Cracking Virality: Where creative brilliance meets smart spends

Viral campaigns don’t happen by accident. They require bold ideas, strategic planning and just the right mix of creativity and media muscle. It begins with a clear understanding of the brand, the audience it wants to connect with, and the platform that will amplify its message. What does the brand stand for? What captures the audience’s attention — not just broadly, but right now? What content does the platform’s algorithm prioritise, ensuring it reaches the intended target audience while uncovering new, untapped audiences for the brand?

Earlier this year, an ad created in Malayalam for Battlegrounds Mobile India became the world’s first viral ad in the gaming category. It recreated an iconic scene from an old Malayalam movie, wherein the dialogues were rewritten to fit the brand seamlessly. To add to the ‘viral’ potential of the ad, Maitri Advertising strategically brought in the sons of the actor and director from the original movie, who were both trending on social media at the time. “That connection made the campaign so much bigger,” the team explains, highlighting the emotional and cultural relevance it added.

The campaign was rolled out in phases. To create excitement, the team first released a teaser that looked like leaked footage from a shoot. This got people talking about the original movie, with many wondering if a sequel was on the way. By the time the ad was released, there was already a lot of buzz. The ad kept the excitement alive by playing on nostalgia and turning the initial curiosity into a bigger, sustained conversation.

Even the best ideas need the right push to get noticed and reach the right people, say industry experts. “Virality has a cost attached to it. It takes media spends to push creative brand campaigns to reach more people,” says Niranjan Natarajan, Founder Creative Director, Why Axis Advertising. He explains that content requires an investment to get viral. Natarajan further cites the works of Jonah Berger, a Wharton Professor and the author of the book Contagious, to decode virality with 3 rules: “1. Virality isn’t born, it is made. 2. When we care, we share. 3. Virality for a brand works best when people can’t tell a story without mentioning the brand – that is the brand is woven deeply into the narrative.”

Sharing an alternative perspective from the creative end of ad operations, Ajay Syama Sathyan, Head - Digital & Creatives, Maitri Advertising Works Pvt. Ltd, explains, “I believe a campaign, film, or piece of content can absolutely go viral organically without being engineered. At the heart of it, the most important thing is the idea.” The process starts with a fresh idea that has the potential to explode. Coming up with that idea is no simple task. Turning it into ‘viral’ content is an even bigger challenge. “Once you spot that potential, it’s about giving it a little push to help it reach a wider audience — beyond the target group. Viral ideas don’t come along every day, so when they do, you make the most of them. Maybe you back it with a small media spend, but nothing over the top,” Sathyan shares.

Sathyan dismisses the possibility that something can be made viral by simply throwing a huge media budget behind it. “The moment you plan for weeks or months with a big spend, it stops being organic. Virality is supposed to feel spontaneous, and you can’t manufacture that feeling — it has to happen naturally,” he explains. Any list of viral moments in 2024 would be incomplete with the ‘Ranga’ Reel trend on the Karinkaliyalle song. Millions of people re-created a scene from the Malayalam movie, Aavesham, wherein Fahadh Faasil poses with a
wall, dividing his video’s canvas into two parts. Moving with the tunes of the song, on one side of the wall, he appears shocked, while on the other, he’s happy. What really worked for the scene and turned it into a viral moment was how easy it was for people to use the
format to convey their emotions and create relatable content. The simplicity of the setup made it accessible for anyone to jump in, express their feelings, and connect with others in a fun, creative way.

Chockalingam S, Co-founder & Director, OPN Advertising underscores the importance of creativity, particularly when budgets are tight. He points out that in such situations, it may not always be possible for a brand to allocate funds for media spends, making it even more crucial to rely on innovative, cost-effective ideas that can still make an impact. “When the budget is low, the idea has to be really good. It's a good challenge to have because you realise that money is the only constraint, not your creativity,” he shares.

Industry experts believe social media is changing the game, providing advertisers a space to test bold ideas and identify which ones are worth boosting with ad spends. The instant feedback loop on these platforms helps brands gauge what resonates with audiences in real time. And, when it comes to measuring the success of an idea, Natarajan offers a simple yet powerful yardstick: “You know you have good content and it has worked it comes back to you on WhatsApp as a forward.” It’s not just about the metrics, it’s about creating content that people love so much they feel compelled to share it, making it truly ‘viral’.