Posts tagged viral
VIRAL OF THE WEEK: Coca-Cola’s World Cup Mexican Wave
Aug 10th
The World Cup is well and truly over, but that doesn’t mean we can’t keep enjoying the ads.
This Coca-Cola ad featured in a subway in Brazil and was created by created by JWT Sao Paulo and the whole 16-metres was printed by Oce.
The ‘Mexican Wave’ was created by using two lenticular lighted panels. You can see the making of the ad and viewers’ reactions below:
What’s the difference between a sponsorship and an ad campaign? Ask Levi’s…
Jul 28th
There’s a new viral sensation doing the rounds on YouTube, question is, is it a viral ‘advertising’ campaign if the brand is just a sponsor?
Levi’s jeans has been incredibly lucky this past week. ‘Walk Across America’ has attracted more than 1 million YouTube views since July 20. And it turns out, the stop-motion video wasn’t even its idea.
If I was going to walk across America (2,967 miles from New Yor to San Francisco) I would approach a sports brand to sponsor me, or one of those sports drinks brands. Perhaps even a sunglasses brand. But a jeans brand…denim is hot. And it chaffs.
Levi’s sounds an unlikely sponsor. But the brand has been in somewhat of a disarray of late. A few years ago it decided to sell its premium jeans brand in K-Mart stores (a department store in both Australia and the US).
All of a sudden, a brand that you could buy that could custom make your jeans was selling pairs for no less than $12.99 (£8.30).
I haven’t seen a pair of Levi’s around for a while. So could this sponsorship coup bring Levi’s back from brand wilderness?
Here’s the ‘Walk Across America’ YouTube post:
The young filmmakers at Conscious Minds say that they came up with the concept and idea for the viral and then pitched it to Levi’s to get a sponsor to help fund the project.
Apparently, Levi’s loved the authenticity of the project and the agency’s “pioneering spirit” so therefore provided the team with a sponsorship that included money for petrol, food and production resources – and of course 501s for the whole crew.
One of the best things about this project is the digital channels it has used in order to get people involved in the project.
The team made a Google Map with photos pinned at points of interest. Another YouTube video that described their experiences traveling across the country was also posted and explains how they achieved the visual effects in the video.
The team used a combination of stop-motion and time-lapse video, something that has proved popular in the past and still intrigues thousands of viewers across the globe.
I love these videos. They really grab the attention of all because of their ability to tell a long story in a bite sized piece of time. And sponsorship isn’t a bad thing at all, but I can’t help but think that Levi’s is getting a bit too much credit for this.
The so-called viral is in a very similar vein to Cadbury’s sponsorship of “Where the Hell is Matt” via its Stride gum brand, which was about a guy who danced all over the world. You can see it here.
Stop motion virals became popular when that guy, Noah, took a picture of himself everyday for eight years and then played them together in stop motion on YouTube. You can see that one by clicking here. It was probably among the first of its kind and garnered mass popularity when the Simpsons did a version with Homer Simpson (you can see that one here)
The video certainly has seen buzz around the Levi’s brand, but as I said earlier, we still aren’t sure what a jeans brand has to do with walking across America, or video production.
If Levi’s wants this sponsorship attempt to look at all genuine, it must now leverage its brand further with the ‘walk’ video by creating – at least – a further ad campaign to go with it. At the moment, this sponsorship looks a bit soulless.
Why Old Spice’s viral campaign is utter brilliance
Jul 15th
Who wears Old Spice? My grandfather. Let’s face it, the deodorant brand doesn’t exactly have the sort of image that hot 30-something year-old sportsman would find appealing. But it does now have something that the wives of those 30-something year-olds find very appealing…a gorgeous man in a shower.
The Old Spice campaign starring Isaiah Mustafa, the former American football player, was originally brilliant. Why? Any campaign that can end with “I’m on a horse” and get away with it is creative genius. But watch below and you’ll realise why it’s not really about the horse…is it?
Here’s the original ad to remind you of what this week’s hype is all about and where it originated:
The video has had over 13 million views on YouTube…so why should it stop there.
