Interesting case study done by a team that wanted to see if they could make a video go viral.

Eight months ago the creative team at Red Bricks Media performed an experiment: we wanted to see if we could create a viral video on YouTube. There were a few videos that inspired us:

d*ck in a box
teaspoon slide guitar
my hands are bananas
tea partay

It’s easy to see why each of them is viral, because they all contain one or more “viral” elements: humor, talent, uniqueness, strangeness, and in the case of d*ck in a box, an undeniably taboo element that only serves to increase its viral nature.

So how does one get viral on YouTube without incredible talent, high production value, a great idea, Justin Timberlake or many thousands of dollars?

We did it, in a modestly successful way, by creating:

* a catchy, impossible-to-avoid headline/title
* tags that cast a wide net for content seekers
* arguably controversial (taboo) content
* a video that features an animal