The internet has revolutionised a plethora of pastimes: the way people
communicate, find dates, commit crimes, you name it, (Rhys Blakely writes).
But the business of selling stuff and of building brands continues to see
one of the most radical tranformations.
At the cutting edge is the viral campaign; the short video clip that is so
compelling much of an advertiser’s work is done for them when their
prospective customers forward it to their contacts quickly building up an
audience of millions.
A whole new industry has sprung up, dedicated to unravelling what makes viral
ads infectious. GoViral, for instance, specialises in launching viral
campaigns – in part by ”seeding” clips on the web in places where they are
picked up by the online populace.
What once was much a matter of luck is slowly being transformed into a
science. Jimmy Maymann, the group’s chairman, has built a polling system,
”which every campaign is taken through prior to launch in order ensure
virality”.
The ideal campaign is edgy, surprising, original, erotic and emotional – and
taps into popular culture, he says. His system attempts to quantify these
elements.
Below, Mr Maymann presents ten of the richest viral videos on the web today.
NIKE
This clip is one of the all time greatest virals ever, with more than 50
million views globally. Featuring world famous soccer star Ronaldinho
hitting the crossbar no less than four times, without the ball touching the
floor. The creative material is from Framfab, in Denmark. The product on
display is the Nike R10 football boot. A massive discussion on whether the
clip was actually real or computer edited drove millions of interested
viewers to the campaign.
Framfab won two Gold Lions on the Cannes Lions Festival for the campaign. The
other winning clip was The Chain, a user generated initiative, consisting of
more than 500 user uploaded soccer sequences edited together as one long
clip of soccer celebration.
To watch the ads click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsO6D1rwrKc
http://nikefootball.nike.com/nikefootball/siteshell/index.jsp#,en,0;chainmix
AGENT PROVOCATEUR
Kylie Minogue rides a velvet bucking bronco wearing nothing but lingerie from
Agent Provocateur.
This video was originally meant for a cinema audience, but after being judged
too explicit it went viral and started spreading aggressively throughout the
internet.
The video is completely in harmony with the Agent Provocateur corporate vision
to provoke and create controversy, which it most definitely did, with more
than 360 million views – and still counting – more than five years after its
release.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=HztQbRpKcMo
JOHN WEST SALMON
A John West employee fights a grizzly bear off to land a fish – just to go
that extra mile for quality. Obviously, it is set up, but with costumes from
the Jim Henson Creature Shop it looks surprisingly real, until the bear
starts throwing Kung Fu tricks at the “fisherman”.
An unusual viral, it created more than 300 million views and has won ten
awards, including Best Commercial of the Year from British Television
Advertising Awards and a Gold Lion at the Cannes Lions Festival, 2001.
Executed by Leo Burnett, the viral brings together the best of advertising
and content in one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOpKFPEah3E
QUICKSILVER DYNAMITE SURFING
How to go surf in a country without waves: a group of young men throw a bundle
of dynamite into an urban lake. Whether the clip was real or not was never
really discovered, a factor that itself garnered attention.
The creative agency was Danish Saatchi & Saatchi and the client was
Quiksilver, trying to create positive brand awareness in Scandinavia. It has
so far been watched by more than 20 million people. Four days after launch,
it appeared on approx. 95 per cent of all surfer related websites. The viral
won a Silver award at this year’s Cannes Lions.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6xfBNxNds0Q
BIG AD
The Carlton Draught Big Ad is an award-winning advertisement for Carlton
Draught created by George Patterson and Partners (Young & Rubicam) of
Melbourne, which used viral marketing techniques before being released on
television.
The advertisement was released on the internet two weeks before being shown on
television. Just 24 hours after release, the Big Ad had been downloaded
162,000 times and within two weeks it had been seen by over one million
viewers in 132 countries. That number has since grown at least twentyfold.
The viral release of the Big Ad was in fact so successful that the
television media budget was reduced for fears the ad would be overexposed.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=aWDNy43ATjc
TROJAN GAMES
In 2003, to launch Trojan Condoms in the United Kingdom, the "official"
web site for the so-called "Trojan Games" was created with several
clips by UK-based The Viral Factory.
