e/spyer

The virus, like the swine flu, is something that appears suddenly and is now worldwide. According to Wikipedia, a virus is basically protein particle that can infect living organisms.

Today to make a viral is a trend. The client asks for a viral, the creative makes a viral. Do you think an agency is able to make a viral?

This is a talk of hours in my lunchtime: with friends of the agency and outside the agency. Whenever I see or hear someone talking about making a viral it makes me listen carefully. I think the viral is not just doing it, but rather a consequence. Nothing is born viral, but it becomes viral.

Every week I receive a new report (very inspiring!) made by Paula Rizzo (paularizzo.com) for DM9. A few weeks ago I saw a campaign of Rayban:

While I was watching this video it made me directly associate with one of the first interesting “viral” I saw on the internet:

And then to this Lego film:

These three videos were and are a hit on the internet and there many other similar.
Are we creating a formula to make a viral?

If so, this formula must end. Because when I watche Rayban’s film, I remembered the other two, and because it didn’t bring anything new or relevant to spread, I was not an active transmitter of this “virus”, in short, had no spreadability.

(if anyone remembers any more videos like those, please comment)

I see the current communication as the Black Swan Theory, or the unexpected is the key to understanding the world, explained for me at a lunch by my brothers Juca (naozero.com.br) and Pablo Spyer.

But I see many people offering viral as a normal media. Inside media strategy we see TV, Radio, Newspapers and Viral. That makes me a little concerned because they are thinking viral as a media and not as a consequence.

I went look for more information and found Henry Jenkins (http://henryjenkins.org/), one of the masters of new media, creator of the term transmídia, published on his blog a research done by the Convergence Culture Consortium called “If it doesn’t spread it is dead”, it’s worth see the video on the link. It explains the concept of convergence, not only technological convergence, but the social convergence.

“Today we live in a world where every story, image, sound, idea, brand will be present on all platforms of media.”

And Henry Jenkins goes beyond; he has written a post containing more than 80 pages, explaining the concept of spreadability. Reserve a time to read.