Why Do the Costco Guys Give “5 Big Booms”?
The Creator Psychology, Viral Impact, and How Smaller Creators Can Replicate the Strategy
If you have spent any time on TikTok, YouTube Shorts, or Instagram Reels recently, you have likely seen it. A simple rating system. A bold declaration. A dramatic delivery. Some explosive words that instantly signal value, emotion, and verdict.
“Five Big Booms.”
On the surface, it feels playful, even ridiculous. But behind that phrase sits a surprisingly sophisticated content strategy built on spectacle, pattern recognition, emotional signaling, audience participation, and algorithmic efficiency. What looks like chaos is actually structure. What feels like randomness is actually branding. And what sounds like noise is, in reality, a carefully tuned feedback engine.
The reason the Costco Guys format works is not because it is loud. It works because it is repeatable, recognizable, emotionally charged, and culturally adaptable. These are the same four qualities that power nearly every viral creator movement over the past decade. Let’s break down why creators do something like this, why audiences react so strongly to it, and how smaller creators can borrow the mechanics without copying the gimmick.
1. The Psychology of “Big Booms” and Public Ratings
At its core, “5 Big Booms” works because it taps into one of the oldest human behaviors: public judgment and social proof. Humans are wired to seek validation and comparison. We want to know what is good, what is better, and what is worth our attention. A rating system instantly answers those questions without requiring explanation. But what makes “Big Booms” psychologically powerful is not the number. It is the delivery of the number as spectacle.
Traditional reviews explain. “Big Booms” declares. Declaration feels authoritative. It bypasses logic and speaks straight to emotion. When someone loudly gives “5 Big Booms,” they are not analyzing. They are signaling. They are saying, “This is elite. This is special. This deserves your attention.” This kind of language shortcuts decision-making for the viewer. Instead of asking, “Is this worth my time?” the viewer is told, “This already passed the test.”
Another key psychological driver is anticipation. Viewers know the moment is coming. They watch the build-up. They wait for the verdict. This anticipation spike increases retention. Retention is one of the most important signals in short-form and long-form algorithms. When viewers stay until the rating moment, platforms reward that behavior with wider distribution. There is also emotional permission built into the format. Because “Big Booms” is exaggerated, viewers do not feel pressured to take it literally. They feel safe reacting playfully. This lowers the emotional barrier to commenting, sharing, and remixing. It invites participation without demanding seriousness.
In other words, the psychology works because it creates:
Anticipation
Authority
Emotional safety
Social proof
Participation
Those five elements are the backbone of viral behavior.
2. The Cultural and Reaction Economy Behind the Format
“5 Big Booms” does not live in isolation. It lives inside the reaction economy. Modern content is not just consumed. It is reacted to, stitched, dueted, parodied, debated, and remixed. The Costco Guys format is designed for reactions.
The phrase itself is reaction-friendly. It is short. It is loud. It is absurd enough to be funny but structured enough to be repeatable. That combination is critical. A phrase must be flexible to travel across niches without losing its identity.
This is why you now see “Big Booms” applied to:
Food
Gadgets
Street interviews
Gym content
Fashion
Travel
Even business advice
The original context becomes irrelevant. The format survives because the structure is more powerful than the subject. Another reason the format thrives is because it plays perfectly inside retail culture. Costco has long represented abundance, indulgence, and value spectacle. Giant food portions. Bulk pricing. Oversized everything. “Five Big Booms” matches that psychological environment. It speaks the same language of excess, scale, and excitement.
Audience reaction is intensified because the format mirrors how people already emotionally experience places like Costco. It amplifies feelings viewers already have rather than introducing new ones. This is why viewers do not just watch. They argue. They debate whether something truly deserved five booms. They create their own lists. They use the sound. They adopt the language into everyday conversation. At that point, the phrase stops being content and starts becoming culture.
