You might remember Casey Neistat. He’s the guy that got a ticket for riding his bike outside the NYC bike lanes, so he made a film mocking the law by showing how many obstructions there are in the bike lanes. You can see that video here:
He’s back with another popular video, only this time it’s about texting while walking–not “texting while driving,” but “texting while walking.” But the real reason I’m sharing it with you is because it was commissioned by the New York Times. That makes the video interesting for several reasons–not the least of which is the fact that the print media world is creating video. It’s also an important signal as to the power, reach, and pull of online video stars and creators. Check out Casey’s video for the New York Times:
Freddie Wong is probably the most famous YouTube star that major brands have started treating like a celebrity endorsement worth getting. Samsung had him shoot an entire video on their new Galaxy S II, and the end result got over 10 million views:
Even Hollywood is paying attention to the raw marketing power these popular YouTube creators have at their fingertips, as they paid Freddie for a custom Cowboys & Aliens video to help promote the film:
T-Mobile hopped on the Merton popularity train at the height of the singer’s Chatroulette days, flying him to the UK to do his improv singing act for the country’s air travelers:
Big brands like using web stars as pitchmen because they have legions of fiercely loyal fans, and they’re typically much less expensive to hire than your average Hollywood celebrity.
Brands are experimenting beyond the 30 second parameters. Even with Super Bowl ads, longer form videos are coming into vogue. While its perhaps a little counterintuitive, as the general attention span seems to be shrinking, brands are finding that the web offers the ability for a deeper, more cinematic experience and they are taking advantage of the opportunity.
For a recent campaign, Craftsman decided to go (a lot) longer than 30 seconds, creating a 20-minute video. Craftsman hired artist and woodworker, Floyd Davis of Artpentry, to create a boom box built out of a tool box. The interviewer asks Davis some questions, and allows him to show off how he built the custom piece.
The video has about 24,000 views as of this writing, 12 days after going live, with about 85% of those who voted “liking” the video. Most of the viewers came via Gizmodo, which wrote about the project. Check it out:
Craftsman’s not the first company to do long-form branded online video–far from it. You might remember the Jay-Z documentary from Absolut Vodka:
BMW actually kicked off the long-form online video trend… more than 10 years ago. Called “The Hire,” the series of short films starred Clive Owen and had a guest-directors list that included the very best Hollywood filmmakers like Ang Lee. Here’s Episode 7 of The Hire:
Nike actually did a video that’s very similar to the Craftsman video–taking an existing artist and having them do their thing with the product. Nike used a couple DJ’s to create the musical shoe:
As the web continues to assert itself as the major destination for video content, you’re going to see more and more long-form video content from brands as goals shift from total impressions to engaged views.
By now most of you are probably pretty familiar with Apple’s typical style for their iPhone videos. In case you’re not, here are a few iPhone 4S ads that should give you a pretty good feel:
Warm, cool, hip, useful, peppy. Almost all of Apple’s video ads share the same DNA as these.
And while the iPhone was really a revolutionary device, other brands have begun to carve out a section of the marketplace for themselves, most using completely different video styles from Apple.
Samsung, for instance, with the latest ads for their Galaxy SII device, chooses to poke fun at the perceived culture of cool with the Apple fans:
They also chose a very cool video ad route by sponsoring a new creative video from Freddie Wong, who also used the device as his camera for the video:
Google, on the other hand, straddles the line between viral content and traditional ads by showing off how great Google Plus Hangouts is on the upcoming Galaxy Nexus device. The spot has some incredible beat-boxing in it, as well as a killer demonstration of the power of Hangouts on the new Nexus phone:
Finally, LG has taken the road less traveled, creating a recent ad for the LG Optimus 3D P920 that is part demonstration, part animation, and scored with music from some kind of game show or something:
There’s plenty of room in the mobile marketplace for several brands to succeed, and the same is true on YouTube. By finding and defining their video marketing identity, mobile brands can begin that process all brands aim for–engaging customers and turning them into fans.
There was a time when Google did very little marketing for its products. Those days have changed. Interestingly, Facebook is currently replicating Google’s earlier marketing style with content that is largely educational and very little media buying. With a flurry of new videos recently released by both companies, we thought it would be interesting to compare the online video marketing styles of two of Silicon Valley’s giants – Facebook and its newest serious challenger, Google Plus.
Google Plus has begun a pretty intensive video ad campaign lately, including television and online video as outlets. The first of the new wave of ads touted the new Pages system for businesses:
The next ad highlighted the benefits of searching on Google Plus:
Then the big guns came out, as Google rolled its next ad–”Sharing, but like real life”–on television:
Finally, the latest Google Plus video gathering buzz shows the flexibility of the Circles system by showing how one guy’s status changes over time for the girl he’s sweet on:
Now, let’s compare those ads, which all have a similar look and feel, to the kind of video ads Facebook leans on. First off, it’s important to note that Facebook actually doesn’t have many videos on their YouTube channel–just 51 as of this writing.
The most recent Facebook video, from one week ago, is about using Questions:
Notice the low view count. This video is much more instructional than it is marketing oriented–there’s not even any music or production value.
Their next most recent video is from a month ago. Again, it’s designed to show you how to use a Facebook feature (Messenger for Mobile). However, the production value is much higher with a soundtrack and much more polished voiceover:
Go back a few more weeks and you have the F8 Keynote Introduction, which has half a million views. It’s popularity is mostly due to the fact that SNL’s Andy Sandberg opened the show with his impression of Mark Zuckerberg:
There are clearly two very different approaches at work here. For the most part, Facebook isn’t using video to sell itself to new users. Indeed, at 800 million and climbing, you could make the argument that the service sell itself at this point. Instead, they have focused their efforts more on educational videos for their existing users–an equally valid use of online video even if it’s less likely to “go viral.”
Google Plus, on the other hand, is still in full-on growth mode. Awareness and growing the user base is paramount right now. So while their latest videos showcase features (like Facebook does), they’re pushing much harder to create an appealing brand for the service and to attract new users.
It will be interesting to see where the two companies go from here – Facebook has done very little to market itself in traditional ways, but that also was Google’s story at one time. One thing is for certain, the competition will only get more intense.
