The Unthinkable Reality of Not Going Viral
š Guys, believe when I say this, my dog is the cutest. Really.
Last year, I posted this absolute banger of a Reel thinking it was going to go viral instantaneously. I even made my profile public. I even included #hashtags. A thousand views, a hundred likes and a dozen shares later, I thought: thatās it? Just like anything we think is really great, itās not up to us to define āgreatā for others.
š š» Thereās an estimated 350,000 Santa Claus impostersā¦I mean impersonators.
I genuinely was a little disappointed I didnāt achieve some flash in the pan fame because of this cut, it was like thinking Iād actually sat on Santaās lap just to find outā¦nah. But the more I think about it, the more honest I start to get with myself:
The Santa Claus Network boasts some 10,000 members.
Some 30,000 Santaās run in the San Diego Santa Run every year alone.
2009 apparently was peak time for Santa imposters, at an estimated 350,000.
But Loma isnāt a Santa Claus, sheās a Golden Retriever Santa Paws. She has to stand out, how many can there be?
š§š»š¤š§š¼ Youāve got something in your eye.
āBeauty is in the eye of the beholderā as they say. Those adages sure have a way of being applicable in just about every aspect of our lives. Not long ago, I came across a post from a guy I have met, collaborated with, know well enough to say hi if weāre in adjacent urinals and highly respect his view of the world around him.
He pumped out this great article after Tik-Tok took down a viral video he posted. This line had me feeninā: There will come a success that will threaten to derail you.
š» The bear you must wrestle.
The greatest work that Iām currently doing is the work happening in me. In the agency world, itās easy to forget that we are one of 350,000 Santas at any one time. Thereās a lot of us, doing great work, pumping out great ideas. But weāre killinā it. Proof is in the pudding. Weāre landing bigger, bolder and better projects by the quarter it seemed. And thenā¦
š·ļø The unthinkable happened.
Tik Tok did to Joe the unthinkable (especially if you know him): they took his video down. Like Joe, we had the unthinkable happen. We didnāt deliver someone elseās definition of great. Which in the end, is the only definition that matters.
We knew the risks, we tested thoroughly, on-site leading into the event we felt great. But once things got going, it was clear, things werenāt great. And we got shut down. Truly unthinkable. In the last four years, we have pumped out bangers. Nothing remotely close to not delivering the goods.
But thatās the definition of unthinkable. Of all the viral opportunities weāve had, this one was considered the Santa Paws of them all. This was going to be that hang-your-hat kinda delivery, until it wasnāt.
š® That bear is you, but not all of you.
Itās tough to come back from something like that. We really struggled to figure out exactly where to begin. Then we remembered, learnings from that experience certainly taught us something about areas we could grow, but it also affirmed thereās way more to us, and weāre built, through humility and wisdom, to come out of the other side somehow even greater.
Lookout 2025, a bearās coming.
PS: You know youāre from my generation when you think itās spelled Santa Clause. Thereās just no possible way it can be anything different. Ho ho ho.