I’d never heard of PeopleJam or Saveology before today. My bet is you never have, either.
Considering most viral videos attempts fail, attaching your brand to someone like Laipply is a wise move. Instead of spending big bank creating videos that aren’t funny, authentic or effective, why not seek out the people that have caught lightning and bottle and leverage their success?
Surely you are familiar with Jawbone, the makers of the excellent noise-canceling Bluetooth headsets for mobile phones. The product really is amazing. I love mine.
Two women are sitting in a pub having a casual conversation when a rugby team storms the pub, making a huge ruckus. The production quality is good, and you feel for them. Their conversation is clearly over in all this noise, then the phone rings and one woman picks up her Jawbone.
Of course, the noise is gone and she’s able to begin a conversation.
Message sent. Jawbone plain works.
But that wasn’t enough.
Two of the rugby players begin to kiss. Well, not just kiss, but make out. They take off their shirts and really go for it.
Like the the Snickers kiss ad, this video exploited sexual orientation for shock factor or laughs.
There are so many other things they could have done. A brawl could have broken out–chairs and bodies could have flown over the woman’s head. They could have broken into song. A leprechaun could have walked in and done a jig on the table. Whatever.
An agitated man walks into an Asian dry cleaner and proceeds to rant about the amount of starch in his shirts. Racial slurs, stereotypes and f-bombs fly.
Then a man ‘in the peanut gallery’ gets a phone call, and since he’s using his Jawbone, the noise is gone. He closes his eyes and enjoys the peace of hearing his call and nothing more.
Once again, message sent. Jawbone works.
But that wasn’t enough, either.
The jackass gets his comeuppance when the family puts a bag over his head and then brutally beats him to death. Oh, wait, he dies of suffocation. There’s no sound, except for the man on his call.
I don’t have virgin ears and I’ve dropped an f-bomb or two in my life. But this video is incredibly insensitive, offensive and violent.
Instead of creativity, they chose cheap racial slurs and Quentin Tarantino-calibre violence.
There are other ads, but it’s really more of the same:
In Hot Girl Gets Wet, a girl relaxing by the pool is interrupted by three loudmouth guys trying to impress her. They jump in, and lo and behold, Jaws Redux.
Wait Staff Eliminates Noise features a rowdy Russian mobster being drowned in his soup by restaurant employees.
THE IRONY
The Jawbone brand is creating buzz all on its own. They have major distribution and are considered by many to be the best Bluetooth headset you can buy.
They didn’t need to resort to exploitational or offensive virals. With minor tweaks, they could have had videos that were immensely entertaining without casting Jawbone as a callous, bigoted and desperate startup.
Put it another way. Can you imagine Apple doing virals like this? Or Red Bull? Or Pepsi? No way.
I noticed jawbonefilms.com is now routed to the company homepage. Maybe they’ve come to the same conclusion.
These videos have been rated well on YouTube so apparently some people like what they are seeing.
It’s one of the best examples of a viral video you’ll see: in 17 days, this video have been viewed nearly 4.6 million times.
As crazy as it may sound, “Where the hell is Matt?” will probably be the best 4 minutes and 29 seconds you invest this week and it might even bring a tear to your eye.
As I watched, I couldn’t help but wonder when the sponsor’s ad was going to appear. What are they trying to sell? A video like this needs funding, right?
Well, the sponsor was finally listed in the final 2.5 seconds, after the credits.
This is an incredible (and commendable) show of restraint by the sponsor, I’d say. Given the nature of the video, I’d argue they’ve built significant good will.
Do you believe virals like this are too subtle and should do more selling, or is this approach a breath of fresh air?
Comment below to weigh in.
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To view a higher resolution version of this video, click here, then select the “watch in high quality” link right below the video.
Mario Sundar, Community Evangelist at LinkedIn shared this with me via Twitter (follow Mario). Here’s his post on the topic.
First, you build a huge ramp…taller than the Space Needle.
And that’s really what “The Ramp,” a 35 minute documentary by Jeff Schultz (pictured above), is about. It’s an intriguing story about Oberpfaffelbachen, a small town in Germany that has fallen on hard times and determined they needed a common mission.
And the mission they chose was to build a giant ramp to launch a car from Germany—over the Atlantic Ocean—to America.
Sound crazy? Check out the trailer:
The link at the end of the video, takes you to Rampenfest.com, based on the name of the festival the town will throw to celebrate the launch. The only thing on the site is the documentary in a number of formats.
Of course, you may not have 35 minutes to view the entire documentary, and that’s probably okay since it’s really a mockumentary: The town, the people, and the ramp are all fictional—part of an ambitious viral campaign created by BMW to launch their new 1 series in the U.S.
Get it?
Anyway, as far as virals go, this is one of the better ones. The BMW doesn’t even appear until 15-20 minutes in, and it’s not the star of the show. It’s the people. And the ramp.
The cost of producing this video was a fraction of the cost of running a :30 second spot here in the U.S., but “The Ramp” has resulted in significant word of mouth for BMW and it’s new 1 series. Millions have viewed the video, and mainstream media like CNN has picked it up as well.
Do you appreciate the creativity and subtlety of viral campaigns, or do hate feeling like you’ve been duped?
Comment below to weigh in.
. . .
Inspiration for this post came from Conrad Saam. Thanks for the tip, Conrad.