Video audiences have a lot of recurring interests. They like cats, they like insane acts of nature, and they like comedy. But there’s a voracious appetite out there for heart-stopping action–scenes that leave you on the edge of your seat and take your breath away.
And that kind of content is providing social video benefits and viewer engagement for all kinds of brands–some of whom didn’t even create the content themselves.
The trailer for upcoming martial arts film, The Raid, made the rounds this week, picking up over 100,000 views for a new red-band trailer in just a few days (Warning: Intense action and fighting):
Sometimes the action helps sell a brand that didn’t even have a hand in the video’s creation. That happens a lot for Go Pro, whose tiny-but-powerful HD camera is a popular choice for action sports enthusiasts. So when a group of basejumpers uses the Go Pro to record a thrilling slow-motion video of their activities, and that video grabs hundreds of thousands of views, Go Pro reaps loads of free publicity and brand awareness.
(click the screenshot to see the video)
Go Pro isn’t the only camera that benefits from this kind of thing. The Phantom Flex got their brand in front of 250,000 eyeballs this week when a Vimeo filmmaker released this impressive paintball action video, shot in “Call of Duty” style and making excellent use of sporadic slow-motion.
(click the screenshot to see the video)
Of course, we can’t talk about social video campaigns involving heart-stopping action without mentioning DC Shoes, who have been dominating viral video charts for weeks with their Gymkhana series, featuring the intense driving skills of Ken Block:
Anyone with even a little experience in online video, as a viewer or a video creator, knows that cats can be a big draw for audiences. And while the vast majority of the so-called “cat videos” that go viral are home videos, more and more brands are beginning to tap into the curiously strong popularity of felines on the web.
Big Cat Rescue is an organization that, as the name implies, operates a rescue facility for big game cats like tigers, lions, and cheetahs. This week, they hit the social video jackpot with a video experiment in whether big cats have the same reaction to laser pointers as their household counterparts:
This isn’t the first time Big Cat Rescue has found viral success with video. In fact, they’ve been succeeding at this social video game for years. Five years ago they released Lion Tiger Vs. Giraffe?, which today has over 6 million views:
In 2008 they let the cats celebrate Halloween a bit:
My personal favorite was another experiment, this time on whether big game cats would enjoy catnip as much as house cats (hint: they do):
Think about the boost to the average consumer’s awareness of Big Cat Rescue in particular, and big game cat rescue operations worldwide in general. Word of mouth like this is difficult to buy, which is why so many brands are opting to augment traditional advertising with social video campaigns.
Cats are popular video subjects all around the world, transcending cultural boundaries. For instance, I have no idea what’s being said in this video ad for a French telecommunications company, because it’s in French, which is a language I do not speak. But I don’t need to speak the native language to enjoy the entertainment, as over 200,000 other viewers can attest:
Online video is growing with lightning-quick speed, gaining popularity with viewers and advertisers alike throughout the international community. Outside the U.S., brands are going viral every day with the same kind of entertainment-focused original content American viewers love.
Last month, Burger King Brasil brought in MMA fighter Anderson Silva (who is from Brazil) to help them promote the new Mega BK Stacker with a strange-but-entertaining lip-sync:
Copenhagen Phil decided to mash up the worlds of classical music and flash mobs to help generate some buzz:
STA Travel Australia scored a huge social video success with their Move video, chronicling a six-week world tour in just one minute:
Auto maker, Nissan, scored one of the biggest international branded video hits of the year last month with their “Pôneis Malditos” video. The ad generated tons of sharing activity, primarily because of how bizarre and twisted it is:
The principles of social video transcend cultural boundaries. No matter where viewers live, or what language they speak, a video is more likely to be shared when it entertains and moves them.
Every month we see plenty of great branded social video campaigns, and August of 2011 is no different. Several brands found great success, both in view count and in social engagement, through the use of original, entertaining online video content. Below are some of the highlights from the past month:
Battlefield 3 is a combat-based video game, set to go head-to-head with the upcoming latest Call of Duty game for 2011 first-person-shooter dominance. And with fans of war games, sometimes the best approach to video content is to simply show the gameplay itself, particularly when it has dazzling graphics and intense action:
Red Bull has been a leader online in creating branded original video content. Because the brand is so closely related to action sports–both in terms of sponsorship deals and demographic similarities–the company has been featuring videos showing off the insane talents of some extreme athletes. Like Industrial Revolutions, a short film Red Bull released in August starring Danny Macaskill, showing off some of his incredible abilities with a bicycle:
Easton, a sporting goods manufacturer, went the route of the hoax video last month, gaining over 2 million views and plenty of media buzz for a video featuring an eye-popping batting practice session that also happens to be completely fake:
Kia brought back their infamous hip-hop hamsters for another round of viral action:
Finally, DC Shoes continued their online video dominance with the latest in their Gymkhana series, featuring the impressive talents of driver Ken Block (with a cameo from the stars of Epic Meal Time thrown in for good measure):
“Page Not Found.” We’ve all encountered that error before on a website. It’s called a 404 error, and simply means the server can’t find the file you’re looking for.
When startups and web-based companies want to score a little geek cred, they often create custom 404 pages. Most users ignore these error pages and just click the back button on the browser. But when a 404 is custom-made, the geeks of the world stand up and take notice. They especially enjoy clever word play or references to other geeky things like Star Wars or Dr. Who.
But no 404 error has ever been as epic as the one from Nosh.me. Nosh is an iPhone app centered around food–harnessing social media and photography to help you find your next meal. And they’ve just scored one of the biggest viral hits of the week with their video 404 error, which has the scale and dramatic tone of a Hollywood war movie. Check it out:
I think it’s safe to say we can expect to see more great social video marketing efforts from Nosh. Even their standard ad, which explains the service much in the way a television commercial would, manages to be really entertaining. See for yourself:
Social video relies on your ability to get the audience involved… get them talking–to each other or directly to your brand. A good way to get them talking is to show them something completely new. It may not be the world’s first video 404 error, but it’s probably the largest in scale, and the half million views on Vimeo are proof of the fact that the campaign succeeded in making tongues wag.
Shark Week is an annual week of special shark-related program on the Discovery channel. It’s incredibly popular, particularly with the college crowd. To help promote the week, they hired Saturday Night Live funny-man, Andy Samberg.
