Viral Content – Imogen PR. It first started when The Chainsmoker, world class musician tweeted ‘What does om telolet om mean?’. Soon after that, DJ Snake and Martin Garrix followed suit in this viral trend. They even upload an Electronic Dance Music (EDM) video of their own, featuring the horn sound of om telolet om.
‘Om Telolet Om’ phenomenon went viral globally a few weeks back. It’s a simple phenomenon sourced from the night bus’ horn which have resound over 1.2 million times on Twitter, far surpassed Ariel Peterporn and the hearing of ex-governor of Jakarta Ahok which counts on 50 thousand tweets… amazing!
Viral Understanding the phenomena of Om Telolet Om
Before we discuss the viral phenomenon, it’s better to understand the history of Om Telolet Om itself. It all started when Tengku Eriyanshar, an Otobus Company owner titled ‘EFISIENSI’, was on his Umroh trip and was interested on the unique horn sound of the bus he ride on which effectively drive away the camel. The moment he stepped back to Indonesia, the businessman applied the unique horn to his bus fleet, which operates on Java. In short amount of time, other otobus company owners liked the unique horn sound and various variation of the unique horn grows to what we used to hear today.
The initial ‘fans’ was kid around the bus station who shouts ‘Om Telolet Om’ to the bus crew to honk the proud filled horn of each otobus company. As the horn chimes, those kid screams in joy and dance.
As days goes by, the fans of the unique horn and not only kids, people of various age also participates in creating a big sign made of old box part with ‘Om Telolet Om’ written on it and stand by the sidewalk to hear the horn sound. The phenomenon grows not only around the people who live around the inter-city bus station but also around the route of the busses.
Videos of telolet fans waiting for night buses along the Pantura route and the South route spread over the internet like wild fire across various social media, across various country.
Viral Phenomenon
Social Currency could be translated as the pride of being oneself in relations to something believed/liked by that person.
Trigger is the starting point of content or the thing that are considered different and interesting from various point of view or social norm.
Emotion; a content would become viral when it could touch one’s emotional part or a society simultaneously and spontaneously.
Public; general things known by majority in a society yet happens out of the norm could easily be viral.
Practical value; these days, exchange of information has no boundaries and time limit, which make practical things are the easiest content to become viral. Information or content with heavier meaning usually doesn’t get much attention.
Story; lastly is the way the story being told. The right storytelling technique could pique one’s interest to dig deeper and understand the content.
The popularity of the telolet horn wouldn’t go global if it doesn’t contain one of the STEPPS mentioned above. So, who’s the person behind the accidental public relations activity of Om Telolet Om? The answer is the Bismania community, who unknowingly act as the motor behind the initial hype of the telolet horn.
Started from the personal pride of night bus (Social Currency & Emotion), they record every activity that contain the horn sound of each Bismania member’s mainstay telolet horn and later post it to numbers of social media (Public & Practical Value).
What makes it different and unique is the last step to make it viral, where the Trigger is actually a Story unrelated to the origin of the horn sound. The story that makes it viral are the habit of the kids, ranging from 5 to 15 years old in age which wait in group in various location for a bus to pass by and listen to the horn sound.
Started by screaming ‘Om Telolet Om’ with hands mimicking the shape of a horn to the mouth, these little ‘Bismania’ would happily welcome the sound of the horn, while also recording the moment on their personal phone cell.
With every STEPPS fulfilled and the effective ‘Public Relations’, its no wonder that ‘Om Telolet Om’ became viral globally and closed the last chapter of 2016.
Let’s wait for another shocking ‘Om Telolet Om’ phenomenon that takes the world in a blink of an eye!
Written by Andri Media Relations IMOGEN PR, Translated by Michele
