What to do if you fall out of a plane

Dhamaka Vancouver, a local restaurant in (you guessed it) Vancouver, posted a reel that got 2.7 million likes and 42 million views by starting with advice about what to do if you fall out of a plane.

Not kidding.

The video kicks off exactly like those viral educational posts you see everywhere:

"If you accidentally fall out of a plane, most people think you should aim for the water. In fact that's the worst option. Water doesn't compress well and you'll be falling at over 200 miles per hour. It will feel the same as hitting concrete. It's better to choose a different landing spot. For example, Dhamaka Vancouver."

Then they transition straight into their menu like this is completely normal behaviour.

I think it’s honestly brilliant 😂

You can watch it here 👇

dhamakavancouver

16K followers

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They've taken the "what would happen if" viral format that dominates social media - you know, those animated videos with serious voiceovers explaining unlikely scenarios - and hijacked it to advertise.

It's so absurd it circles back to genius.

A local restaurant in Vancouver just reached 42 million people by talking about terminal velocity and sizzling tandoori platters in the same breath.

Most restaurants can't get 42 people to notice their Facebook posts about Tuesday lunch specials.

These guys got more eyeballs than the Super Bowl by suggesting their restaurant as an alternative to water when falling from aircraft.

The execution is flawless because they commit completely to the bit.

No winking at camera.

No breaking character.

They deliver the plane crash survival advice with the same authoritative tone as a Discovery Channel documentary, then pivot to explaining their appetizers like this transition makes perfect sense.

The cognitive dissonance is so jarring it becomes hilarious, which is exactly why people share it.

This is marketing disguised as education disguised as comedy disguised as public service announcement.

It's like Russian nesting dolls but for viral content strategy.

They've packaged their restaurant pitch inside genuinely useful information about surviving catastrophic falls, which people actually want to watch because humans are weird and love thinking about disaster scenarios while scrolling their phones.

Traditional restaurant marketing means buying local radio spots that play between traffic reports and mortgage commercials, maybe some Facebook ads targeting people within walking distance who've searched for "food near me" at 1:30am.

Dhamaka Vancouver looked at this approach and said "nah, let's talk about physics and death instead."

And somehow it likely worked better than any marketing campaign their competitors have ever run.

The marketing message spreads as accidental byproduct of entertainment value, which is the holy grail of social media strategy.

Nobody feels advertised to because they're too busy processing the existential whiplash of going from "you'll die if you hit water".

They've done this twice now.

Four million views on their second attempt using the same format.

They found their formula and they're smart enough to keep milking it while people are still confused enough to keep watching.

This is exactly what they should do because viral templates have expiration dates, and right now they're riding the wave of collective bewilderment.

People have infinite entertainment options and zero patience for content that doesn't immediately justify the three seconds they're spending on it.

Dhamaka figured out how to make their marketing message genuinely entertaining by wrapping it in survival advice nobody asked for but everyone apparently needed.

The real lesson isn't "start your restaurant ads with plane crash scenarios" because that would just be weird copycat behaviour.

The lesson is understanding what content formats consistently generate engagement, then finding the most ridiculous possible way to integrate your message without completely destroying the entertainment value.

Forty-two million views for a local restaurant is completely mental, but it's also completely replicable if you're willing to abandon every conventional marketing instinct you've ever had and embrace pure creative chaos.

Remember, the creator mindset is all you need to grow 🌱

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