But that’s not all. They also created a customized interactive YouTube ad experience that lets users interact with Samberg and then choose from multiple video promos. Discovery wasn’t playing around, either, and bought the home page YouTube slot for their ad:
If you choose to wake him up by clicking on the ad’s specified button, then Samberg rouses from his slumber and encourages you to watch some Shark Week Videos:
Once the viewer clicks the “see eye-opening shark videos” button, the custom YouTube page goes crazy and falls apart, with various graphics and YouTube comments “floating” around as the screen fills with water. Eventually, Samberg suggests you watch some videos to pass the time:
After all that custom and interactive YouTube experimentation, you’d think Discovery wouldn’t have much left in the tank to make videos that are actually entertaining. Perhaps that’s why they hired Samberg. He’s apparently been appointed the CSO (Chief Shark Officer) for this year’s Shark Week, and he’s brought a health dose of comedy and sarcasm to his reign:
Sharethrough leading a workshop on viral videos at Cannes? Yes, you heard it right.
We are thrilled to be a part of such an incredible event. The Cannes Lion Festival is a global conference of the creative minds. Thought-leaders from across the globe attend seminars, workshops, screenings, beach soccer tournaments (no really, it’s true), and loads of other programs…all centered around creativity in communications.
Our CEO, Dan Greenberg, and Director of Marketing, Chris Schreiber, will lead an interactive workshop called “Making Videos Go Viral: Creative, Social, and Technological Techniques”. In a world where people watch content (not ads), agencies need to know a) how to PRODUCE content that will get seen and shared, and b) how to DISTRIBUTE content to the audiences who will care.
Our educational workshop will dive deep into viral video best practices, including:
Ultimately, brands don’t make viral videos; users make videos viral. This session identifies the distribution, measurement, and social sharing strategies that prep a video for success.
We’ll be here all month, blogging a series of posts centered around this Cannes workshop. Come back often. We’re excited to be spending so much quality time with you!
As brands big and small search for ways to make their videos more engaging, many are turning toward short films. And nonprofits are no exception. In fact, when budget-conscious nonprofits are paired up with opportunity-starved young filmmakers, everybody wins.
Case in point, check out the very charming short film called A Love Story… In Milk, which was created to promote environmental nonprofit, Friends of the Earth. (From Catsnake on Vimeo.)
Another great example is Robbery (Social ecological ad)–a nonprofit short film promoting recycling, by Ruslan Fedotow on Vimeo.
Two months ago, Chris Anderson and TED held a contest to find the best Ads Worth Spreading, and there were a couple short-film-style nonprofit spots chosen. Like The Girl Effect:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e8xgF0JtVg
Short films are a proven way to engage viewers in an emotional way and can now reach scalable audiences online with social video distribution. (Not to mention that adds a whole new dimension to the definition of ‘social’ video advertising.)
Hollywood is clearly leading the charge in social video, with new creative tactics showing up all the time. And there’s a good reason for it: social video works. Social video ties video marketing directly to social media and social behaviors, and lends itself more readily to viral attention than standard marketing techniques. Traiditional brand advertisers would do well to learn from Hollywood’s lead. And now they have another object lesson from the film industry.
J.J. Abrams’ upcoming summer film, Super 8, has already done enough with social video to warrant mention in the online video hall of fame. But apparently it’s only the tip of the iceberg, as another ingenious viral campaign has just kicked off.
Wired magazine wrote today about a very cool package they mysteriously received in the mail. Inside was an old Kodachrome 40 box, with a reel of film and a thumb drive inside. The thumb drive contained a black and white video that you can watch here (or just click the image below).
There was also a code and an email address in the package:
From what Wired has been able to piece together, this is one of several unique clips the film’s producers have mailed to various media outlets–including /Film. The code appears to unlock extra footage in the Super 8 Editing Room(a viral micro-site).
Super 8 has had a mysterious plot from its inception until now, so the marketing tactic is playing on that element and spiking fan interest in the plot and the film itself. From this new wave of video teases alone, the film has received media attention from Entertainment Weekly, io9, ComingSoon.net, and more.
A campaign like this works because of the speculation element. The trailer hints at a government cover-up, so the cloak and dagger approach is a perfect match for the film’s tone, and it’s gotten fans on Facebook & Twitter guessing at what the film might be about. Even if you’re not a fan of Abrams’ films, you have to admire his knack for building mystery.
In 2010, one movie used video in a way that no other films had previously… by taking advantage of the viral power of interactive video. The film? Sylvester Stallone’s throwback to 1980′s action adventures, The Expendables.
Rather than simply relying on trailers to build buzz, the studio worked with YouTube to create a custom page. The page appears to be a normal video at the start, but quickly reveals itself to be something far different. As Stallone answers the interviewer’s questions, little red lights appear on his chest–the kind that people with guns use for accurate aiming. And the target sights are coming from the people in the little thumbnail “Suggestions” to the right of the video.
Stallone does what I assume his Expendables character would do, and pulls out a bazooka to blow them all away.
I’m not able to embed the video–because it’s not a standard YouTube video, but rather a complex, interactive Flash animation–but I can show you some screenshots:
Here’s what it looks like after the firefight gets going:
For the best effect, click over and experience the ad as it was intended to be seen.
A video like this spurs viral activity by surprising the audience. After lulling them into thinking they’re watching a standard movie interview, the ad explodes onto the rest of the page, creating a memorable and share-worthy experience for the viewer. And after triggering that share emotion, the ad cleverly provides options right on screen for viewers to share the clip through Facebook or Twitter.
In part because of this campaign, The Expendables was the #1 film on its opening weekend, besting the presumed favorite, Eat Pray Love by $11 Million.
The lead time on movie marketing is getting longer every year. For instance, in 2010, we saw a trailer for Super 8, which doesn’t come out until this summer. Those studios that choose to leverage viral video for promotional purposes are starting earlier too.
Like next summer’s expected tent-pole film, The Avengers, which will bring together multiple Marvel Comics heroes in one film (Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America, etc.). For a little perspective on how early The Avengers has started their viral marketing pitch, consider that they only started filming last week. But that’s not stopping the studio from revving up the social media engine with some clever buzz-building.
