John West Tuna

Starting a viral campaign

Background
In 2000, John West TV ad for Bear accidentally went
viral
Approximately15m people viewed the ad after it
appeared on adcritic.com
It worked because:
Great ad and people enjoyed sharing it
People believed that they had discovered something they shouldnt
have
People did not feel SOLD to
Immediacy of viewing straight from your email
Executed with simplicity, not professionalism

Do it by plan with the launch of the successor to

Bear - - Shark

Objectives
Create momentum behind the launch of the Shark
spot
Maximise exposure to Shark

Insight
The most successful viral campaigns provide a
reward for the sender (discovery/ownership of the
joke) and instant gratification for the recipient
Spontaneous cool is much better than manufactured
cool
Need to create the feeling that something has been
discovered that shouldnt have been

Strategy
Rather than leave the viral aspect to chance,
design, broadcast and track an email to a specific
group in that hope that it will go viral

Summary of activity
10 days prior to air date, Email with Shark spot sent from
anonymous production house address (e.g. jez@sohoedit-suite.co.uk) to:
(1) core sneezers (those in the know)
(2) Influencers in the creative/media industry and city
(3) agency/client contacts globally

Limit circulation list to 5-10 people per email and ensure

that at least one name is recognised by all 5 10 people
Make Shark spot easy to view via streaming media
On air date, post Shark spot on websites including
viral.lycos.co.uk, adcritic.com, ad-mad.co.uk,
adforum.com

Email with streaming media

Shark spot

Results
The number of traceable views linked to original
email was 12 times greater than the number of
people who received the original email (or, a
response rate of 1,200%)
We estimate that there were between 1m and 2m
views across adcritic.com, adforum.com,
viral.lycos.com, etc.
Selected as one of the top ten viral campaigns in
2002 by Campaign

Campaign