The clever guys at Old Spice (which is actually Procter & Gamble) have this week ensured this campaigns longevity with a whole new concept that involves ‘Mr Old Spice’ (the man who could smell like) speaking directly to fans.
Responding to questions and comments from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, Mr Old Spice has spent the past two days in the conversation and reached a nirvana most other brands can only ever dream about.
He has been speaking to us from the shower (which – again – makes clear that this campaign was designed to sell the product to the wives and girlfriend who do the weekly shop) explaining the latest “body wash applying technology” and pitying fan Veletret, whose husband’s allergies mean she’ll will never have “adult love times with your man at sixty thousand feet in a hot air balloon powered by your man breathing fire to keep it arise.”
The Old Spice team has once again harnessed the great, you-cannot-miss-this power of social media.
Already I have received several emails with links to these videos and this week, it has soaked up the power of the press too with thousands of column inches dedicated to ‘shock’ reception this campaign has received.
But, at the end of the day, can I get my boyfriend to wear the same scent as my grandfather? The secret of P&G’s success here is, and the lesson for every marketer to take away is, appeal to the shopper…not necessarily the ‘consumer’.
VIRALS THAT DON’T DIE: Nike rewriting the future
Jun 18th
This week’s viral that won’t die is our most recent one yet, it’s from May this year and debuted at the height of anticipation for this year’s World Cup in South Africa.
This campaign came out in advance of the Cup as Nike is not actually a sponsor but rather an ‘official partner’.
The epic campaign is three minutes long and features a host of football stars including Wayne Rooney and Christiano Ronaldo.
The epic ‘Write the Future’ spot, in less than one month, has set a new record for most views of a viral video ad, according to web video analytics company Visible Measures.
It beat the previous record holder, another Nike ad called “Earl and Tiger” featuring golfer Tiger Woods after his heavily publicized return to the sport.
Ad agency Wieden+Kennedy produced the ad, which was directed by illustrious Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu. Nike VP Trevor Edwards was quoted in Advertising Age saying the ad is “among the best we’ve ever done.”
The ad has had more than 15.7 million views on YouTube.
SECTOR FOCUS: AUTOMOTIVE Volkswagen in the Fast Lane
Jun 17th
Automotive advertising has emerged as a massive growth area in the advertising market over the past six months as we leave the recession behind, and car brands get more creative with their ad spend.
At the height of the recession, car ads almost disappeared. In its wake, they have now become more creative.
Long gone are the simple spots that show a new sedan-type car driving smoothly through the rolling hills of England. The industry is far more sophisticated than that.
The brand that is impressing us the most at the moment is without a doubt Volkswagen.
For some time now, the German car maker (which has been around since the 1930s) has been experimenting with a number of viral marketing campaigns to attract attention to the VW brand while also positioning itself as fun and funky and ‘o so now’.
Its latest marketing stunt saw it install a slide next to the escalator in Berlin’s Alexanderplatz U-Bahn station. The stunt was to demonstrate what it feels like to live in the ‘Fast Lane’.
The video on YouTube – launched earlier this week – has gone viral garnering almost 70,000 views already.
The slide, of course, isn’t Volkswagen’s first such marketing stunt. You may remember last year the brand turned a starway in one of Sweden’s subway stations into an interactive keyboard.
That video has now received more than 1.5 million views.
These stunts by Volkswagen are just two example of its grass roots experiential initiative, which is encouraging local consumers to live leaner and greener lives (stairs versus powered escalator) and have fun at the same time, hence why the experiment is labeled The Fun Theory.
Marketing a cars doesn’t simply have to be about marketing ‘a car’ – promoting its performance and efficiency also counts, as does the company’s values – in VW’s case, it’s fun and green credentials. Read the rest of this entry »
VIRALS THAT DON’T DIE: Cadbury’s drumming Gorilla
May 21st
No one will ever forget the first time they saw a gorilla beat the drums to Phil Collin’s ‘In the Air Tonight’, which is why this week’s viral that won’t die is Cadbury’s famed ‘Gorilla’ advert.