Specifically, they sent cards last month to a number of media members that cover the film industry. The cards purport to be a message from Nick Fury (the character played by Samuel L. Jackson in both Iron Man movies, who brings the Avengers together) and state that the recipient has been chosen. There was also a prompt to turn on the television to channel 72, where this message was then displayed (video shot and uploaded by a fan, which is always a good sign that a viral campaign is going well):
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0JuRbzu998
While that video consists mostly of footage from the May 2011 release, Thor, the messaging is all about S.H.I.E.L.D., the fictional government agency that manages The Avengers. There’s even a prompt in the clip for viewers to go to JoinShield.com, which looks like this:
Fans can then basically apply to S.H.I.E.L.D. as a new recruit, connect to the agency through Facebook, or simply enter the rest of the site as a visitor to browse the contents.
I guess if you want to get technical about it, Marvel has been putting out viral marketing material around The Avengers since the first Iron Man film, which featured the Nick Fury cameo during the end credits. And each successive Marvel superhero film has made S.H.I.E.L.D. a more and more prominent player in the story. And it’s all leading up to next summer’s anticipated The Avengers release. Time will tell how well this social media and viral video effort will pay off, but it’s clearly getting the fanboys excited, which is half the battle.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy did huge business at the box office, won a bunch of awards, and delighted fans of the books with its faithful interpretation. So you can imagine how excited fans were when director Peter Jackson took the reins again for the upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit.
Jackson brings experience, talent, and a great deal of marketing savvy to the project. During the original trilogy, he basically pioneered and perfected the concept of a video production diary, giving fans glimpses behind the scenes throughout the many years of filming.
Something Jackson couldn’t do during the making of the LOTR trilogy is take advantage of Facebook (mostly because it wasn’t invented yet). But for The Hobbit, he’s combining his proven strategy of releasing behind-the-scenes diary videos with the social networking power of Facebook, making it easier for his fans to share the content with their friends. His first diary video for The Hobbit, which only recently began production, is available only on Facebook video. You can see it here. Unfortunately, we can’t embed the video, but we can show you a version that made its way onto YouTube (and picked up another 300,000 or so views in the process):
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2m2x8qJcGQ
The only trouble with using Facebook as the video host is that the public can’t see the view count, so there’s no way to know exactly how many people have seen this diary video. However, we can infer from the 29,000 that “liked” it and the 5,280 that commented on it that it’s been viewed by a huge number of people. Don’t forget that every comment and “like” appears on each user’s wall, exponentially increasing the reach of the campaign.
It may be a simple strategy, but it’s very smart, and proven to be an effective way to build anticipation for a film.
We’re going to be taking a special look this month at Hollywood studios that have utilized social video to help build buzz for feature films. Hollywood has always relied on buzz and word of mouth for promotional purposes, and studios have been among the first companies to fully embrace social video as a marketing tactic.
The most recent example of this is from Relativity Media, who commissioned a viral video to help spread the word on their film Limitless, starring Bradley Cooper.
The studio hired thinkmodo, a viral marketing agency, to create a video that would show off an everyday person doing something incredible… unbelievable… limitless. Their concept? A geek with an iPhone that has been hacked, allowing him to control the many video screens in Times Square. Here’s the video they created:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_HUYi9aVvI
In reality, the phone wasn’t controlling the screens at all. The producers purchased legitimate ad time on the Times Square screens, and then timed their shoot with expert precision so that it would look like the man in the video was controlling the screens.
After the original hoax video went viral, they released a follow-up clip, talking about how the hacker took a drug called NZT (the fictional brain-enhancing drug taken by Cooper’s character in Limitless):
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKxG7wQoSt8
Only at that point did people begin to notice the trailer for Limitless that played at the end of the original video–it’s the final screen the hacker “takes control of.” And then the pieces started falling into place.
Did it work? Well, Limitless was the surprise #1 movie at the box office the weekend it launched, edging out The Lincoln Lawyer and the alien comedy, Paul. We’ll let you draw your own conclusions.
While social video is still an incredibly popular marketing avenue for major brands, some brands are starting to increase the engagement level of their content by making it interactive–giving viewers a chance to impact or control their ad experience.
A new branded video from Bic does just that with a hilarious new “human curling” ad:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlCVE0OG-tI
The ad also includes interactive elements near the end that look like this:
If you click through “Now, Play The Game,” you’ll be sent to a custom YouTube page for Bic, where instead of an embedded video there is a flash-based human curling game. You can choose to play the webcam mode or the keyboard mode.
Clicking the other interactive option takes you to Bic’s Facebook page, with a subtle request for you to “like” them:
This ad comes from the creative team at Buzzman, the agency that also brought us last year’s interactive viral hit from Tipp-Ex. They’re expanding on the concept of viral video by adding interactive options for the audience, which can increase the viewer’s engagement and desire to share. Their work has been genuinely pioneering and will also undoubtedly accelerate the creation of more interactive video advertising.
We call it “the weirdness,” because we can’t think of a better name for it. It’s a video style that strikes a balance between what’s uncomfortable and what’s funny to make it near impossible not to share with friends. Several brands are starting to figure it out, and they’re going viral in big numbers.
The most recent example of this comes from Juicy Fruit. They’ve been using a “serenading unicorn” as an online video spokesperson for some time now, and their latest ad featuring Sarah Silverman has taken off:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqSwUoP1NK0
It starts out weird… but then moves into creepy overdrive at the end – a nice touch. Audiences love this stuff, as evidenced by a recent runaway viral hit from Skittles:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDlaJlb1ezg&feature=youtu.be
Not to be outdone, Quiznos got in on the creepy/uncomfortable video action as well, with this spot for their new Chicken Bacon Dipper:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chSroPOzzYc&feature=youtu.be
We can’t forget Snickers, who scored a Halloween hit last year with their decidedly creepy Grocery Store Lady commercial:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgSv1SKCteQ
While it’s nice to see more brands moving into this realm of video advertising, this isn’t an altogether new concept. Burger King has been doing this kind of thing for years, both with the infamous Subservient Chicken as well as ads like this one:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4_5qoy4oaQ
You’ll often companies talk about passive sales, or passive income. This is when a business does such a great job that their customers help spread the word for them and in the process drum up new leads and business.
There has probably never been a better medium for companies to generate passive income than online video. Case in point, this week there is a video making the rounds called “25 Years of Pixar Animation.” It contains clips from all of Pixar’s movies and short films, and is one giant love letter to the worlds and characters the animation studio has created.