3. The Strategic Benefits for Content Creators
From a creator-strategy standpoint, “5 Big Booms” delivers multiple powerful advantages at the same time.
First, it creates instant brand recognition. The moment someone hears the phrase, they know the source and the style of content. That is brand clarity at its highest level. Many creators struggle for years to achieve that level of instant identification.
Second, it simplifies creative decision-making. Every piece of content now has a built-in objective: set up the rating moment. This reduces creative fatigue. Instead of reinventing the structure each time, the creator only needs to vary the scenario.
Third, it encourages high-volume publishing. Because the format is repeatable, creators can produce rapidly without sacrificing coherence. High volume is one of the strongest drivers of algorithmic growth.
Fourth, it boosts comment density. Ratings invite disagreement. Disagreement drives comments. Comments drive reach. The audience is not reacting emotionally to the creator alone. They are reacting socially to one another.
Fifth, it supports brand partnerships and monetization. A recognizable scoring system is incredibly attractive to brands because it provides:
Clear product placement moments
Memorable endorsements
Shareable verdicts
Built-in callouts for sponsorship
Brands do not just want exposure anymore. They want integration into culture. Formats like “Big Booms” give them exactly that. Finally, it creates audience ritual. Viewers return because they want to experience the moment again. Ritual content builds habit. Habit is how creators move from viral spikes to sustainable careers.
4. How Smaller Creators Can Do Something Similar Without Copying
Smaller creators often look at viral formats and think they need to copy them directly to succeed. That is rarely the right move. What works is copying the mechanics, not the gimmick. Here is how a smaller creator can ethically and effectively apply the same principles without using “Big Booms” itself.
1. Create a Repeatable Verdict Mechanism
You need a signature way to deliver judgment, reaction, or summary. That might be:
A phrase
A visual card
A sound
A gesture
A score system
A comedic rule
The key is consistency. Viewers should feel the moment coming before it arrives.
2. Build Anticipation Into Every Video
Your content structure should lead toward a peak moment. Tease the payoff early. Delay it slightly. Then deliver it clearly. This trains your audience to stay longer.
3. Design for Disagreement
If nobody disagrees with your outcome, engagement will be limited. Your verdict should be bold enough that some viewers feel compelled to push back. Respectful friction fuels platforms.
4. Make It Easy to Remix
Ask yourself whether your format can be:
Dueted
Recreated
Parodied
Reused in other niches
If your format can only be performed by you in one specific way, its viral ceiling will be lower.
5. Embed Your Identity Into the Format
Your voice, humor, pacing, and worldview must be present. The Costco Guys version works because it reflects their personality. A borrowed structure only works when it feels native to your creator identity.
6. Treat It as a Brand Asset, Not a Joke
What looks silly on the surface often becomes extremely valuable underneath. A repeated phrase can become a trademark. A gesture can become merchandise. A score system can become a show segment. Creators who think long term design their “funny bits” like scalable intellectual property.
The Bigger Lesson Behind “5 Big Booms”
The real reason the Costco Guys format works is not because it is loud. It works because it combines:
Consistency
Emotional signaling
Cultural alignment
Audience participation
Algorithmic efficiency
Most creators chase virality by changing everything constantly. Formats like “5 Big Booms” prove that stability scales faster than novelty when that stability is emotionally charged. Viewers crave familiarity. They want to know what kind of experience they are about to receive. Once that trust is built, they allow creators to surprise them inside that familiar structure. That is the paradox at the heart of creator success. Predictability at the format level allows unpredictability at the content level.
Final Thought for New and Growing Creators
You do not need “Big Booms” to build momentum. You need your own version of a repeatable emotional payoff.
It might look quieter.
It might look smarter.
It might look funnier.
It might look more dramatic.
But it must be:
Recognizable
Repeatable
Anticipatory
Culturally flexible
When you design content that way, you stop chasing the algorithm. You become part of the language the algorithm understands. And once that happens, the audience does not just watch. They wait.
