I’m not sure if this was intended to be a viral video, but it sure is good enough to be one. Notice the nice editing job. I bet that the only thing Michael Cera was ever cast for was this viral video. If this indeed is a fake video, it’ll be interesting to see how the public reacts to it. Historically, deceptive viral campaigns haven’t always worked out.
It’s also worth checking out the movie’s microsite called Knocked Up Baby Maker. It allows visitors to upload two pictures to see what would happened if the two people produced on baby. It ain’t pretty.
Move over 50 Cent, Ice-Tea and even Vanilla Ice. Here comes Rapcat!
To coincide with their TV commercial, Checkers Drive-In Restaurants has developed a cool little microsite called Rapcat.
Featuring an urban-hip cat puppet, visitors are treated to music, pictures, bio, video, merchandise, wallpaper, icons, a fan club and soon to be released ring tones and screensaver. Rapcat even has his own MySpace page.
In the extra section they also have a CGM push. They want visitors to submit pictures or videos of their own your cat rockin’ out to Rapcat.
Panasonic has launched an amusing little microsite to promote it’s durable line of laptops. It reminds me a lot of the Samsonite’s gorilla ad from 1969. As silly and stupid as the videos are, they definitely do their job. Panasonic doesn’t bore you with statistics, specs, or marketing fluff. Is simply shows you a Chimpanzee abusing their laptop. They even have a funny screensavers for you to download. How can you not love chimps!
In the realm of extremely stupid but I can’ stop watching it, comes a video from Samsung. In an effort to promote their ultra slim phones, they have developed a microsite and video that demonstrates…I guess how slim their phones are.
It’s an entertaining video; however, I think they could have done so much more with the microsite. Right now it simply has a few pictures and a statement telling us that no bugs were harmed in the making of this movie (nice to know). They could have added screensavers, wallpaper, tell-a-friend button, or a game based on the video. Double the viral! A viral video that leads to a viral game. Nice!
Lastly…and this is mainly for my own benefit…I wish they’d start a group on instructables.com to show us how they built the catapult. That is one cool contraption!
Warner Brothers, with the help of 42 Entertainment, has recently launched a very impressive viral campaign to promote The Dark Knight (the next installment in the Batman franchise). This promotion incorporates outdoor ads and a few cryptic websites to produce something quite intriguing. A great step-by-step rundown of this campaign can be found at Pronet Advertising. What I really find interesting about this campaign is how they fueled the viral wave with human curiosity.
After providing an email address, the visitor is rewarded with an email containing a unique link. This link allows the visitor to remove one pixel from the site. Each visitor is only allowed to remove one pixel. That’s how the a viral wave begins to build. In just one day, thousands of pixels where removed! Shortly after that, the mystery was revealed. The new Joker will be Heath Ledger.
I love it! They developed a mystery that can only be solved if visitors get their friends involved. I love when viral campaigns directly tie the payoff to the act of spreading the message!
With a whole lot of emails in their database, joker cards popping up in major cities, and the URL www.seeyouindecember.com already registered, I think the game has just begun. I can’t wait for the sequel…to the viral campaign.
To help promote the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean movie, Disney has produced a number of products designed around the movie’s theme. I have no problem with this approach. What I found laughable is the packaging on the sunscreen bottle.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen such badly thought out designs. They’ve managed to make it about as attractive as a cigarette carton! The picture on the left truly doesn’t do it justice. I saw it in a store a few days ago and it’s just plain creepy. I think the label does more to “help prevent premature aging and skin cancer from the sun” than the actual sunscreen. Since a large majority of us associate sunbathing with the potential risk of cancer and even death, perhaps Disney should have used something more gentle. Maybe a jolly parrot?
The current label is more suited for rat poison than sunscreen. Aarrrrr, do you have rats on your ship? Well then mate, you need Jack Sparrow’s special brew. Aarrrr, you need to buy Pirates of the Caribbean rat poison - now with SPF 30. Aarrrr!
Colbert as Case Study
Examples of how Stephen Colbert and his show use viral marketing to increase ratings…and his ego. Also check out my post on one of this marketing tactics.
This month the Church of Scientology posted a video of reporter Alan Johnston yelling at a Scientology member. The church has posted this video on YouTube because they want people to add their name to a BBC petition to fire the reporter. Last I checked, the video had over 750,000 views.
In fairness, here is a video where the Panorama Editor defends BBC journalist’s outburst against Tommy Davis from Scientology. For a balanced view, it’s definitely worth a look.
If you’ve ever seen Criss Angel’s show, you know that his tricks are dramatic, surprising, and well thought out. This viral is no exception. Although we’ve all seen personalized campaigns before, Criss’s venture into the viral is still impressive to watch.
The whole point of this minisite is to freak your friends out. I like this approach because for the visitor to gain any benefit from this minisite they have to send it to someone. As the “freaker” it’s easy to see how the trick is done; however, for your friend it should still be kind of freaky.
By simply entering your friends name and phone number you will get a link to a customized video (which can only be watched one time!). In the video, Criss will “attempt” to guess your friend’s name (or part of it) and, using playing cards, will reveal their phone number.
Here’s the part that freaked me out…if you don’t want me to spoil it for you, stop reading and click here. After I watched the video (I was my own friend), I received a call on my phone. It was a recorded message from Criss Angel telling me about his show.
UPDATE: Apparently this viral campaign has increased ratings by 18%. more stats
Sears.ca Wishbook Campaign leaves me feeling like Scrooge
A great critique of Sears’s new CGM (Consumer Generated Media) campaign. Kate Trgovac, a social media guru, also provides some fantastic suggestions on how the campaign could have been improved.
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May 31st, 2007 by 
Edward Dron
1 Comment »