The ad is no doubt one of the most talked about adverts of all time and went on to win advertising’s highest accolade, Grand Prix in the film category at the Cannes International Advertising Festival.
‘Gorilla’, featuring a man in a gorilla suit drumming along to ‘In The Air Tonight’ by Phil Collins has been watched more than 10 million times on YouTube and has been credited for lifting the fortunes of the chocolate manufacture at a time of desperate need after it was hit by a salmonella scare.
The campaign used the strapline ‘A glass and a half full of joy, which was then also used for the subsequent campaigns ‘Eyebrows’ and ‘Airport Trucks’.
It’s almost impossible to continue to keep track of just how many times this advert has been viewed as the ad appear on YouTube more than 2,100 times.
VIRALS THAT DON’T DIE: Kylie’s bucking bull ride for Agent Provocateur
May 14th
This week’s viral ad that just won’t die is Agent Provocateur’s ‘Proof’ spot starring Kylie Minogue.
This raunchy viral for Agent Provocateur starring Aussie pop-princess Kylie Minogue riding a bucking bull in her underwear has had more than 350 million views on YouTube over the past nine years.
The ad, which was a cinema spot, debuted in 2001 but has gone on to be awarded the most successful celebrity viral campaign in the world by GoViral.
The iconic ad shows Kylie writhing around breathlessly on a red velvet rodeo bull to prove that Agent Provocateur is ‘the most erotic lingerie in the world’. At the end of the ad she challenges the men in the audience to stand up and be counted.
Absolut caught out by ‘I’m Here’ online film fans
Apr 9th
Vodka company Absolut had an idea. That brainwave may have come in the sauna (with the company being Swedish). Or perhaps during a roll in the snow.
But it was a very good idea. The idea was to work with acclaimed film director, Spike Jonze, and the result was a 30-minute robot love story film entitled, ‘I’m Here’.
It was released in January 2010, at imheremovie.com but unfortunately – or perhaps more fortunately – has been an overwhelming success.
According to the vodka folks ‘I’m Here’ is screened every two hours on imheremovie.com, limited to just 5,000 viewers per day, the capacity of the site is now to be expanded to 12,000 a day.
In it’s first weekend of release the online movie theatre apparently clocked up 230,000 unique visitors alone.
“’I’m Here’ marks an evolution of our commitment to creativity, and I’m very happy about the great interest in this film. It is a beautiful story and a fantastic piece of art,” said Vice President Global Marketing at The Absolut Company, Anna Malmhake.
Seen in the worst light, it could be just a load of spin from Absolut. But there are widen implications.
It’s a reflection of just how viewing habits online are growing. In fact as we’ve already reported on UTalkMarketing, Online video is medium of choice for marketers in 2010
Why? Well it’s all down to the growth of broadband across the UK.
Absolut obviously knew the film was going to be popular. Otherwise they’d never have commissioned it in the first place.
They’ve also been driving traffic by integrating the project on Facebook, making it possible for social networkers to see the film together with friends.
But it looks like they underestimated just how popular it might be.
Lessons to be learnt?
Marketers should never underestimate the potential appeal of online video
Get it right and 230,000 unique visitors could be engaging with your brand over just one weekend too.
With the costs of video production falling too, there are no excuses for not making the leap into digital celluloid.
We’ve even got some top tips on How to produce video that delivers on a tight marketing budget here
Google Search makes us feel all fuzzy inside
Nov 19th
Google’s search team has released these new virals to talk about its latest innovations (like music in search results).
The search engine giant said that the stories were inspired by its users. How cute.
Google said on its blog, “Because while we’re proud of the innovations we’re making in search, we’re proudest of the things people use search to accomplish. In other words, the best search results don’t show up on a webpage — they show up in somebody’s life.”
Again, how cute.
Quote from Craig Nevill-Manning, engineering director Google New York, “The Google homepage doesn’t belong to us. It belongs to the millions of people who use it.”
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