I love it when everything comes together to create a great ad: a combination of lots of different elements that makes an ad oh so effective. There’s one in particular that we’ve been talking about a lot in the past week: the British Heart Foundation’s ‘Stayin Alive’ ad (http://youtu.be/ILxjxfB4zNk).

There are so many things that I love about this ad that it’s hard to know where to start. But I have to start somewhere…

So, I’ll start with the starting point of the ad. As my colleagues have noted, it addresses a core insight, which is fundamental to the success of any ad. In this case the insight is that many people do not want to administer the ‘kiss of life’, especially on a stranger. With CPR so essential to saving the life of someone who has stopped breathing, showing that it is possible for an untrained person to do ‘hands only CPR’ has a great deal of potential to make a difference to the mortality rates.

I’ve talked before about stickiness. This ad has not only sticky visuals but also sticky music, which links so well to the core message of the ad. This is brilliant in its simplicity. I bow in awe to the creative team that came up with this simple idea, while at the same time marveling that no one thought of it before.

Of course, this sticky simplicity goes hand in hand with great casting. So often, it’s possible for a celebrity to overshadow an ad’s main message. And one of the other pitfalls of celebrity ad stars is the ‘who is it?’ factor, which distracts so much that people stop paying attention to the ad. What I like about the casting of Vinnie Jones is the fact that he doesn’t overshadow the message – he fits in well with it. And, if you don’t know or can’t remember who he is, it doesn’t matter because he is the perfect movie gangster.

Humour can often be a double-edged sword. It attracts attention but can lead to quicker wear-out as people tire of the joke. ‘Stayin Alive’ is funny but not so funny as to be annoying. This means that although I’ve seen it several times – both via YouTube in its full-length version and in the shorter TV cut – I still find it mildly amusing and still like it.

And that leads me on to the final point: virality. Because this ad does all of these things so well, it was inevitable that it would go viral. The full-length version has received nearly 900,000 hits in the first two weeks, a pretty respectable figure.

Of course ‘hands only CPR’ as demonstrated via video is never going to be a substitute for proper CPR training, but it is a great step in the right direction. After all, if it saves even one life, then it is worth it.

Tara is a Research Director at Ipsos ASI.