• Learn how BBC shed its conservative image to attract more than 100,000 viewers to its iPlayer homepage

• Check out how Cloverfield grossed more than $16mill on its opening day due to smart marketing planning

• Find out how Thresher turned an accidental leak into huge profits

If you’re an online marketing firm researching on the world’s top viral campaigns to learn from, you’ve found them. Read on and learn from these success stories.

BBC’s iPlayer

Creativity is vital for the success of any campaign, and BBC certainly incorporated maximum creativity in its 2008 marketing campaign promoting its iPlayer service.

Released appropriately in conjunction with April Fool’s Day, this 90-second video showed a colony of Adelie Penguins “flying” across the Antarctica to the Amazon Rainforest.

Although it was shot in the serious documentary-style that is typical of BBC, the appearance of ‘Monty Python’ star Terry Jones and flying penguins are enough to show the viewers that this video was faked. Even so, more than 100,000 viewers logged onto iPlayer’s homepage on April Fool’s Day to see this rare and playful side of BBC.

Cloverfield

The viral marketing campaign for 2008 American monster movie, Cloverfield, produced by J.J. Abrams, started with a teaser that showed the release date of the film January 18, 2008 without the title.

But instead of just creating buzz over the film, this marketing campaign also cashed in on the drink Slusho!, which was already made famous by the producer’s previous series, Alias. Together with the creation of an investigative-style website design that allows viewers to piece the time-coded photos together to figure out the plot of the film, many movie fans were intrigued by the innuendos of the film.

Although the film was released in January, which was often considered as the month for airing bad Hollywood films, it grossed a total of $16,930,000 on its opening day in the United States and Canada, before going on to gross a total of $40,058,229 on its opening weekend. Their untitled teaser, innovative website and viral tie-ins have made the film the most successful January release to date.

Thresher’s discount voucher

Thresher’s gaffe during the 2006 Christmas season is surely one of the most successful accidental viral marketing campaigns to date.

Thresher, an international alcohol retailing company, distributed a discount voucher promising 40 per cent off all wine and champagne at any of its branches as a form of “thank you” to their suppliers. However, a website designer of Stormhoek, a South African supplier, uploaded the discount voucher on the company blog as a free download and it spread via email like wildfire.

Without spending a cent for this marketing plan, Thresher’s official website was crushed by a stampede of consumers rushing to find out the nearest Thresher branch. In the end, Thresher made a huge profit, even though actual figures were not disclosed. Thresher basically received more publicity during that holiday season than they ever had for that entire year.

Even though Thresher got lucky by their fortuitous blunder, every online marketing agency has to realise that only proper planning and perfect execution can guarantee success.