Hi, I’m Carmia and I’m a bit of a TED junkie. 

I can spend hours roaming around the site, viewing content that interests, fascinates and inspires me. One video in particular has enjoyed an enormous amount of attention since being recorded 5 years ago – Sir Ken Robinson’s talk on “How Schools Kill Creativity.”  While the number of TED views for this video stand at 6,595,479 the estimated number is double that. (See, I told you it was worth the watch!)

Whilst searching YouTube for something completely different, I recently came across this adaptation of Kenny’s talk:

The RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) is an organisation focused on promoting thought-leadership around societal issues.

“In the light of new challenges and opportunities for the human race our purpose is to develop and promote new ways of thinking about human fulfilment and social progress which speaks directly to our strapline - 21st century enlightenment.”

They have a YouTube channel that showcases animated versions of popular content that speaks to this goal; breaking the content down into visual representations. As a fan of visual learning (mind maps FTW), I love the way these videos emphasise key content.

The adaptation has enjoyed 5,308,071 views since being uploaded a year ago – that’s 1 million views less than the original garnered, bearing in mind that the original video was recorded in 2006.
Perhaps not viral marketing per se, but it speaks to the power of online video in taking a message global.