Are you ready to join the Orange Underground? You know, a place where you can cause a little mischief (RAoC – Random Acts of Cheetos) then upload your videos to YouTube and become rich (in Cheetos) and famous (on Comedy Central)?
Here are a few of the professionally produced ads from the Orange Underground campaign:
Okay, so they are humorous, sort of. And taken in and of themselves, pretty harmless.
But Cheetos and ad agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners of San Francisco weren’t interested in pretty harmless.
Nope.
It’s all about going viral these days, folks.
It’s about building community.
Heck, create a movement if you can.
At the end of each ad, you are invited to “Join Now” by visiting OrangeUnderground.com. When you do, you are greeted by the twenty-something below who tells you what it’s all about.
This “underground” is trying so hard and feels so phony, it’s like a bad SNL skit that won’t end. And I don’t mean so bad it’s good.
So, what’s the deal with Random Acts of Cheetos, anyway?
. . .there is another word for Random Acts of Cheetos: vandalism. The Cheetos Underground explicitly incites its shadowy network of crap eaters not only to perpetrate mischief but to document their petty crimes on video for the Cheetos website.
Encouraging vandalism can hardly be considered socially responsible. But luckily for homeowners, teachers, bosses and innocent bystanders, this campaign wasn’t strategic or execution responsible and few have been molested with the orange snack.
The underground campaign failed to recognize that this demographic seeks authenticity (an underground better look like an underground, not a Cheetos-branded one).
And why would you have an animated spokes-tiger for a campaign like this? Remove him from the ads and they become instantly darker and more disturbing.
I don’t get it, but is it working? I don’t know, but consider these facts:
The blog is a ghost town (11 total posts, 26 total comments). There are only 135 user-generated videos on YouTube. And the total YouTube downloads over the last three months for all three videos above is a paltry 277,800 (70% are for the laundry commercial alone).
Compare those view counts to some of the other viral videos discussed here over the last few months:
In the last week, the above video has been viewed 444,117 times on YouTube.
Question is, what is it?
I did some sleuthing for you.
Go to the video’s YouTube page, and you’ll find a link that takes you to a splash page:
Click on the splash page and you’ll find another page with the video on it, and the following copy:
My friends, my name is Papi. Viva Chihuahuas. We have been dressed in sweaters and carried in purses. I say no mas! I am tired of the jokes about our size. Will not be toys or fashion accessories. Will not answer to Fee Fee or Foo Foo. No mas! Viva Chihuahuas. Who is with me? Heel!
There are no links to click.
No “contact me” fill-in for your email address so they can contact you with more information.
Nothing.
So I did some more sleuthing and discovered this is a viral video produced by none other than…
Disney.
It’s a promotion for a movie coming this fall:
Here’s an entertaining video, probably out to sell jeans. It’s been viewed nearly 800,000 times in five days.
Viral video can be pretty entertaining, however, it often forces you to jump through a few hoops to figure out what’s being sold.
But isn’t it a good thing if the creative gets your attention, the mystery holds it, you interact with the brand and then you tell others?
So, do you love or hate viral video?
And can you figure out what brand the “unbuttoned” video is promoting?
Before you read ahead, play the video below and take the test. You won’t need paper or pencil, just your full concentration. It will take you one minute.
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This is powerful in so many ways.
It’s short and simple: One video. One minute long. 30 words. No fancy graphics. Just a single powerful message.
It engages you. It’s almost impossible to not participate once you’ve started watching
You are rewarded for paying attention
It’s word of mouth worthy – you want to share it.
The budget was tiny
British accents are just so cool
Okay, maybe the last item is a stretch, but this video is more proof that execution is important, but the best idea wins.
This video has a message for any marketer trying to break through the clutter today. “It’s easy to miss something you’re not looking for” applies to your marketing.
Think about it: When someone is reading that magazine you’re advertising in, are they looking for your ad?
Nope. They’re there for the content. They’re counting the number of passes the white team makes.
And I’m pretty sure your ad isn’t as entertaining as a moonwalking bear.
Think your company is too conservative to be creative? Think again.
Top-Flite’s fading brand desperately needs help. On March 5th, D2 Man arrived to help the company become relevant again amid a sea of strong new competitors.
In nine days, the following viral has generated nearly a million views on YouTube and a fair amount of word of mouth:
Imagine Top-Flite’s national brand manager, Nate Randle, trying to sell this one:
Okay, so, he’s a golfer. And a superhero. He says macho things, kind of like a rapper. Well, actually he is a rapper. And he has two hot girls with him that are his backup singers. Did I mention they are dressed like schoolgirls? With short skirts? Oh, I forgot that part. Anyway, they cruise around in his convertible and dance around on golf courses. It will all work together. I swear. I can totally see it.”
The company’s campaign site, NeverLayUp includes a few other videos (check out the ads for the “Freak” balls with Kenny Mayne), games and a little attitude:
The golf world has nearly been swept under by a wave of play it safe wimpitude. Fortunately, D2 Man has come along just in time to save golf from the evils of wuss play.
If you lay up, pitch out, or lag putt, D2 Man will be there, mercilessly calling you out on your golfing cowardice.
Here here.
I’m rooting for D2 Man. This campaign is highly creative without falling into the abyss of the lewd and low-brow.
D2 Man is fun, and I hope he can save the day for Top-Flite.
While he’s at it, he can call out companies that haven’t mustered the nerve to do something really different with their marketing.