And it was created by a fan. Check it out:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBH1dcHoL6Y
That video would be popular and gain viral traction even if it had come from Pixar–and you can probably assume the studio has their own 25th-Anniversary video in the works. But when a brand can create fans as passionate as this guy, simply by doing what they do very well, it creates a much more authentic (and free) marketing opportunity.
It doesn’t always have to be a gushing tribute like the Pixar homage. Sometimes brands are happy just to have fans talking about and showing off their products. Apple is a great example of this, and they reap millions of dollars in free advertising from fan-made clips like these:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIjBqFMwM08
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFWgyJv_JrA
Don’t tell me Rockstar Games is disappointed about these fan-made Grand Theft Auto 4 videos either:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Drp9o4E7G7U
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Piu8__SBYlo
Online video has power for brands that extends far beyond just the content the brands themselves create. As video becomes the dominant medium for expression online, brands that create passionate fans are the ones most likely to benefit.
Every so often, a branded online video is simply too good, too beautiful and too clever to neatly categorize. It is fundamentally “art.” The fact that it comes from a brand is testament to why the emerging social video industry is such a game changer for both art and advertising.
Docomo, a Japanese mobile company, recently posted a new video to celebrate its new wooden-case mobile device design called the Touch Wood SH-08C. Take a look at the serene & mesmerizing clip:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_CDLBTJD4M
Now imagine how long it would take you plan and build that ramp….
But it’s not the first visually stunning, artistic viral clip from a brand. In fact, Sony earned a spot in the viral hall of fame with one of the earliest branded viral videos on YouTube, the Bravia “Bouncy Balls” ad:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Bb8P7dfjVw
Sony actually had an entire series of Bravia ads that veered toward the artistic, like this paint-explosion spot:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GURvHJNmGrc
More recently, Target got all experimental with a Fashion Week event showcasing a light and fashion show across the facade of a New York office building:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H7J4FywkXE
That Target ad was recently chosen by TED as one of the “Ads Worth Spreading”–a program to reward branded video that stretches the boundaries of the format–as was this awesome time-lapse video from Dulux:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGOQNGkpxko
And to date it back just a bit, we thought we’d include one of the masters of brand art, Alphonse Mucha (yeah, we know it’s not a video, but he didn’t really have the option in the late 1800′s):
These ads are more than just marketing pieces… they’re instances of artistic expression. And because of that they are some of the most effective marketing vehicles we’ve even seen.
Air New Zealand is making waves this week with an unconventional pre-flight video starring Richard Simmons. Describing it doesn’t really do it justice; you’ll have to see it to get the full effect:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iaTEgoezNQ
In addition to being hilarious, it gets passengers to pay attention to the warnings and tips–something most airlines have struggled to do for decades. (And it’s racking up views.)
But it’s not the first airline to make a unique pre-flight video. Virgin America beat them to the punch with an animated clip a few years ago. It’s a little less wacky, and never climbed higher than 10,000 views on YouTube.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-Q7ZapXFT8
But pre-flight videos aren’t the only way airlines are making use of YouTube. Another airline took to the web with a video this week, with a radically different approach. This one is from Alaska Air and Horizon Air, in a joint apology from both company presidents for a recent major disruption in flights:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD_cce6kkCY
It’s great to see Alaska & Horizon embracing online video to speak directly to customers. These videos represent a stark shift in the mindset of the major airlines with regard to online video, and comes after several instances of consumer-created viral clips that spread negative buzz about airlines.
You might remember director Kevin Smith, and his videos railing against Southwest Airlines after they forced him off a flight for being too large to fit in a single seat:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjESoE0STMw
Of course, who can forget the amateur singer whose guitar was damaged on a United flight, and the ensuing viral hit, “United Breaks Guitars”:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo
The airline industry is shifting from being mostly reactive to online video to being proactive. Having their own voice in online video can help them retain some measure of control over their online image and reputation.
The DoneRight Jr. recently earned its name in viral video lore. They set up (and rehearsed and choreographed) an elaborate music video designed to take place during a Chatroulette video chat session. The video, only two days old, is already at half a million views. Check it out:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU1x8Ll62QE
It’s not the first time a musician has used Chatroulette in a viral setting in order to launch a music career. You might remember Merton, who hit the scene with his unique brand of improv musical comedy a little over a year ago:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTwJetox_tU
There’s also a little-known pop star in the music world who got his big break after record execs saw his viral performances:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO1rLvvQabM
Of course, we can’t forget the first band to ride an unexpected viral hit to fame, OK Go:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTAAsCNK7RA
Bands are brands and there is definitely lessons to be learned by large advertisers from some of the big viral music video hits. Incredibly, bands can launch their fame overnight with a video that goes truly viral. Is there a science to how this is being done? We’ll continue to investigate….
A new video from Adidas hit the web last Thursday and is poised to see some viral action. It’s a video of a live event the athletic brand held outside the Pharo Palace building in Marseille, France.
It’s an elaborate 3D presentation that is projected on the building’s surface, and the results are pretty impressive–particularly the early moments, where the building itself appears to break apart into pieces. Take a look:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwX94-aGLQc
Here’s another angle, presumably shot by a fan in the audience:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frxGhYykxnI
Though it’s very cool, it’s not the first time a brand has done something like this. As part of a special anniversary celebration in late 2010, Ralph Lauren transformed the building at 888 Madison Avenue in New York City using 3D video projection:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3n8j2uWA8o
And back in late 2009, Sony Ericsson projected a video performance onto the facade of the Vilnius City Town Hall in Lithuania:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtuW1S0M7aY
More recently, Target won acclaim for their Kaleidoscopic Fashion Spectacular, which made use of dancers, a light show, digital projection, and a 20-story building:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H7J4FywkXE
As video continues to grow and adapt and become an even more flexible medium, we’re going to see more and more brands experimenting with how video can interact with our environment. Holding events like these provides a memorable experience for those in attendance, but can then also go on to a longer marketing life as a viral video.
We love Improv Everywhere. The improvisational comedy group got their start online with a series of now-famous flash-mob videos like the Frozen Grand Central Station masterpiece and the Best Buy video. Somewhat gradually, they’ve moved into an area more properly defined as “social experimentation,” as with last year’s Ghostbusters-in-the-library hit or their latest work, called Worst Ice Skater Ever:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKMxhmUsac4
We’re big fans of their brand of humor–it takes people by surprise, but it’s not mean-spirited and the audience always ends up getting in on the laughter.
