Aug 7, 2025
Advertising and Marketing
“I Guarantee the Idea Will Go Viral”
This sentence was said to me by one of the creatives when I was a manager in one of the organizations, trying to convince me to adopt the idea of a marketing advertisement.
My response at the time was jokingly: “Great, let’s write a contract… if the idea strikes, I’ll give you three times its value. But if it doesn’t strike, you compensate me for free with three times its value… and of course, it’s the deal of a lifetime… because you’re guaranteeing its success :)”
The response? Naturally, refusal and evasion.
Because no one can know for certain that any idea, no matter how innovative it seems, will spread widely before it is published.
WHY IS SPREADING DIFFICULT?
Spreading is the ability to attract the attention of a large number of people until it reaches what Malcolm Gladwell calls the Tipping Point: when an idea or a social behavior surpasses a certain threshold to transform into a contagion that spreads like wildfire.
Who can attract attention in an era of content abundance?
There are thousands of advertisements, messages, and news fiercely competing for your attention. One study estimates that 3.2 billion images are published daily. And besides what is published, there are also what captures human attention in his work, his home, and even with himself—his stomach ache, and his wandering mind.
When you decide to publish that advertisement, you are literally deciding to enter into a fierce, unknown war with millions in an attempt to attract attention. And even if what you published truly attracts attention, it may, unfortunately, coincide with another event that is more exciting and steals the spotlight: it could be a political event, a major piece of news, or another distinguished advertisement published at the same time. Attention is very limited; if it belongs to others, it won’t be yours. It is a battle to create what is worthy, at the right time and the right place, with a great deal of luck, for spreading to occur. Therefore, it is naïve to believe that a specific advertisement will achieve the spread you desire, even if you were fortunate once or twice before… One must comprehend this truth to deal with marketing and advertising activities in a more effective way.
How does spreading happen then?
No one knows exactly how that happens, but you can make the efforts that increase the likelihood of it happening. That is through thinking in a different and unconventional way, creating marketing messages with real value, turning them into creative content, and then choosing suitable advertising and media channels to publish them—all of which are supportive tools to increase the opportunity.
And to truly increase the opportunity, it must happen continuously and consistently—that there are ongoing marketing and media activities with the right efforts made each time, so that the likelihood of reaching the tipping point increases.
It is a process that greatly resembles investment thinking. No one knows exactly which stock will actually succeed, and whether the market will rise. That is why the timeless investment advice is: always invest, diversify your eggs, and do not worry about the success or failure of a single investment. Rather, focus on the overall performance of the investment portfolio over time. And likewise, I say: build a portfolio of marketing and media activities, invest in it continuously, and spreading will happen.
