Viral videos, we can all name a few, or even better reenact
some of the most viewed videos of our time. In the beginnings of YouTube and
social media the formula for viral videos was elusive, they ranged from a panda
sneezing to news interviews gone hilariously wrong. Now we see companies who
entire basis is creating viral content and they have a “formula” for what a
video should have to make it viral and business can be built in one day with a
viral video. One of the first groups to tap into the idea of consistent viral
videos was the band OK Go which found YouTube stardom with their first music
video, then their second, and then their third. They seemed to tap into the
formula that was needed to make a video go viral and they were doing well. They
went from a garage band to a household name within a matter of days thanks to
YouTube. So when they released a new video in November of 2016 but chose to
release it somewhere that was not YouTube, people were confused even a little
miffed.
As a nod
to their beginnings shouldn’t OK Go stuck with the platform that started it all
for them? The answer is a resounding no. Anyone with any business and marketing
acumen can tell you that what worked for you once isn’t going to be the answer
forever and the companies that have lasted the test of time have done so
because they have been able to adapt to changing technology and marketing
strategies. Do you think that Macy’s Department store, founded in 1830, would
still be around if they were using the same marketing strategies that worked in
1830 now? A couple well-placed billboards, printed posters in restaurant. Every
business has to evolve with technology if they want to survive and in 2017 that
means using social media in your marketing and advertising.
So back
to OK Go’s decision to release on Facebook instead of YouTube. Both are
influential social media platforms, both have huge following and potential viewership
in the millions, so why was Facebook the smart move. According to
http://www.epica-awards.com/news/723 Dmitry Tutkov, owner of the Russian Agency
who produced the video,
“Logically
we should have released it on YouTube, because that’s what everyone does, but
we needed to make it viral. The solution was Facebook, because on YouTube you can’t
share very easily – you have to copy a link. On Facebook, you just click
‘share’. So the Facebook model is ideal for viral videos. From this experience
we realized that videos get traction much more quickly on social media than on
a video hosting website.”
The idea that a video can be shared so easily on Facebook
was a huge draw for OK Go and Tutkov’s agency. Tutkov was approached by the
Russian Airline S7 to produce a marketing video for them and he presented the
idea of doing a music video in one of their planes. They contacted OK Go and
the rest you can say is history. S7 Airlines supplied the crew and the airplane
for the shoot as well as financial backing for the video in hopes that they
would see an increase in sales from the video. Here is where things get a
little messy. OK Go made their plans to debut exclusively on Facebook for a 48
hour period and S7 released a copy of the video on their YouTube page before
the Facebook debut, quickly the video was removed and viewers were greeted with
a copyright message. The video was then released exclusively to Facebook and
eventually added to both OK Go’s and S7’s YouTube pages.
The
question remains was S7 outside of their legal and ethical limits posting the
video to their YouTube channel. Without knowing what sort of contract was
involved I can’t say for sure but according to the US Constitution Article 1
Section 8 Clause 8 if OK Go was hired to be in the video for advertising
purposes S& Airlines would own the copyright to the video. I am going to
assume that this is not the case and that this was merely a sponsorship, not a
work for hire. If this is the case according to that same clause in the
Constitution OK Go and S7 Airlines produced a joint wok and S7 Airlines would
then be “co-owners of a single copyright in the work,” giving them every right
to post the video on their own YouTube channel.
Obviously
there is too much information that I couldn’t find to really make an accurate
determination. There is a possibility that there was a contract in place giving
OK Go sole ownership of the video, or placing sharing restriction on S7
Airlines but if there wasn’t then S7 airlines didn’t do anything wrong legally
speaking.
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