How Did Gangnam Style Go Viral? The Gangnam Viral-Marketing Style Playbook
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Agenda Caveats & Key People
Pre launch recipe
Execution of the campaign
Keeping it alive
Dying with Dignity
The Viral Recipe
Stats
Golden Rules For Going Viral
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Caveats First to review viral aspect of Gangnam Style in
such depth
We had to make a number of assumptions
Time may reveal a few errors in our assumptions!
If so, let us know!
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Key people: Psy (singer), YG Entertainment (Korean record label), Scooter Braun (USA Music Manager)
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Pre Launch Recipe YG had a clear goal
Wanted a foothold in USA music industry Set up USA Division in 2011 http://bit.ly/UGsXA6
Had developed a large platform on which to seed a campaign 2.5m subscribers on YouTube channels Unknown number in email database but likely to be millions Multiple high profile Twitter profiles courtesy of artists under
management Psy himself is established artist, American educated
Seeding platforms were ORGANICALLY grown – not gamed
Video was catchy, shareable, crossed social, economic and language boundaries (humour, colourful etc)
Video had topical people alongside Psy. Dancing kid from Korea’s Got Talent and two comedians/entertainers. Gave it “home appeal’ in South Korea.
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Execution of the Campaign Teased the campaign to key media before
launch 2x Tweets from @AllKPop teasing video
Placed video online and seeded via their own established and engaged audiences
High impact first day – 500k of video views
Immediate number one in home charts (South Korean) This brought it to Western audiences via people who
look for Eastern trends to report on, e.g. Billboard.com
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Keeping it Alive Organic media pick up started to grow one
month after launch Gizmodo first to run Gawker pick up Billboard made it mainstream (controversial write up
caused debate and a rise in awareness)
Celebrity tweets had minimal initial impact, contrasts with previous explanation about reasons for success
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Keeping it Alive… cont 1 Huff Post ran a story, little visual impact on
search and tweet volumes but may have triggered CNN TV piece - http://huff.to/UGJdkB & http://bit.ly/UGJJzh
CNN caused huge spike & this triggered YouTube Trends to write story on Gangnam Style being video of the month http://bit.ly/RI6spX
Triggered multiple broadcast news pick up, the most high profile being (probably) SkyNews
Daily Mail demonstrated its ability to spot emerging search trends and piggy back by writing 9 (nine) articles about Psy/Gangnam Style
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Keeping it Alive… cont 2 This is the time (relatively late stage) that
Celeb tweets came in e.g. Katy Perry (13k RTs)
Mainstream media got on board: Mashable, Time Mag, Economist. I believe Washington Post piece (http://wapo.st/VqRGUZ ) triggered Associated Press article (http://bit.ly/TCJe9B) that got global pick up.
Tweet and search volumes then slowed BUT, there was clearly a plan!
Major news – Psy signed to Scooter Braun, Justin Bieber’s manager! Major shot in the campaign arm… http://bit.ly/VqS5GQ
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Keeping it Alive… cont 3 Scooters influence and marketing database
triggers the biggest spike of the campaign
Scooter accelerated the campaign (see what I did there) via: Britney tweets, Ellen TV show appearances, MTV Award appearances and his wider portfolio of artists promoting Psy via their twitter platforms
Growth slowed and Scooter got Psy on NBC Today show – Boom!
Guinness was the final push, as Gangnam video breaks world records for views/likes
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Dying With Dignity As search and tweet volumes declined,
media appearance requests for Psy increased, showing how many media were late to the story
Psy travelled around the world servicing media requests and handled each one expertly
He has secured deals with several high profile companies
YG Entertainment has strong foothold in USA and great contact database (via Scooter Braun etc)
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It’s Stat Time Bitches 1,191,235 Twitter comments, 25,490,717
Facebook shares, 7,012 Google Blogger Platform mentions
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Google Search Volumes Graph
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Twitter Mentions Graph
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The 6 Golden Rules for “Going Viral” 1. Have a final goal in mind (likes, shares, sales leads, entering new
territory)
2. Organically grow a large seeding platform of engaged followers (online and database driven)
3. Create content that is engaging & shareable and crosses social/economic/language boundaries
4. Tease to known fanatics and early adopters
5. Have a plan to reignite the campaign along the way (media)
6. Have an exit strategy/cease the campaign, leaving people wanting more
@10Yetis www.10Yetis.co.uk +441452 348211 http://www.Facebook.com/10Yetis
Thanks I used the following services to help with this work:
Topsy (pro), Twitter, Google News, Google Insight for Search, Google Blog Search, ViralVideoNetwork.com, AllKPop.com, YouTube and YouTubeTrends, Facebook
Any corrections, please send to [email protected] or @10Yetis or www.Facebook.com/10Yetis
Useful resources:Strategy: www.aSocialMediaAgency.comVideo: www.Online-Video-Company.co.ukSeeding/Media: www.10Yetis.co.uk
@10Yetis www.10Yetis.co.uk +441452 348211 http://www.Facebook.com/10Yetis