The campaign received several awards including best online creative of the
year in the Creative Showcase and also a Gold Lion at the 51st International
Advertising Festival in Cannes.
The site, and especially the associated video clips, were quite popular,
having been viewed 35 million times. Now four years old the site is still
active.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AbTSmOS_m6Q
DOVE EVOLUTION
Already a classic, even though it is one of the newest campaigns in this
selection. Ogilvy & Mather, Toronto, used time-lapse photography to show
the transformation of an normal woman into a glamorous billboard model using
beauty stylists and Photoshop enhancements. The clip was released under the
slogan “No wonder our perception of real beauty is distorted”.
Dove Evolution took top honours in both the Cyber and Film categories on this
year’s Cannes Lions pointing to the colliding worlds of consumer-powered
digital distribution and brand building. It's the first time in the
festival's history that the same execution won in both categories, an even
more impressive achievement if you consider that this huge success was
almost single-handedly was achieved using online seeding. Only very few
times has the commercial been aired on television.
It is fast becoming one of the most watched videos on the internet. In the two
years since Dove decided to brand itself as the beauty company that
celebrates real beauty that strategy has rewarded the company with double
digit sales increases.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U
BERLITZ – WHAT ARE YOU ZINKING ABOUT?
A viral video campaign featuring a language difficulty in a European
coastguard station.
The ad was developed by BTS United Oslo, and originally pointed to a web site
where people could download it and send it to their friends, as well as
navigating through to Berlitz Norway. The response was so large that Berlitz
was forced to shut down the site.
By now - more than a year after the launch of the viral - the clip is
represented in more than hundred versions on Youtube alone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrYRY6kx550
DIET COKE & MENTOS BY EEPYBIRD.COM
This campaign was never planned, neither by The Coca Cola Company nor Mentos.
It started out as an experiment by Eepybird with a video showing two men
adding Mentos tablets to a Diet coke. Watch to see the results. Several
videos resulted, which makes it difficult to estimate exactly how many views
the campaign has generated so far. But a qualified guess would be more than
50 million in total, including both the original and all the user generated
videos.
This very unofficial campaign has generated loads of PR and causing thousands
of consumers to contribute with their own eruption videos. Much of the hype
around it was caused by statements whether or not it would be dangerous, or
even lethal, to actually drink a Diet Coke and eat Mentos at the same time.
Eepybird’s website
Spoof site
MARK ECKO – STILL FREE
The best virals usually lead to massive attention and, in some cases,
controversy and outrage. This is exactly what happened to Mark Ecko. Having
started several enterprises around the hip/hop, skater and style scene, Ecko
decided to create a ideological statement on the First Amendment. He filmed
a session of himself ”tagging” Air Force One and used the following hype to
explain why. Did he really spray grafitti on the President’s jet? Judge for
yourself by following the link below.
The Still Free campaign has generated several million views worldwideThe US
authorities felt compelled to investigate whether it was ”real”. The video
was rewarded several awards at the International Advertising Festival in
Cannes, 2006 including the famous and very difficult to achieve Grand Prix
award in the Viral Marketing category.
www.stillfree.com
Dan Fielding " The Domestic God" has my vote. He should have his own show. He's what many women desire to have and what many men should be. Gorgeous man!
Candace Little, San Antonio, Texas, USA
I think things like the Dan Fielding Mystery are much more interesting... just Google Dan Fielding and Domestic God
He's either the most hilariously arrogant wannabe TV presenter ever, or it's some kind of elaborate viral stunt. It's very funny stuff, but the most unsettling part is that it's not clear if it's deliberate or unwitting... worth a look
Penelope Ashe, London, UK
I think things like the Dan Fielding mystery are much more interesting - just google Dan Fielding and Domestic God
He's either the most hilariously self-important wannabe TV presenter ever, or some kind of elaborate viral stunt... well worth a look
Penelope Ashe, London, UK
The best virals I have ever come across were for Ford and Volkswagen.
The Ford one for the Ka where a poor cat loses its head in the sunroof, and the very un-PC VW Polo ad involving a suicide bomber. Enough said on that one...
Roy Ellor, Salford, UK