🗂 Overview
The idea involves coming up with repeatable novel/viral marketing ideas that you can resell and implement from start to finish for brands.
For example, using the video linked in the example section below, you could buy an ice cream van and wrap it in a company’s branding. Drive around the areas of their desired target market and give out free ice cream/samples to people.
These marketing strategies aim to go viral, get in the press and build engagement with your target market. The brands can create social content out of this material and it can be repeated in multiple areas for maximum reach.
This idea is definitely not a new concept but the demand for helping brands “go viral” with these types of campaigns will continue to become more important with the rise of social media and the importance content plays in modern-day growth strategies.
👀 Things worth checking out
Before we get into this week’s idea breakdown, I highly recommend checking out Category Surfers if you want to learn from the best companies in the world.
⭐️ Examples
Check out this video from Gymshark and Pubity. Gymshark got an ice cream van and went around London giving out free ice cream, slushies and samples.
Gymshark does these types of “viral” campaigns all the time. Just google “Gymshark Viral Campaign” for more.
Childish Gambino also did this which shows you don’t have to come up with revolutionary, never-before-seen campaigns. See what’s worked elsewhere and adapt it to another scenario.
Viral Seeding and the aptly named Viral Agency are examples of agencies that specialise in making viral content.
Brainstorm a list of unique marketing campaigns that can go viral
Position yourself as an agency that specialises solely in these sorts of campaigns. Don’t try and diversify by also providing SMMA or anything like that.
Contact local businesses and offer to run the campaigns from start to finish. Give them fresh ideas and show them campaigns that other brands have done in the past and how you can replicate this virality. You don’t need to have worked with any brands already
You don’t need to be in a big city for this - in fact, local brands in smaller towns might actually see more success as it’s more likely to get in the local news and be shared on social media.
These types of viral campaigns work great for launches and sales.
These sorts of campaigns are generally done by PR agencies with the aim of getting press and social media coverage.
Niches
I’d suggest going after every type of brand at first until you have a portfolio and an idea of what works and what doesn’t before you decide to niche down. But these sorts of campaigns can work great for brands in the below niches:
Health/wellness
Fitness
Beverages
Cafe/restaurants
FMCG
Fashion
Music
Ice-cream/slushie van
Noval vending machines
Interactive billboards
Giant sculptures
Public games/events
Impossible Challenges (channel your inner Mr Beast)
Treasure Hunts
Hijack Events (Ahrefs Coffee Cups or Fiji Water Girl)
🛠 How to build it
Brainstorm viral content ideas you can feasibly create and deliver on
Create a list of local brands to contact. Local brands will be easier to start with but if you have a connection to other brands you can also try these.
🚀 How to grow it
Contact every local business that you can apply one of your viral content ideas to. This can be via cold email or cold call, in-person, or on social media.
Explain your ideas, how you think they can benefit, how you can execute them, and what your offer is.
Don’t expect crazy fees to start with and as you’re just starting out you’ll likely need to craft a very good offer and pitch. It might even be that the first one you do is free and they just cover expenses.
After every successful campaign move on to a new brand and slowly keep pitching to bigger and bigger brands.
Aim to become the go-to for viral campaigns in your local area first, local businesses talk to each other and are generally more open to working with other local businesses.
Build a social media following on Twitter and TikTok and showcase your work and how you do it - with enough time you’ll become the go-to for a much bigger audience than your local area.
👍 Tips
Focus on local businesses first
Craft a very compelling offer, provide case studies and clearly explain your ideas when you pitch to brands - no matter their size.
Be a fun and engaging person/team. If brands can get behind you as a person/team they’re more likely to get behind your ideas.
Try and come up with a list of feasible ideas before pitching to brands to make your pitch more compelling and to show you’ve put in at least some thought.
You can even try and get influencers involved in the campaigns to expand the reach and potential to go viral.
📚 Helpful resources
Cheat Layer - Pre-made ChatGPT automations. You can use this to scrape local businesses from Google Maps.
Instantly - Powerful cold email tool
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