Lessons from virality: What 2024 taught us about staying relevant

Shoot, Fire Or Kill. To Go Viral.

Animal had released the previous day. Ranbir’s action credentials had been announced. Next morning, the internet was abuzz with him appearing as a cop, collaborating with Rohit Shetty for Singham Again. And if a picture says a thousand words, there was a pic of Ranbir, in cop uniform, moustache, standing along with Rohit Shetty. The news started from the viral filmi publications and within minutes was caught by the mainline dailies and released on their internet avatars. Running through fan pages and the gram, trending within a couple of hours. Only to reveal that Ranbir and Rohit had corroborated in our Tata AIG Health Insurance Commercial. The commercial itself was like a typical Shetty blockbuster, blowing up cars, and throwing up villains. We’d always expected it to be well received. But the launch pad of the Ranbir-Shetty conversation gave it virality. I always send new work out to clients and friends. This time, everyone said they’d already seen it.

PR stunts seemed to be the new P of marketing. Or at least a P for virality. And nothing was off limits. Not even death. It was the year Poonam Pandey’s publicist announced her death. All of us had an inkling it could be a stunt, but we felt nobody would cross that line. But they did. What’s more even the large publications covered it in their internet versions. First, before the reveal. And then after the reveal to criticise it. Yes, it crossed a line. But the world now knows about cervical cancer.

Did anyone else try it? YesMadam! An almost unknown beauty brand was in the news for firing over a hundred employees for mental health-related issues. When the world criticised them, they claimed this was a campaign to throw light on mental health.

I am sure PR stunts have been tried before. But this year there seemed to be no holds barred. Anything goes, to disrupt and stand out. And while the PR stunt was one way, the main object was disrupting to stand out. And that according to me is soon going to become the number one objective of every brand. Disruption. Which makes sense. Take the amount of content that our consumer is exposed to in a minute, over 5 lakh Instagram stories, over 4 lakh posts, over millions of hours of content on Netflix, all in a minute! 60 seconds. How does your brand stand out amongst this quantity of content? And the quality too, some of it is fabulous content by talented creators. How do you stand out with limited budgets? If you don’t stand out, nothing else matters.

Some companies, like Zomato, have perfected the art of disrupting. They are consistently pulling it off in everything they do. Even recruitment for a Chief of Staff, started a conversation when it asked for a payment of Rs. 20 lakhs from people applying. Now, the most talked about position in the country.

2025 promises to be even more interesting. In 2024 all Holy Cows (and Poonam Pandey) have been killed. Will it make us more cautious? Or will it make us throw caution to the winds?

This article is penned by Amit Akali, Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer, Wondrlab Network

Disclaimer: The article features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the stance of the publication.