1. Viral Video Case Study
13 March 2012

2. Viral Marketing in Russia Adapts Foreign Lessons
to a Local Environment
US / Europe Russia
• Rooted in email advertising (Hotmail), with • Video is from the beginning the primary
other forms such as videos, SMS, images, viral marketing medium, although
games and e-books later additions interactive games are gaining in popularity
• Viral marketing is an established element of • Only few companies, and often only
every company’s marketing strategy Western companies, use viral campaigns
• Viral videos are effects-driven and big • Viral videos are content-driven and play on
budget as well as part of multi-channel novelty and edginess due to budget
marketing campaigns constraints
• Most recent successes by established • Most recent successes by small start-ups,
brands, e.g. Evian, VW, Coca-Cola e.g. Travelmenu
• Lower ROI than in the early stages as the • High ROI as significant brand awareness is
novelty of viral marketing has worn off achieved despite small budget productions
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3. Medvedev’s New Year’s Speech (released in Dec 2011)
• 6 million views on YouTube within 3 months • Winner of multiple awards on YouTube and
• Site traffic increases 5 times within 48 hours in Runet
• 90% new visitors
• Order volume increases 2.5 times • Significant additional coverage in social and
conventional media in Russia and abroad
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4. A Scientific Approach behind the Creative Process…
PROBLEM
• The more prominent or intrusive the logo, the more likely viewers are to
Problem 1: stop watching – even if they know and like the brand
Prominent • People seem to have an unconscious aversion to being persuaded
Branding Puts SOLUTION
Off Viewers • Travelmenu only had the Logo at the end of the video, but creatively
played on the theme of ‘travel’ by imagining Medvedev on a beach
holiday
PROBLEM
Problem 2:
People Get • Keeping viewers involved depends on 2 emotions: Joy and Surprise
Bored Right SOLUTION
Away • 6 seconds into the video the Kremlin as a scenery is moved showing
Medvedev in fact giving his New Year’s speech while on vacation
PROBLEM
Problem 3: • Ads that produce stable promotional states generally aren’t effective in
People Watch engaging viewers very long
for a While But SOLUTION
Then Stop • In the span of 1 minute, the video has 7 surprise changes, which keep
the viewer interested
Note: Problems defined as per a Harvard Business Review article, dated March 2012. 4

5. ...Ensured Travelmenu’s Viral Success
PROBLEM
• Shock may get people to watch an ad privately, but will often work against
Problem 4:
their desire to share the spot
People Like an
SOLUTION
Ad but Won’t
• Travelmenu’s parody of a well-known annual political event always
Share it
stayed light-hearted while still hitting the ‘Zeitgeist’ in the run-up to
the elections
PROBLEM
• Research has shown that sharing depends on the personality type of the
Problem 5: viewers
People Still • Extroverted viewers and influencers are much more likely to share
Won’t Share SOLUTION
the Ad • Travelmenu seeded the ad with key influencers and bloggers within
Runet to achieve maximum exposure early-on thereby leading to a
critical mass of viewership within only 24 hours of release
Note: Problems defined as per a Harvard Business Review article, dated March 2012. 5

6. Spasibo!
Katrin Buckenmaier, Co-Founder and CEO
Corporate Twitter: @travelmenu_ru
vKontakte: vk.com/travelmenu
Facebook: www.facebook.com/travelmenu
Email: pr@travelmenu.com
Katrin’s Personal Twitter: @theanimagroup
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