We’re not the only one taking notice of this phenomenon. Coca-Cola, for instance, has been on a bit of a social-experimentation kick lately. It started last year, with the original Coca-Cola Happiness Machine video:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqT_dPApj9U
But instead of just doing a one-off video, Coke is turning this idea into a full-fledged campaign. They recreated the Happiness Machine experiment in London:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0D3jKLz6sA
And just in the past few weeks, they’ve taken the concept global with videos in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVap-ZxSDeE
And the Philippines:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiu9PcEyQ5Y
Coke isn’t the only brand adopting the social-experiment method of viral marketing (T-Mobile had a huge hit this past holiday season with Welcome Back), but they may be the only ones taking it to these extremes. And we think it’s pretty awesome. This is true branded entertainment and a good lesson on how advertising can tell a great story and get audiences to participate. Brilliant!
Chalk one up for the video innovation category.
The Black Eyed Peas have released an iPhone & iPad app that does something I have never seen before: merges a music video with augmented reality. The app, called BEP360, will give fans a unique 360-degree music video experience that is intended simulate partying with the band. As the video plays (for their new song “The Time”), users can literally turn their body around in a full circle, and the music video will pan around with it, giving the feel that you’re in the middle of the action, controlling the camera.
Check out the behind-the-scenes video showing how the band created this incredibly inventive music video:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlzUXnpjItw
The viewing experience for something like this is truly unique–no two users will have an identical experience. That is a very good start for giving fans something they can really engage with and most likely, share.
I saw my first tilt-shift video over two years ago. It was “Beached by Keith Loutit,” and I had to watch it multiple times to even get my head around what I was seeing. Take a look:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9_dNW_3Mbc
Tilt shift is a type of photography that results in footage that simulates a miniature scene. The effect it produces can be quite mesmerizing, especially when complemented by a good soundtrack.
And now brands are getting in on the act–in particular, vacation-destination brands like Disney, who has created several tilt-shift videos of their theme parks and cruise lines:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyZfIlxwsfI
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6pTRcVuoRA
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOZa7zDz8EI
Even smaller brands are realizing the appeal and potential for tilt-shift videos, like Whistler Blackcomb, a ski resort in Whistler, Canada:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDBc0tfCM14
Of course, my favorite tilt shift video is still the monster truck rally, which isn’t even from a brand. But it’s entirely too much fun to watch a miniature fire-breathing Truck-a-saurus scamper around a miniature arena:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKll6EXjqd8
For the first several years of online video’s boom, most brands took the logical route of syndicating their television commercials online. Gradually, though, brands have started embracing the creative freedom (and longer runtimes) afforded by online video, and have begun to create original, unique, and terribly entertaining videos specifically for that venue and that audience.
And with a new series of commercials from Hyundai, we may finally have come full circle. Hyundai hired a couple of viral video stars–the musical group Pomplamoose–to serve as their holiday spokespersons. You may have seen the commercials like this one:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c7YR2eJq_4
Now, instead of old television commercials being repurposed as “viral videos,” we have viral video stars being hired to help make better television commercials.
This interview with the band says that not only did Hyundai make a bold leap by hiring the YouTube stars, but they also gave the pair complete and total creative freedom.
“They were actually awesome to work with. They totally let us do our thing. In our contract, it specified that they were not allowed to be in the room while we were filming, which was amazing. If we have 10 people breathing down our neck and we have to wait for somebody to adjust a light while we want to do our shot, it’s not going to be as fun and spontaneous. They let us do our thing, they let us have complete creative control over the whole song and the videos. We gave them songs, they didn’t have a single comment on the arrangements, or the singing, or the instruments — nothing.”
While this is not the first time a brand has hired a YouTube star to help market their company, the creative license given to the Youtube stars seems to be pretty unprecedented.
But did this accomplish anything? You might ask. Well the YouTube version of the Hyundai television spot (embedded above) is over half a million views… meaning that the television commercial featuring viral stars has itself now gone viral. Just sayin’….
What makes an online brand video campaign a huge viral success? (Hint: it’s not posting a typical 30-second TV ad on YouTube and letting the magical viral power of the web do the rest.) Consumers demand much more than that. Consequently, the divide between branded video content and pure advertisement is causing a shift in marketing strategy.
In a recent article by eMarketer, Geoff Ramsey stated, “Next year, marketers will need to rethink their approach to advertising and marketing and intensify their focus on creating magnetic content that will naturally attract consumers, rather than relying solely on the interruption model of advertising, which consumers are responding to less and less.” Marketers must adapt this approach and align their media strategy to meet consumers’ expectations to ensure campaign success. But what is it that separates ads from branded videos?
The answer is content. Content matters. Let’s face it – unless you’re in the industry, you’re not going to be discussing Advil’s latest ad campaign over cocktails with your friends. But advertisers that create branded video content are able to transcend cultural norms and inspire conversation pieces among friends and family. This somewhat contradictory marketing approach is hard for marketers to grasp, as they are forced to wave goodbye to the ever-popular “Sell, sell, sell” school of thought. But there is a way of creating viral videos that go beyond pure sales pitches.
Take Zicam’s latest campaign featuring Estelle Harris, Florence Henderson, and Meredith Baxter.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot0HMo4a87Q
Famous TV moms from Seinfeld, The Brady Bunch, & Family Ties fight cold myths…really? The Zicam Mom Squad video was the epitome of cheesy, but people loved it because it evoked a sense of nostalgia. Soon enough, every social media outlet was littered with, “Watch this awesome video! I love Estelle!” or “Florence is hilarious…check this out!”
It is the difference between slapping an ad in front of someone and forcing him/her to watch versus creating entertainment that a person voluntarily engages with. While Ramsey brings forth an excellent point about marketer’s having to rethink their digital approach, I have to disagree in one respect – they should’ve been rethinking their approach last year. Branded video content deserves a plush, leather seat at the table of 2011 marketing budget meetings, rather than the back seat it’s been given in years’ past.
