Most brands would be thrilled to have a viral video. Kmart had three in 2013.
It all started back in April when "Ship My Pants," an ad featuring that double-entendre uttered a dozen times in 30 seconds, went viral, ultimately netting 20 million YouTube views by year's end.
The brand followed that with "Big Gas Savings," another ad based on a mildly naughty double entendre, that is now at 6 million views. Finally, there was "Show Your Joe," a holiday-themed ad that featured men playing "Jingle Bells" with their privates. That brought in another 15 million views, getting Kmart's out to millions in social media.
So Kmart should be killing it now, right?
Not quite. The retailer's same-store sales — a key measure of retail performance — fell 2.1% in the third quarter. Such sales also fell 2.1% in the second quarter, which means that it's hard to make a case that the ads did much for owner Sears's bottom line. The retailer also hasn't disclosed the number of sales for items that are bought in a Kmart store and then shipped to a consumer's house — the value proposition highlighted in the "Ship My Pants" ad have been added since the spot went viral.
Brian Sozzi, chief equities strategist at Belus Capital Advisors and a Kmart critic, says the viral ads aren't helping: "I almost think that the ads are hurting them ," he says. "The ads suggest it's back, but when you walk into the stores, it's the same old thing. It's a bait and switch."
Bill Kiss, Sears Holdings, chief digital marketing officer, however, says the ads are a boon to the brand. "It's a big way of telling what is a different story for Sears and Kmart," he says. Kiss says he judges success by the amount of engagements in social media surrounding the brand, which have spiked dramatically since the ads started running. "[Customers are] giving us permission to tell that story," he says.
Countering Kiss's assertion with some sales figures is a cheap way to debunk his claim. As any marketer knows, there's a purchase funnel. Some advertising is meant to raise awareness. Some is created to woo those in the market but not ready to buy just yet. Still other advertising is designed for those looking to buy something right at that moment. Much advertising is also designed to improve the opinion of a brand, a process that often takes years. All of which is to say, that unless the ad is direct-response, sales aren't necessarily a great indicator. So what is?
Advertising Benchmark Index is based on the idea that advertising should above all pitch a product. The Index looks at 14 variables around an ad including "message," "call to action" and "likability." Not on the list: Virality. The ABI doesn't care how many people an ad reached or how much free media it earned.
It's an alternative way of looking at advertising, which is why this list is so drastically different from Unruly's list of the most-shared ads of 2013. The leader on that list, Dove's "Beauty Sketches," didn't make ABI's list, possibly because the female empowerment message overshadowed the pitch for Dove products.
The ad below was rated the most-effective by ABI. As you can see, it's not the type of thing you'd want to pass on to a friend:

What you might pass on, however, is the price of that sub, particularly at lunchtime. Gary Getto, president of ABI, says the reason viral ads don't make his list is simple: "We've found likability doesn't correlate to much," he says. Regarding Geico's "Hump Day" ad, one of the most viral of the year, Getto says, "Very often you hear people say 'I love that ad with the camel,'" and they can't tell you it's Geico." The same could be said for Kmart's ads, Getto says. Viewers who laughed at the ribald humor often didn't recall what was being advertised. (Brad Higdon, VP/group account director at The Martin Agency, which creates Geico's ads, says "the ad is in fact highly effective.")
The ABI-approved ads are timeless in the sense that they could have run in 1990. (See some ABI's other top ads of 2013 below.) There's nothing edgy about them and the only way to avoid the product pitch is to turn your TV off. Does that mean all ads should be that way? In Getto's view, yes. At least they should all at least strive to hit the sweet spot between selling, amusing and getting the viewer to like your brand enough to buy something. "It's like hitting a baseball," he says. "You can only do it 30% of the time."
Pete Stein, global CEO of Razorfish, says the same holds true for viral ads. Some do a good job getting their product message across and some don't. "Any time you introduce entertainment and humor you lose your way from the core brand story ," he says. Stein says he believe's Dove's "Beauty Sketches" ad deftly sandwiched a branding message into a viral video. Another good example, he says, is Blendtec, the blender company, whose viral videos are all about the product's performance. And viral videos can boost the bottom line. After Old Spice's 2010 campaign took off, for instance, sales jumped 55% in the three months following the campaign's launch.
There's further research to bolster the claim that viral ads actually do help a brand. Unruly found that consumers on average have a 61% favorable opinion about a brand when exposed to a viral ad vs. 42% for a control group that wasn't exposed to it. Purchase intent for such consumers is 47% compared to 42% for the unexposed group. "These uplifts are even more pronounced when viewers of the video were recommended they watch it by a friend (following a share of the video)," says Unruly's insight director, Ian Forrester.
It's up to the marketer, of course, to gauge whether it's worth the effort to create a viral video — a one-in-a-million event — for a 5% lift in purchase intent. Perhaps the best advice for anyone hoping to create a viral video is to remember to include a strong brand message. As Getto says, "Virality doesn't really correlate to anything that matters."
Product advertised: Snack Delights.
Product advertised: Pillsbury Grands
Image: Kmart, YouTube