Is there anyone left in the world that hasn’t seen an ice bucket challenge recently? The craze has swept through social media in recent weeks and, crucially, has raised awareness of ALS, putting it at the forefront of our minds.
As the ice bucket challenge started trending, marketing experts have tried to work out what made it go viral. As always, there are mixed opinions, but there are always marketing, branding and engagement lessons to be learned from something as global and effective as this.
While businesses try and recreate the phenomenon to meet their own needs, Samsung even went as far as replicating the challenge to demonstrate how the Galaxy S5 is waterproof – in PR terms, it was certainly skating on thin ice at least.
The problem with hijacking something like the ice bucket challenge is that social media fads are just that… one-hit wonders. Companies who consistently try and ‘score big’ are missing the point. They’re far more likely to get success if they create a regular flow of valuable content; slow and steady wins the game.
The ice bucket challenge also worked because it carried meaning and genuine emotion. It was a campaign that was created and carried out by ALS Association participants. It was a campaign that had no expectations. It started small and achieved amazing results because of the lack of targets. That’s the point. If you really want to create a campaign that becomes a viral phenomenon, you’re far more likely to do that by focusing on delivering fun, interesting and worthwhile stuff.
Hotcow is a non-traditional creative agency that specialises in experiential marketing that goes viral. Our campaigns generate buzz through crowd participation, PR and content sharing. Contact us on 0207 5030442 or email us on info@hotcow.co.uk.
