You Can't Force Viral
That now-ancient Internet adage proves itself once again with the latest would-be viral video from Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Wow. I didn’t think it was possible, but this is in fact cheesier than Hillary’s previous viral campaign video, which spoofed the Sopranos final episode. Why is this so wooden and bizarre? I think it’s mainly due to the combination of ultra-high-quality production value with the horid cut-and-paste nature of the Hillary images. Clearly, anyone making a video like this in his or her bedroom wouldn’t have access to cameras and lighting of this quality.
But it comes back to the ‘branding’ of candidates. While Hillary can boast to be many things and exhibit many qualities, I think we can all agree that ‘cool’ is not one of them. Going for the under-30 vote, the YouTube generation, if you will, is dangerous. On the one hand, you can’t ignore this demographic but on the other hand, you risk alienating us by trying too hard. Trying to force viral is the classic case.
Now, let’s see a better way to motivate the newest tier of voters:
The reason this one works better, aside from the obvious artistic and musical qualities, is that it wasn’t made by the Obama Campaign. This third-person pride helps excited people rather than irritate them. Hillary’s videos are just more advertising, designed to trick us, Obama’s video is a call to action, designed to rally us. And whether or not Obama is cool can be debated. Certainly, he doesn’t appear to be trying as hard … which is kinda cool.
