---
title: 'I Made This Viral Billboard Using Marketing Psychology'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=5EMX4iCK9Xc'
video_id: '5EMX4iCK9Xc'
date: 2026-07-28
duration_sec: 659
---

# I Made This Viral Billboard Using Marketing Psychology

> Source: [I Made This Viral Billboard Using Marketing Psychology](https://youtube.com/watch?v=5EMX4iCK9Xc)

## Summary

A marketer documents his journey to create a viral billboard for a free SEO course, applying the six principles from Jonah Berger's book 'Contagious': Practical Value, Public, Social Currency, Stories, Emotion, and Triggers. After a setback with a traditional billboard, he rents a truck ad outside Fenway Park on game day, turning the entire process into a meta-demonstration of viral marketing.

### Key Points

- **Introducing the Six Principles** [00:30] — The video is based on Jonah Berger's book 'Contagious' which outlines six principles that make things go viral: Practical Value, Public, Social Currency, Stories, Emotion, and Triggers.
- **Practical Value: Free SEO Course** [01:12] — The first principle, Practical Value, is applied by offering a free SEO course that has helped over 3.5 million people. The call to action is 'Learn SEO for free'.
- **Using a Real YouTube Comment for Social Proof** [03:41] — The creator recalls a powerful YouTube comment from a user who transformed his life using the SEO course. This comment serves as social proof and becomes the centerpiece of the ad.
- **Social Currency: Making People Look Good** [04:23] — The comment provides social currency because sharing it makes the sharer look insightful or aspiring to improve their life, thus making them look good.
- **Stories: Embedding the Product in a Narrative** [05:31] — The user's comment is a compelling story of rags to riches, which makes it more memorable and shareable than a simple fact or testimonial.
- **Emotion: Awe and Inspiration** [08:06] — The comment evokes high arousal emotions like awe and inspiration, which drive sharing. The emotion principle is closely tied to storytelling.
- **Triggers: The Mattress as a Daily Cue** [08:35] — The mattress is chosen as a trigger because it's a specific, visual detail from the story that people encounter daily, especially when they are near their beds and might watch YouTube.
- **Meta-Viral Marketing** [10:30] — The creator reveals that the video itself is the real execution of all six principles, showcasing the process in real time.

### Conclusion

The video successfully demonstrates how each of the six contagious principles can be applied to a real-world campaign, ultimately turning the behind-the-scenes process into the viral content itself.

