Last year we posted about 4Moms, a Pittsburgh-based company that makes unique baby products. The cake-taker is probably their power-folding Origami stroller. Look at the following video they produced for it, which is slick and professional:
So here's the thing: That video was first posted in January of 2012, and at press time it had just under 1.4 million views. Not bad. But last weekend, a New-Zealand-based magazine called OHbaby! posted a low-res ten-second clip of the product in action, shot at a baby products show:
Since Saturday, the Facebook-embedded version of that video has racked up 12,549 comments, 53,215 likes, 72,058 shares and a staggering 10 million views, OHbaby! claims. Despite being grainy and shot in that annoying portrait framing, in less than a week it has exceeded the manufacturer's video view count nearly tenfold.
Why do you suppose the cheaply shot video went viral while the profesionally-produced product video did not? The obvious answer is that it's easier (one click) to share something on Facebook versus YouTube, but I think there's got to be more to it than that. My theories on the merits of the cell phone vid are:
- It's only ten seconds long, making it easy to retain attention of the ADD-addled - It shows the product's transformation, both ways, in one uninterrupted take - It shows the object in a naturalistic setting (versus a studio), reinforcing its reality
Any other theories?
4Mom, by the way, is presumably aware of the heat the OHbaby! video has generated. Two hours prior to press time, they posted news of a product giveaway on Facebook, where users who like, share and click are entered to win. By press time, their server had already crashed under the demand.
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This is true of sooo many videos, I dont have ADD but when people think I have all day to watch their text fade in and out they are very wrong.
The potential viewer doesn't have to sit through any explanation—all of the information you need about why this is an interesting product is right there in that 10 seconds. This is the video equivalent of cropping out all of the background in a photo of your boy-or-girlfriend.