The holiday season is a time for peaceful reflection and precious moments spent with family and friends. It is also apparently a time for viral YouTube videos like the heartwarming Christmas stunt from WestJet. Last month, Honda launched a series of ads with all the makings of a viral campaign but unlike the airline now on everyone’s mind, the automaker’s cheesy, pun-filled spots featuring 80’s crooner Michael Bolton fell flat.

Honda’s on-air commercials, together with their 42 made-for-YouTube shorts, totaled just over 400,000 views, or roughly 3% of #XMAS Jammies. What did WestJet and the Holderness Family do right that Honda missed? This article from Ragan’s PR Daily explains the ingredients for creating a viral video that can cut through all the holiday noise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B47rTwqyRbU