One of the most reliable and effective methods for brands to sell their products through traditional television advertising is the use of demonstration. If you can simply and clearly show off how well your product does its intended job, that can sometimes speak louder than a celebrity endorsement or a lot of flashy special effects.
An even better tactic is to show how much better your product performs than its flashy competitor.
A fine example of comparative demonstration going viral is the new video from BlackBerry highlighting their new Playbook tablet’s advantages over the iPad:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s72rGDUn2uo
The video is deceptively simple. No effects, no fancy graphics, and no gimmicks. Just two products, side-by-side, demonstrating their respective abilities to render web pages.
And already it has cracked one million views.
Why? Because of the brutal honesty of the video (we are assuming they didn’t get cheeky and run them on different Wifi networks). It’s a great example of how authenticity wins when it comes to marketing these days. Don’t tell the world how you are better, show it.
Even in the world of viral video, the simplest ideas are often the most effective.
The world of viral video marketing has the reputation of being a bit unpredictable. When something relies on the actions of many, there are a lot of variables. Plenty of great videos have failed to go viral, because viral potential isn’t based solely on content. Content is crucial—any aspiring viral video producer should heed the oft-repeated Internet adage that “content is king” – but there is a queen to content’s kingship, and you better be familiar with her if you are looking to make your videos get viral pick-up.
Through our work on numerous branded viral videos has revealed a blueprint of sorts for viral success. As our own Dan Greenberg recently shared with the Mashable community, every viral hit has at least three ingredients in common:
That sounds like a fancy university exam term, but it’s really pretty simple. People tend to share video content for one of three common psychological reasons: emotions, identity and self-expression, and information.
If people have an emotional reaction to your video, be it tears, laughter, anger, or shock, they’re more likely to share it than they would be without that emotional response. We’re also more prone to share things we identify with, as a way of making a subconscious statement about our beliefs and ideals—this is why politically-themed videos, for example, are such lightning rods for social media activity. Finally, audiences tend to share videos that educate and enlighten them, opening their eyes to previously unknown facts, such as nonprofit campaigns or optical illusions.
Your video needs to be easily shareable. Sites like YouTube, that have many social layers built into the community, offer viewers many ways to connect with friends to distribute favorite clips. Then there are the new slate of social video sites, such as Buzzfeed, that are built from the ground up around the concept that video is best when shared.
But video advertising is also moving rapidly in the direction of sharability, with interactive video units that allow viewers to instantly share a great ad with friends with a single click. Advertisers that eschew these new forms of video advertising may be missing huge opportunities to let their message spread virally.
Too many video producers are flying blind when it comes to their work. Decisions on which video portal to use and what marketing outlets to take advantage of are being made on gut instinct rather than on hard data. Which can be costly. Savvy creators will seek out data on the social behavior of their targeted audience and what type of sites produce the most sharing of their brand of content. You can’t just ‘post and pray’ any more, especially when we’re seeing more and more actionable data every day.
Understanding the common technological and emotional triggers that cause consumers to share content with their friends is key to going viral. Content is King when it comes to going viral, but technology and audience insight is his Queen.
I can’t click on a magazine ad. I’m not able to “like” your television commercial. And I can’t ReTweet your awesome radio spot.
There is power in sharing, and it can lead to great marketing impact for a brand that is willing to embrace the creativity of online video and the culture of social media.
To quantify some of the impact of social video advertising, Sharethrough recently partnered with Vizu to measure the results of an online video series that was created for the launch of a new video game. The campaign was built around a series of online video episodes that acted as a prequel to the video game itself, telling the back-story of the game’s characters and events while also teasing what was to come. The final episode in the series ended in the exact spot of the story where the actual game would pick up.
Vizu’s real-time online brand advertising effectiveness platform, called Ad Catalyst, allows advertisers to see hard data on how well their online marketing efforts are going. Dan Beltramo, Vizu’s CEO, says it best:
“Online video, social media, and viral marketing are some of the hottest topics in online advertising. At the end of the day, however, the same rules apply – advertisers need proof these tactics are driving the desired result, Brand Lift, in order to justify continued investment. We’re excited to have had the opportunity to work with Sharethrough to provide this proof.”
And provide proof, they did. Because of Vizu’s participation, we were able to have independent verification of what we at Sharethrough already knew: that brand video content shared through social media can drive awareness, engagement, and sales.
Specifically, Vizu’s research showed a 110% lift in consumers’ intent to purchase the game after discovering and watching the videos. And consumers who had exposure to the campaign were more than twice as likely to want to buy the game as those who were not. Allow those numbers to sink in a bit; they’re kind of staggering.
We believe in the power of online video to grab the viewer’s attention and deliver a message. And we believe in the power of social media to help online videos find their optimal viewers. These are foundational, core beliefs at Sharethrough. And though we’ve seen plenty of proof in recent years that our theories about online video were correct, it is nice to have a respected branding expert like Vizu come along and verify our convictions with hard data.
Most Hollywood film studios are in business to make money. While they deal in an artistic medium, the art they produce still needs to bring in paying customers in order for the studios to continue making great films into the future. It should be no surprise, then, that the film industry has been one of the most aggressive in embracing and leveraging social media for marketing purposes.
Variety’s two-day Film Marketing Summit this week saw a lot of the conversations among attendees veer toward this very topic. Since social media continues to evolve into new sites and experiences, there are a lot of varying theories on how it can best be used for movie marketing. The film industry largely agrees that social media can help drive awareness for a film, but there is no clear consensus yet on the best way to use it.
In an article this week entitled Social Media Gains Virility, Variety explores the issue in more depth, with insight from movie marketers, journalists, and our own CEO, Dan Greenberg. It’s a great read—even if our boss wasn’t mentioned in the article—and offers a unique look at how some of the minds in Hollywood are viewing social media.
Not surprisingly, there seems to be a perception that social media is just another new genre of advertising, taking its place in line behind television, radio, websites, and print. The reality is that it’s an entirely different animal altogether, and one with considerably more power.
The real goal of movie marketing has always been—and still is—word of mouth. Twenty years ago, if you saw a movie you liked, you’d tell your friends or coworkers about it. This would likely pique their interest enough to turn them into a potential viewer.
The goal remains the same today. The best-performing films are the ones that people talk about with their friends and family. The news of the movie’s greatness spreads “virally.” But what social media offers Hollywood that no other form of marketing ever has, is the ability for the consumer to act immediately.
