice campaign included personalised video responses to leading bloggers, leading to impressive online buzz.

Video is becoming a major part of online marketing campaigns for companies of all sizes, but what does it take to create a successful online viral video campaign? In August 2009 communications agency Eulogy spoofed actress Meg Ryan’s famous scene from the film When Harry Met Sally as part of its campaign to promote broadband provider Virgin Media’s 50 megabyte broadband offering with the intention of spreading it virally. NMK’s Chris Lee caught up with the Eulogy team to learn how the 50 Megs campaign worked.

Give us a bit of background into the 50 Megs campaign

We were promoting Virgin’s new superfast broadband, the fastest in the UK at 50 megabytes. Fifty ‘meg’ was the term thrown around in the office in the run-up to our campaign, and it stuck. We started thinking about finding 50 women named Meg, which then quite obviously evolved into 50 Meg Ryans.

What tactics did you deploy to promote the viral?

We used a tactical online outreach campaign, asking online journalists and bloggers to view the video, give feedback and encouraging them to pass it on. We also utilised Virgin’s existing word of mouth catalysts on Twitter and Facebook.

How did you measure success and what were the results?

Success was measured by the number of video views, where it appeared and how much people were talking about it. We looked at sales as well (and saw positive impact), but really this was to get people talking about 50 Mb broadband.

What would be your top tips for any company looking to engage in video virals to promote a brand, product or service after your 50 Megs experience?

At the heart, there has to be a really good idea – something that elicits a strong reaction (whether positive or negative). When putting together a video you hope to go viral (there’s no such thing as making a viral video!), ask yourself ‘would I pass this on?’  If not, your idea isn’t strong enough.