The Easter Egg Theorem

If you want to make something viral, aim for the 1%. This sounds counterintuitive, but believe me, it works.

I am not a marketing expert. I have learned a bit of marketing, and there is a solid chance that I am unaware if there is a real research on this, but I would like to introduce the Easter Egg Theorem, something I "invented" recently, based on the content consumption trends of the post-COVID era.

The main rule is this: If you want to make something viral, you have to forget your general audience and aim for your 1%.

Let’s start with why something becomes viral, and it is very simple: it generates engagement and new content without work from the original source. The generated new content generates more engagement, which can generate more content... and it spreads like a virus, hence the term "viral." Obviously, at some point, it will be diluted enough to fade away, but this ripple effect gives viral marketing its power.

There is no clear way to build up viral marketing unless you are willing to spend millions of dollars to make it work, and that is not the intent in most cases. The Barbenheimer project last year was a good example that a simple (and stupid, sorry) idea can become viral and affect the box office of multiple movies just because people relate to it. There are thousands of ideas shared daily that are better and have more potential than Barbenheimer. It is generally random what will be picked up. Unless... you count one very specific thing.

Here comes the Easter Egg Theorem and how mostly the Disney-owned shows create a viral effect very knowingly by catering to the 1%. The basis of this is that in the current era of content, we are consuming much more news and information from second-hand sources first than directly from the original source. I will admit it here: I saw Joe Biden stepping back on 9gag and then went to GroundNews (not sponsored... yet (?)) to read up on it. I get my Denver Broncos news from fan channels and super fans, and I know most of the new movies and series because of YouTube content creators. And I am not the outlier here in that direction, maybe in the other way: I am not strong on X/Twitter, and I never downloaded TikTok. For a whole generation, Internet equals Social Media.

What the Star Wars and the Marvel series do to make even their worst-reviewed products viral is add Easter Eggs. Most consumers will not get that the background of a particular scene, that fake text in that fake language means something, but the 1%, the superfans will. And more importantly, they will create content about it: YouTube videos with clickbait titles and thumbnails, posts and tweets. Those will generate more engagement and add to the viral effect.

I think they do this in a genius way because usually, these are only virtual investments from the production design, not extra costs, but they make the whole story seem more cohesive. While doing it, the superfans feel that they are served the desired fan service in a healthy way, catered only to the most devoted fans. This also gives them the opportunity to grow their fanbase by making the videos. It is simply genius because there is no way of backlash. Even if something is not pointed out, a week later, they can just mention it a bit in a tweet, and it restarts this viral cycle.

For me, this is the only real, low-cost guaranteed viral marketing, so listen closely: Aim for the 1%, aim for the superfans. Of course, to do that, you need to identify and know your 1%, but that is a topic for another day.

Next Monday, I will go into a much older example of this, which I only recently realized, stay tuend for that too :)