It used to be that good word of mouth from viewers only happened in social settings—parties, classes, church, or work. You’d bump into a friend, get to chatting, and say, “Oh hey, have you seen that new Social Network movie? It’s awesome!” And if Hollywood was lucky, your friend would end up filled with enough curiosity to go and see the movie themselves.
In today’s world of social networking websites and services, however, people don’t have to wait for social occasions to mention their recent positive film-going experience… because Facebook is a 24-hour-a-day perpetual social occasion. And more than that, it’s a way to share your opinions and favorite things with your entire social circle all at once, rather than one-by-one as you happen to see them.
We’re big believers in the power of sharing—it’s how we got our name. We believe that social media offers something beyond the standard click-through—a share-through—and it’s ten times more powerful. Now instead of measuring the chances for success in subscription counts, clicks, or pageviews—all of which are passive measurements that give no insight to the consumer’s engagement level—studios can begin measuring the “share-through” rate of movie marketing campaigns to get a much clearer picture of how serious the potential audience really is about seeing the film.
Referrals have been the Holy Grail of businesses for ages. When your existing customers are doing your marketing for you, then you know you’re on the fast-track to growth and success. As the Variety article mentions, high grossing movies such as “The Karate Kid” and “Eat Pray Love,” both ran promotional campaigns with Sharethrough that yielded impressive share-through rates.
I have to chuckle inside whenever I hear someone make a distinction between web videos created by brands and viral videos created by amateurs, as though there’s something less respectable about a viral success if it came from a brand.
It’s similar to when my wife groans about product placement advertisements in the midst of her favorite show—Top Chef does this all the time with the brand logos they feature. I just don’t really understand why we draw a line between entertainment and advertising. Because your favorite television show actually is a brand as well. And one that is no less interested in making money off of you than the advertisers with whom they make product placement deals.
We believe that brands should be celebrated for producing inspiring and engaging video content.
There was a time when advertising actually led the charge in pushing the boundaries of print and filmed entertainment. Before television and film had cemented themselves at the top of the entertainment food chain, the ads were just as inventive and creative as the content they chose to advertise on. They used to set the trends for the rest of the “unbranded” content we consumed. And I believe that brand video content is going to allow a resurgence of this… a return to prominence for brands that want to be on the bleeding edge of what video entertainment is and can be.
Brands have a lot of resources at their disposal that individual video creators do not: money, time, experience, creative departments, etc. They’re able to push the limits of what video is and can be in ways that you and I alone cannot.
A few examples have surfaced lately of viral video offerings from brands that are really thinking outside the box, and I wanted to highlight a few. At the end of the day, the average video viewer online just wants to be entertained. And I think these brands are at the front of the pack in embracing a new kind of content—one that is every bit as focused on entertainment as it is on branding.
Google has been creating some fantastic videos lately, beginning in February with the Parisian Love spot that ran during the Super Bowl. They’ve since put out a cool series of imaginative spots for Chrome and Chrome Extentions—I’m especially fond of the Chrome Fastball ad that is part-video and part-quiz.
With this week’s announcement and release of Google Instant—the new search interface that shows real-time changing results as you type your query—they’ve upped the ante on branded viral content again. In this latest ad, they take the famous video from the classic Bob Dylan song “Subterranean Homesick Blues”—the one where he holds the cue cards and flips through them as the lyrics fly by—and used that as the basis for showing off how Google Instant works. Check it out:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcm0rG8EKXI
Clever, humorous, and best of all… it showcases the product they’re trying to promote. I believe in the nirvana that exists when a brand and the viewer can both walk away from a video feeling like their goals were accomplished, and I think this is a fine example of that holy grail.
There have been thousands of articles on thousands of websites about the online marketing coup that Old Spice pulled off this year. And while I could certainly use the Old Spice Man commercials—or even the hundreds of personalized clips he made back in July– as a fine example of branded viral content, I would instead like to point out their first new Internet video that doesn’t feature Old Spice Man (whose contract was apparently up).
This new spot landed online this week, and features the same ridiculously over-the-top style, only this time our host is Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxqlw3cKZHA
Old Spice is clearly aiming to be memorable through absurdity, and I’m pretty sure it’s working. Their commercials are exceedingly entertaining and have a huge cult following online. I haven’t once heard anyone suggest that they would like the videos if only they weren’t commercials for body wash. Instead, the clips are almost universally praised for their strange and fresh new approach. Videos like this are more than advertisements, and they’re more than entertaining vignettes… they’re something new altogether, which is what lands Old Spice on this list of brands that are busting conventions with their online video offerings.
One of my favorite online video groups is Improv Everywhere. They take harmless pranks to a whole new level. Typically they mess with the conventions people have by staging large group demonstrations—a flash mob of people riding the subway in their underwear, for example, or reenacting a Ghostbusters scene in the New York Public Library. The payoff for these videos is seeing the reactions and facial expressions of the spectators nearby.
And they’ve inspired tons of other content creators to make similar hidden-camera-type documentary clips—like this clever social experiment involving dollar bills pinned to a tree.
And now some brands are starting to get in on the act. You might remember the hidden-camera clip called Piano Stairs, which was created by Volkswagen to help promote the notion that being healthy can also be fun (they have an entire series of these videos, and all of them are excellent and tons of fun).
And this week we have another major brand offering their own twist on the Improv Everywhere model: Ikea. Ikea decided to release 100 cats inside one of their European stores just to see what would happen. Thankfully for us, they put that footage on YouTube for all of us to enjoy. Take a look:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCB7RqGS684
I wish I could have been sitting in on that pitch meeting for the video, just to hear the executives’ initial reactions to the concept. “You want to do what in one of our stores?”
And yet the end result of the video is undeniably entertaining. Maybe on paper it was a harder sell—and I applaud the Ikea people for daring to step so far outside the boundaries of traditional advertising on this one.
Sometimes in order to create something that pushes an entire industry or genre in a new direction, you have to be willing to be considered crazy. I’m sure the people who originally dreamt up this spot—along with brain behind the Old Spice Man commercials—know exactly what I’m talking about.
As more brands are putting on their “entertainment hats” and creating inspired, engaging, shareable video content, the content that those brands create is quickly becoming a central and defining part of our culture.
