When we ask the question of what makes something a tremendous viral marketing success, we initially think of the content of the ad itself. We think of things like compelling, quality, interesting, funny and a number of other words we use to describe it.
From someone that wants to share something you create though, what is it that motivates them to start to pass it around? What's the human reason behind it? What are they looking for in it?
It is one word: recognition! People that are the viral spreaders of the world are looking for that one thing more than anything else. To put it 
another way; they are looking for attention.
What may surprise you is that one of the reasons people surf all around the net is for the very reason of finding something that they can share with their friends that can make them a "hero" in their eyes. You know, "look what so-and-so sent me, she always sends this cool stuff," etc.
The bottom line on this is that the person that spreads stuff around wants to be noticed.
People don't spread stuff around because they want to promote your product or service. We just aren't that nice of people. It's much more self-oriented than that.
So what is the job of marketing then? We are trying to create things that will allow people to be noticed. When they send something, they are looking to hear the words: Look what___sent me (fill in the blank). It's nothing more than that.
That, more than any other reason, is why people start to share things with their friends. Understand that psychological need, and build your campaigns around it. This is the real underlying reason things go viral.
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