GOING VIRAL!
Brands these days are utilising the massive worldwide audiences of social networking and video sharing sites like MySpace and YouTube to create "viral" video ads. Viral video ads, so called because they spread like a virus on the internet, are made to catch people's attention with something out of the ordinary, something totally crazy but totally cool. Many times people won't be able to tell if they are real or not cause the videos tend to be grainy and shaky amateur styles- making you believe they were filmed by some random dude on the street. Most of the time the brand behind the ad is not overtly mentioned in the video but rather hidden somewhere in the background. The idea being that the video will be viewed by so many people (go viral!) that eventually someone is bound to do some research and figure out who's behind it.
The whole point of these videos from the brand's point of view is to try to ingrain their own brand in pop-culture, to make themselves relevant and stand out from the pack. They are able to create a sense of community through the shared excitment of the video's viral effect. People feel like they are a part of a secret tribe of sorts and they can choose who they want to join. In other words, the brand is basically saying to their audience "Look, we know you, we undertand you, join us, be a part of our tribe, why you say? well check this out- we are cool too". Whether it all translates to sales is another story, but hey when you're getting millions of hits on your viral video ad that can't be a bad thing right?!
Check out a few cool examples below of viral videos. The Quiksilver video had something like 10 million plus hits. Pretty crazy.
Ecko tagged George Bush's Air Force One in this one! Viral video ads usually look budget, but I think this one cost Ecko a fair bit of cash to make.
Quiksilver invented "Dynamite Surfing" in this one. There was rumours that some kids were trying to couple this stunt- idiots.
These two guys played the world's largest Space Invaders game- on a office building. It's not really an ad (unless Space Invaders is trying to make a comeback), but it is super cool. I wonder who's going to take this idea and run with it?!
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