The IMA is not immune to the viral video idea.  Our first ever YouTube video was conceived as a marketing, viral video in support of an exhibition.  That was almost three years ago.

To date, this video has 4, 621 views.  Not our most viewed video by any means.  It never quite took off virally, but does serve as our lone example of a viral video attempt.

Can a museum/corporation/individual purposely set out to make a viral video?  I always felt that a ‘viral video’ often exhibited a certain set of traits – unplanned, shock and awe, and the unexpected to name a few.  And I’m not sure I include sketch comedy in this grouping – videos from Flight of the Conchords, Old Gregg or anything with Michael Cera are not viral – they’re comedy.  Right?

So what about Aleksey Vayne’s video resume (below), Susan Boyle or an SNL short?  Possibly.  Some are unplanned (the outcomes anyway), some involve live TV and others are planned as something viral, where rules do not apply.

Phil reviewed some other viral videos yesterday, but it still seems to me that a true viral video usually involves an individual that happened to catch an unthinkable, unexpected, imperfect moment on camera.  But I might be wrong.  Can an organization self-produce, develop internally, and create a real viral video?

I did want to mention ArtBabble (of course I would) and a video we produced in time for the launch.  I’m definitely not calling it viral, but it is most definitely a marketing video.  We feature this on our front page and our views are currently around 11,603.  We also have it on YouTube where we have 83.  So enjoy our ArtBabble marketing video and please let us know how we would produce an IMA viral video.  Phil might just do it.  (OR – if you just want to share some of your favorite videos in the comments, that would be fine too.)

For starters, Seth Godin, my go-to marketing guru, recently blogged about what he believes are the key ingredients of web commercials and I’m convinced they apply to viral videos as well. Seth’s recipe is as follows:

1. Assume that the viewer has the attention span of an espresso-crazed fruitfly. That means slapstick, quick cuts and velocity.

2. Find a word or phrase that you can own in Google, that fits in an email, and that comes up in discussion at the cafeteria table or in the playground.

3. Length doesn’t matter. 10 seconds is fine and so is five minutes. Media is free, remember?

4. Challenge the status quo, be provocative, touch a social nerve or create some other sort of interesting conversation. In other words, a commercial worth watching.

What I take from Seth’s observations is that people on the Internet will only respond “virally” to very specific types of content. And like always, content is king.

Now that I have the recipe, does it call for blender?

One of the best examples that demonstrates Seth’s observations is the “Will it Blend?” campaign by industrial blender manufacturer, Blendtec. Their web commercials contain a healthy dash of quirk and velocity, are found by typing the easy to remember phrase “will it blend” into Google, and touch the social nerve by destroying precious iPhones by violent rotating blade. As for the campaigns effectiveness, how many industrial blender manufacturers can you name?

So, what does an IMA viral video look like? Right now, it’s a secret but only because I have no idea. I’m open to suggestions. However, if I do end up trying my hand at viral video creation, I hope you get infected.

My work at IMA is in video production. I work with an ever-changing team of talented people to identify topics, interview artists and otherwise generate content we can float out onto the web and hope someone nibbles at it. Occassionally a hundred someones, even on occassion a thousand or more partake in our work. But we have yet to discover the elusive million-views video formula seen in YouTube classics like Dramatic Look (my 2007 favorite) and the notorious Rick Roll. Even the unexpected hit, Slug Sex, is kicking our proverbial ass. (If you haven’t seen this video, you absolutely should.)

So what is it? What is that wonderful, viral quality that compells you to e-mail your friends? Perhaps a good laugh, maybe playful irreverance, or just a creative peppering of well-timed obesenities, often set to music, top the list of viral trends. Certainly, we try. For the Roman Art from the Louvre webisode project, we pulled out the big guns and created an episode eerily similar to VH1’s beloved, I Love the 80’s series filled with our own brand of wit and swearing. But it wasn’t quite enough to get us over the hump. So as we move forward, I think it is safe to assume we will keep producing content that we feel has a lot of artistic integrity, contributes to the mission of the museum, all the while brainstorming about ways to strike YouTube gold. So, I challenge you, our constiuents, all 5 people reading this blog, to offer your suggestions for how we can grow that number to 10, then 10 million. I’m waiting….