I received an email from a friend a few weeks ago linking to a viral video piece produced for Carlsberg Beer. I watched it, chuckled to myself and moved on. The thing is, while branded virals are being produced in higher volumes now more than ever, these days I receive a lot less of these emails than I did even a year ago.

It got me thinking: does viral video have a future, or is it on its way out as a means of brand communication?

If you haven’t seen the Carlsberg video, it’s basically a stunt featuring an entire cinema full of mean looking bikers – except for 2 seats. A series of hapless couples walk into the theatre, most of whom walk straight back out after inspecting the crowd. The few couples who were brave enough to sit in amongst the bikers are illuminated in a spotlight, the crowd cheers; they are handed a beer and the cinema screen displays the tagline: “That calls for a Carlsberg.” It’s a funny, well produced video that has been watched 9.5 million times – a success in anyone’s book, right?

But I have a problem with it…

While I certainly remembered the video and thought it was funny, when I tried to describe it to another friend, the bits I remembered were all to do with the stunt itself. I even remembered it was a beer ad… but I couldn’t for the life of me remember which brand of beer it was for.

Clearly, the fleeting shot of the logo and tagline at the end was not enough to make me remember which brand it was advertising. While most marketers would argue that the purpose of a viral is to create “brand awareness” or even “brand recall”, the problem is that most viral videos generate awareness only of themselves – the operative word “brand” is often missing from the communication.

Why were virals successful in the first place?

In the beginning, viral videos were novel, generally funny and everyone got a kick out of being the first among their friends to see them and share them. Who didn’t get a good chuckle out of Star Wars Kid or Afro Ninja? Then along came the brands; Reebok’s Terry Tate Office Line Backer stood out– it had everyone in stitches and got the masses talking.

But somewhere along the way we got lost in the woods… viral videos started becoming cheap, overly scripted, uninteresting ways for brand marketers to feel like they were being creative. Today, the interwebs are flooded with cautionary tales of how NOT to do it (my personal un-favourite is Dell Australia)– they weren’t funny or thought provoking, they didn’t engage the viewer or make us want to share, they didn’t provide a compelling reason to believe in the brand… and most of them didn’t actually go viral.

So, are viral videos really dead?

Not just yet… cutting through all of the noise are a few great gems that still deliver on what a brand communication is supposed to be. The Old Spice Guy kicked arse and reinvented a brand that was all but dead. Even more impressive, they’ve continued to stay relevant and keep audiences not just watching but also interacting. Will It Blend and Dyson managed to build massive audiences simply by having a bit of fun with their products. All of the best examples have one thing in common: they effectively build the brand into the message.

Instead of asking “have you seen that video with all the bikers in the cinema?” an effective communication will generate a lot of “have you seen the Old Spice guy?” If your viral concept doesn’t pass this litmus test, you’re doing it wrong.

Virals aren’t dead, but like all other types of communications they have matured. If you really must create a branded viral, it’s no longer enough just to have something funny to say; build your brand into the message and watch your viewers catch the fever.