Why these best 7 Viral Marketing examples are so powerful ⭐⭐

The open secret of the best viral marketing examples is humor. Let’s see why funny ads work.

One of the most important moments in the Super Bowl is the break for commercials. The following day, the funny advertisements are often more important than any touchdown or groundbreaking sporting move. Since 1988, USA TODAY has given exceptionally high ratings to commercials that bring laughter to Americans.

Also, this year, in Super Bowl 2025, one of the highest-rated commercials was a funny advertisement from State Farm, starring American actors Willem Dafoe and Catherine O’Hara.

Click here to go straight to the best 7 viral marketing campaigns

On what emotional string does humor pull?

The first researcher to refer to emotions in his work was Paul Ekman, an American psychologist who studied the relationship between emotions and facial expressions. He created an atlas of facial expressions and categorized them into six basic biological emotions: joy, surprise, anger, fear, disgust, and sadness.

There’s more …

Another researcher named Robert Plutchik agreed and, in 1980, introduced the “Wheel of Emotions,” which includes eight primary emotions grouped on a positive or negative basis:

• Joy versus sadness
• Anger versus fear
• Trust versus aversion
• Surprise versus anticipation

In addition, Plutchik argued that some basic emotions form more complex emotions and merge into the entire spectrum of human emotional experience. Combining the feeling of joy with trust creates love, while combining it with expectation leads to optimism.

And which company wouldn’t want its customers to feel optimistic or even fall in love?

Using Humor in Marketing

One of the proven ways to make an audience happy is by making them laugh; that’s why funny advertisements are effective.

Humor – the open secret of the advertising and marketing industry has yielded loads of Dinero to the world’s leading companies. Sure, if the funny commercial aired on TV, and even more so if it aired during the Super Bowl.

But what do we do when we have a new startup with limited funds to spend on a crazy spot on TV? But still we have good intentions and a good sense of humor?

Creating a viral campaign – Dahah

What is a viral campaign? A campaign that we really wanted people to share without having to spend a dime on promoting it—and it actually worked!

Yes, this is everyone’s dream, that they will have a viral campaign, and according to a study conducted in 2021, funny posts get the most shares. So what’s the problem? The method is straightforward.

1. We will create a mega funny campaign.
2. The campaign will go viral.
3. We will sell loud of products.
4. The End.

Did I make you laugh? I wonder why …

Here are the best viral marketing examples from recent years. See if you recognize the method.

1. Poo Pourri – Takes the toilet humor to a level of genius. 

Product: Toilet perfume spray. Numbers: Founded in 1976, in 2013, this video 👇came out and went insanely viral with more than 40 million views. In 2016 the value of the company was $ 300 million.

2. Dollar Shave Club – Yuppie Humor. Is that a thing?

Product: Shaving knife delivery service. Numbers: Founded in 2011. In 2012, this video 👇came out; after that, 12,000 customers signed up for the service in the first 48 hours. And in 2016 was sold to Unilever for $ 1 billion.

3. Chubbies Shorts – Dead Bud from the age of 21

Product: Shorts for men. Numbers: Founded in 2011, in 2014, raised $ 4 million, and in the last round of fundraising in 2016, raised $ 9 million. Most videos were viewed on Facebook, not YouTube. 

4. Chatbooks

Product: Photo Books Numbers: Founded in 2014, The company’s marketing video went viral, and reached 3 million views in 2 days.

5. Cart Whisperer – Making history with SaaS marketing video

Product: eCommerce security software Numbers: Back in 2008, it was the second-most viewed video on YouTube. 1 million views in 2 days.

6. Dear Kitten – Grown Ups talking

Product: Cat food Numbers: Founded in the 50s but was acquired by Nestlé in 1985. Friskies’s video went viral and reached 5 million views on YouTube in just four days.

7. Blendtec – Will it Blend series

Product: Blenders. Numbers: Founded in 1975, The first videos back in 2006 were viewed more than 6 million times within five days.

So what is The method of most of these viral marketing examples?

The Method:

Embarrass us + speak in a serious tone and explain in great detail why the product/service is excellent!

The Hope:

It will turn out funny.

Extra:

Props.

So what can we learn from these viral marketing examples

• Embarrassing optimism is the name of the game. The desire to be optimistic exists in most of us. (Wheel of Emotions)
  Our clients, similarly to us, will be happy to own an optimistic worldview and see life through glittery pink glasses. One way to make you feel optimistic is through humor – laughter and smiles make us feel positive and close.
• In the endless competition to capture the customer’s attention, we need to not only emphasize the benefits of our products but also address additional needs like being happy and satisfied.
• Try to incorporate humor into the persuasion process. Accurate explanations, along with giggles, do an excellent job.
• Poo Pourri made us laugh because it is unpleasant to talk about poop.
• Dollar Shave Club made us laugh out of embarrassment because we felt we were spending too much.
• Chubby Shorts made us laugh with a double embarrassment: the truth about our Chubbiness and the men running in shorts. And after we overcame the embarrassment in a matter of seconds, we realized that we must have their product/service.

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The main topics in this post are Viral marketing campaigns, Humor in Marketing, Wheel of Emotions, and funny advertisements, viral marketing examples, Super Bowl commercials 2025

Viral marketing examples of all times