# Why did the Ice Bucket Challenge do so well?

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2019/03/06/why-did-the-ice-bucket-challenge-do-so-well/
- Published: 2019-03-06T09:45:19+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**Back in the summer of 2014, the internet was awash, almost literally, with videos
of people throwing buckets of water over themselves. Why? Because of the ALS Ice
Bucket Challenge.**

You may not have participated in this yourself, but you’ll almost certainly have
seen the videos. The idea was to throw the water over yourself, then nominate three
friends to do the same. Should they not step up to the challenge, they must donate
money towards a charity focusing on [ALS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amyotrophic_lateral_sclerosis)(
known as motor neurone disease in the UK).

In just a few weeks over the summer period, people shared over **1.2 million videos**
on Facebook and mentioned the challenge more than **2.2 million times** on Twitter.
This yielded a massive [$41.8 million in donations](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/22/business/media/ice-bucket-challenge-donations-for-als-top-41-million.html)
from 739,000 new donors.

## Advertisement

The campaign went on to [more than](http://www.alsa.org/news/media/press-releases/ice-bucket-challenge-082914.html)
double this and has run every year since, albeit with diminishing returns.
 

## That’s great! How can my charity replicate this success?

Viral phenomenons like this come along very, very rarely. It would be optimistic,
to put it mildly, to plan for such fortune. That being said, there are a number 
of key ingredients within the [Ice Bucket Challenge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Bucket_Challenge)
that made it the success it was.

Let’s break it down to give a clearer idea of exactly what you would need to do 
in order to boost the viral chances of your marketing campaigns.
 

### 1. It had a strong “human” element

The first ingredient is the human element. The very nature of pouring water over
oneself, on camera, to be put on the internet was effective at removing any pretence.
It was authentic.

Every squeal from the willing victim as they doused themselves with icy water made
us shudder. Every laugh made us smile.

It was this breaking down of barriers and enabling the viewer to connect with other
people in this way – through harmless entertainment, even at the expense of complete
strangers – that helped engage us in the campaign.

**Takeaway: How can your campaign connect and engage with others?**
 

### 2. Video is an engaging medium

There is a reason that Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have all been [heavily pushing video](http://www.alsa.org/news/media/press-releases/ice-bucket-challenge-082914.html)
on their networks; video is a great way to communicate. Video can be shared on all
social networks, is easily consumed and more engaging than static images or text.
This might be a sad acknowledgement for some, but video is where the web is headed
and the Ice Bucket Challenge hit the wave at just the right time.

**Takeaway: Try to utilise short, interesting video in your marketing comms.**
 

### 3. It was a challenge!

A campaign cannot go viral without mass participation, and as our third ingredient
shows; by introducing the challenge element people took part en masse. The key here
was to challenge three friends to take part in the challenge, and for each of those
three friends to do the same.

This meant the campaign took off quickly, multiplying with each new participant 
in a seemingly exponential way. For many, it’s hard to resist a challenge, and this
one in particular was fun, harmless and for a good cause, so people got behind it
willingly.

**Takeaway: What makes you share or react to something? Explore this idea and build
it into your marketing plan.**
 

### 4. Celebrity endorsement

Many famous individuals got involved which helped give the campaign significant 
exposure and a sort of gold seal of approval, as far as marketing campaigns go. 
Everyone from [Bill Gates](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS6ysDFTbLU) to [Lady Gaga](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvlwTP_RDCo)
participated.

This was a key ingredient in virality, and as many charities have celebrity ambassadors
this is an important takeaway. Not just celebrities, but politicians and athletes
also took part, so be sure to keep your networks in mind when dreaming up your next
marketing campaign.

**Takeaway: If you can get a big name or two behind your idea, the sky’s the limit.**

## If at first you don’t succeed…

Marketing campaigns in general fail to deliver anything like the viral prevalence
of the Ice Bucket Challenge.

But when you break it down and look at its separate component parts, you get to 
see the mechanics behind it. In this particular case, a lot of luck was involved
as a few factors came into play at the same time (warm weather, mobile devices to
record on, social networks with support for video etc) but they all coalesced around
a good idea consisting of these individual ingredients.

To make your charity’s marketing campaigns work for you, come up with an idea and
make sure you implement at least some of these ingredients. Then do it again, and
again, until you get lucky.
 ⌊Matt Saunders⌉[_**Matt Saunders**_](https://twitter.com/wearecharitybox)_
is founder and owner of [Charity Box](https://charitybox.io/), a web design company
that builds websites for UK charities. Matt has been making websites since 2001 
and recently started a social enterprise to help charities maximise their impact
through digital._