Viral campaign for Aqua Maris in Russia –
the World Championship Nose Cleansing
Our objective was to launch Aqua Maris For-Home, a nose cleansing set containing sea salt bags and a neti pot. We needed to connect Aqua Maris with Jala Neti, the yoga technique of daily nose cleansing, practiced by millions of people. We decided to create a new sport – Competitive Nose Cleansing, sponsored by Aqua Maris and governed by the International Federation Jala Neti. Then, we organized the World Championship Jala Neti in Amsterdam and put live coverage of the 5 Litre Men’s Final on YouTube. In a month, our viral generated over 700.000 views on YouTube and other video sites, and the site of Aqua Maris received 46% more visitors. Watch the viral and read the full story below.
01 Preparation – Sites of IFJN and Fedor Konyukhov
Our aim was to create a viral video in the Fake-or-Real genre. To increase credibility of the viral, we established the International Federation Jala Neti (IFJN) in Lausanne and filled the website of IFJN with articles about re-election of the Executive Committee, the Jala Neti Athlete of the Year contest, the world championship programme etc. Then, we created a Russian website for the Fan-club of Fedor Konyukhov, the reigning world champion in the 5 litre class. The site included a Q&A session with Fedor and his Jala Neti tips. And finally, Aqua Maris became the official sponsor of IFJN.
02 Seeding – Press release “Konyukhov defends his title”
In order to launch the viral, we sent an official press release by IFJN to Russian news agencies - "Fedor Konyukhov defends his title on the World Championship Jala Neti in Amsterdam". The press release was published by Russian regional news sites (Fedor is from Novosibirsk, Siberia) and by sites about sports and yoga. After Google and Yandex had indexed these articles, we sent a link to the viral to leading Russian entertainment portals, such as Fishki.net, Yaplakal.com, Webpark.ru etc.
03 Results – Top 10 Most Viewed and Most Favourited in Sports
The viral was made as a tribute by a Russian fan to his hero – the King of Jala Neti Fedor Konyukhov. The video got about 100.000 views from Russia in its 1st week. Then, it was discovered by international media, such as Sports Illustrated and The Huffington Post, and the view count went to 400.000 in the 2nd week. The viral achieved the Top 10 Most Viewed and Top 10 Most Favourited of This Month in the Sports category in Russia. And Top 100 Sports Globally. The website of Aqua Maris received 46% more visitors during the campaign, despite the fact that there were no direct links in the press release and the YouTube description to the site.
04 Online discussion – “Nasal spray company finds perfect sport to sponsor”
We were very excited whether viewers would discover the connection between the viral and Aqua Maris products. Fortunately they did. Their first reaction was quite predictable and could be summarised as WTF:-) Some viewers found additional information on Google and Yandex and believed that the event was real. We received invitations for radio and TV interviews with Jala Neti athletes via the site of IFJN, and even an official request to establish the Indian Jala Neti Federation. Other viewers discovered that it was a viral ad and connected it to Aqua Maris.
These are examples of online comments in Russian and international media:
- "Help us readers. We don’t know what is real and what is lies any more. Witness this ‘sporting event’, sponsored by Aqua Maris, a nasal spray manufacturer” (BitterWallet),
- “There’s nothing quite as exciting as watching men in singlets squirt saline solution through their sinuses” (The Huffington Post),
- “Now, I have no idea whether this is a real “sport” or some meticulously orchestrated joke by those rascally Ruskies whose sole purpose is to fool gullible Americans. But whatever the heck is going on in the video is a sight to behold” (Sportress of Blogitude),
- “Probably the weirdest sport on earth. Please tell me this is Russian viral advertising at work, and not actually a real thing?" // "Don’t be so quick to turn your nose up at this. Looks legit” (BuzzFeed),
- “A competitive event that includes both a pool and pot? Has Michael Phelps been notified?" (Break.com),
- “I knew what a neti pot was & what it's for, but I never in a hundred years would have thought I'd ever see something like this. LOL!!!” (YouTube),
- “I was planning to send my son to an ice hockey school, but have to reconsider this decision” (Fishki),
- "Your move, Japan!" (YouTube).
And Japan has made its move. Our viral was aired by two Japanese TV stations - TV Asahi and NTV. Frankly speaking, we like the Japanese version even more than the original.