## Transcript

billboard, and I made it. >> No way. That's so cool. Absolutely nuts. >> But why a billboard? Print is the purest form of advertising, but it's also a dying industry. Most companies have moved their budgets online to SEO,
social media, and Google ads. And when people zigg, I zag. The thing is, I have no idea how to make a print ad. But I'm not going in blind because I have the not going in blind because I have the science behind every viral ad ever made.
And it's all in this book. This is Contagious, a New York Times bestseller that lays out six principles that make things go viral. And according to the you hit, the better the chance things will catch on. So our mission, hit all
six. But first, we need something to put on the billboard. I work at Hrefs and our free SEO course has been watched over three and a half million times. I skill. But when I read the comments and met people at conferences, I realized
that this was so much bigger. If this video can change one life, imagine how many it could change if this billboard went viral. And that's where the six principles from Contagious come in. The first being practical value. Practical
value is news you can use. It's the most direct rule. This is why deals and coupons work so well. They don't need to appeal to you in any special way. They're just inherently useful. They save you money. The SEO course does this
because it's a useful lesson that's built people's careers and created new entrepreneurs for no cost. Great practical value. And that's the perfect practical value. And that's the perfect call to action. Learn SEO for free. As
the creative was coming together, I realized I'd completely forgotten one to put the billboard. So, I started googling local billboard companies and calling the ones with the biggest signs I could find. Um, so that runs about
25,000 for a 4-week period. We basically bill out in four-week periods. >> I realized that billboards are expensive and there was no choice but to lower my expectations. But then an idea came to mind that might honestly be better than
the original plan, the subway. Around 400,000 people ride the Boston subway every weekday. There's billboards in every station and on every train. And after days of calls and negotiations, we finally locked one in. All right, so I
just got an email back from Mary, our account executive from the advertising company, and it's some good news. She said, "I was able to connect with our ops team, and they are targeting posting two sets of two sheets next to each
other at Arlington Station. I think these stairs, I think they go down to the actual train." And so basically anyone who's walking past here would see these. So, I feel like we'll actually get like a lot of people looking at it
and hopefully it'll stand out enough to make this ad perform. >> There was just one thing left to do. >> Please send over the contracts for >> Please send over the contracts for review. If everything looks good, we
review. If everything looks good, we have a deal and said, "Let's go, Mary." Yes. With the location locked in, it was time to get back to building the perfect billboard. That brings us to the second principle from the book, public. This
If everyone around you is doing something, it must be good and you should give it a shot. Like when you look down a street of restaurants, you of people. So, we needed something that would clearly show social proof. At this
point, I got stuck. I just kept circling the same ideas in my head. >> It's an SEO video. It's useful. It's free. It's helped a lot of people. Then I remembered the comment I could never forget and I immediately had a feeling
that this could work as the main content for the billboard. And the moment I pictured it on a billboard, I knew it was it. 18 months ago, I was completely screwed. I was 30 and starting again from scratch with just clothes on my
back. I used to sit with my back up against the wall, laptop on my knees, and I just watch all your videos over and over again. the site that I built using hrefs and using what I learned on this channel got me out of this mess. I
mean, how can you forget that? By advertising a real YouTube comment, people will see that my videos actually helped a real person like just some guy 2759. Which brings us back to Burger's third
principle, social currency. Share things that make us look good. It sounds like social proof, but it's almost the opposite. Instead of fitting in with everyone, this is about being better than everyone. It's what drives people
to try to appear perfect on social media. They want to be in, whether it's in the no or in the limelight. It can appear in subtle ways, too, like Snapple Factax under the cap. You see some remarkable fact, and so you tell your
can't walk backwards?" >> It makes you look more remarkable. You've initiated a fun conversation and now you guys are talking about Snapple. When it comes to this YouTube comment, it might not be immediately obvious how
this offers social currency. But think about it. Why don't we just use a video." It's because this comment promises more than that. This guy leveled up and he transformed his life using our SEO courses. You read it and
think, "Huh, maybe I can transform my life, too." That's social currency at work. But of course, we can't use the whole comment. Billboard real estate is precious. People often say you should use less than seven words. Our comment
is 238. So how do we pick which parts to cut and which to keep? This brings us to the fourth principle, stories. People don't just share facts, they share stories. And when your product or idea is
embedded inside a compelling story, it travels further and lasts longer in people's memory. The unforgettable YouTube comment is clearly its own story. and the beats are easy to remember. Guy has nothing but a
mattress. Finds HRF's YouTube channel, builds a site, changes life. The ad was triggers left to make a perfect viral billboard. Spirits were at an all-time high, but nothing could have prepared me for what would happen next.
for what would happen next. >> Okay, so some bad news. Yesterday, I got the contract from the advertising company and I sent it over to Legal. legal reviewed it, redlinined some items. I sent it back. Typical practice.
I'm expecting them to make some changes, but turns out that they're not willing to change anything in their terms of service. And so, I've been told that I can't sign the agreement. And therefore, we're back at square one. And I don't
anymore. >> The plan was dead. The perfect billboard gone before it was even made. I moved on. Months passed and eventually I
on. Months passed and eventually I forgot about it. something caught my eye and suddenly the whole project sparked back to life. Everywhere I looked, ads, LED walls, giant logos, the jumbotron. Companies
were spending a fortune just to be seen. It was beautiful, but way out of our budget. And then it clicked. Everyone in has to leave. The real opportunity wasn't in the stadium. It was just outside.
>> Okay. Okay. So, we're going to rent a billboard truck, a massive ad on wheels. thousands of fans around Fenway Park. We'll talk to people, get reactions, and
maybe maybe even help kickstart people's career in digital marketing like we did for the guy in the comment. So, we found a vendor, passed the contracts to legal, said a little prayer, and boom, we were in business. But our billboard was still
missing two critical principles that would make it perfect. And that takes us back to Burger's fifth principle, emotion. This is closely tied with the fourth principle, stories. People share things more when they're emotionally
affected by them. And it's not just any emotion. It's sparked by high arousal emotions like awe or anger. This YouTube comment naturally does a great job of this. It's an awe inspiring story, one that amps you up to go change your own
life. So, with both stories and emotion in mind, we can trim the comment down to its most important pieces. Something like, "I had nothing, just the mattress. Then I found eight drifts. The site that I built got me out." The billboard was
basically done, but it was still missing the hardest part. the principle that separates something that goes viral for a day from something people remember for years. >> So, we're heading to the game right now.
good time to tell you about the last principle in Contagious Triggers. These are the immediate associations our brains draw between concepts. When you see peanut butter, you think of jelly. Or when NASA landed a rover on Mars,
sales of Mars bars shot up even though the candy had nothing to do with the mission. That's the power of a trigger. Top of mind, tip of tongue. Triggers are the hidden key to influencing human behavior. And it's important that the
trigger occurs when people can actually act on it. Our trigger was simple. The mattress. It sounds funny, but it's the most specific detail of the story that stuck with me for the past 5 years. Plus, people see a mattress every day.
And being near your bed is the time when many of us watch YouTube. Now all there was left to do is see the finished billboard in the wild. We're about to billboard in the wild. We're about to see it where that black car is coming.
see it where that black car is coming. It's just to the right of it now. Okay. No way. No way. That's so cool.
>> We drove the billboard truck around Femway Park on game day, weaving through the crowds, filming reactions, getting feedback from people. >> What do you think? >> Um, it's like how appealing the the sign
>> Interesting. Unique. >> We even took it to the beach. looked like just a clever marketing stunt, but if you've been paying close
attention, the billboard isn't the hero. It's this video. You actually just watched all six principles of viral marketing play out in real time. Practical value. This is contagious. Six principles that make things go viral.
Public, social currency, stories, emotion. >> Let's go, Mary. >> Triggers. No way. That's so cool. >> Triggers. No way. That's so cool. Did you catch it?