Marketing Hipster

For some great work we have coming up with a client, I have been doing some homework and trying to find some of the best viral marketing campaigns ever done. Most people feel that viral only came around since the birth of the internet. That could not be farther from the truth. There have been many different viral campaigns utilized through the years, but they were just called something different back then.

One of my favorites which a co-worker had to remind me about was “The Art of the H3ist” campaign done for Audi by McKinney and Silver and a number of other agencies. Do you remember this one? If you need a refresher or want to learn all about it, McKinney has a whole web site dedicated to it here.

The campaign was amazing, it involved so many different mediums, from TV, radio, web, newspaper, classifieds and word of mouth. I wanted to get your opinions on what do you think are some of the best viral campaigns done to date? I would love to get everyone’s thoughts. Thanks!

Technorati Tags: viral marketing, viral, The Art of the H3ist, Audi, McKinney and Silver

I apologize for the lack of posting today folks, it just has been one of those crazy days. I just watched this video on YouTube and thought it was absolutely worth posting. This is a prime example of when done correctly, anyone can let their voice and opinions be heard far and wide.

Apologize Rosie, You Loud Mouth!

This past weekend I was reading an article that was discussing how CEO Norman Adami of Miller Brewing Company was proceeding with freezing the pensions of all his hard working employees. Obviously, this is something that the employees are not in favor of and I gather a bit upset over. Well Virginia at Brains on Fire discovered a video on YouTube made and performed by Miller employees expressing their unhappiness.

Now by no means is this video that good to be honest, but it sure brings the issue down to a human level compared to a union press release. Though I do think they missed a great opportunity here. They should of included the CEO’s email address or something that people who watched this video could complain and threaten to stop drinking the company’s beer. The best way to get senior managements’ attention is to threaten their bottom line.

Technorati Tags: Norman Adami, Miller Brewing Company, YouTube

Last night around 10 pm, I am minding my old business catching up on some email with the TV on in the background. I see a Dove commercial come on. If you are new to my blog, I have written several posts on Dove and their interesting online/offline ad campaigns. Dove’s latest commercial which I caught last night consisted of a number of fast cut shots that had what looked like to be naked people. The interesting thing about this commercial was that it was a teaser telling the viewer that if you want to see the actual video, you have to go to Dove’s Pro Age web site.

Now I thought this was great. There are not many large advertisers out there that would spend the money on a 30 second spot with a single goal of enticing a viewer to go to their computer and type in their URL. I gave a silent prop to Dove and Unilever the owner of Dove brand and did actually what they asked, I went to their URL. And what did I find there?

OLD NAKED PEOPLE

Dove has a new product which of course is targeted for older people and their skin. And of course, they have a video of older folks naked with I guess good skin.  Can you tell they have good skin from these shots?

Does it seem to you that as the population is getting older and the baby boomers, who are the folks with the cash, are hitting retirement age, we are starting to see truth in advertising? At one time, if you were selling anything from clothing, makeup and skin care to cars and electronics, all you saw were beautiful folks. Is Madison Avenue starting to realize that if you want to reach users, you are going to have to show them and communicate to them in way that will strike a chord with them?

What do you think? Will showing “real” people like Dove is doing here have more of an impact and increase sales or does fantasy still sell best?

Technorati Tags: Dove, naked people, Unilever

I might be coming late to the party on this one. This weekend, I saw a video on YouTube by a 15 year old kid named DaxFlame. This video, which is below, made me watch all 25 or so of his videos and I cannot figure out if this kid is for real or not. Either this is the greatest written fake Vlog with the kid deserving an Academy Award or this kid is for real. If he is for real and I think he is, I really do not have the words to fully express all my feelings on his videos. When I am watching his videos, I feel like the way I feel when driving past a car accident. You know you should not look, but you cannot look away.

Let me know if you think this is real or not.

Technorati Tags: YouTube, DaxFlame, video

There seems to be this belief that utilizing Web 2.0 marketing tactics like word of mouth, social media and viral video is only effective if you are a B2C company. Seth Godin posted a link to these videos that show that videos, if done well, can absolutely attract attention even if you are a B2B company.

The only question would be whether it is attracting the right people’s attention? I would be very interested to know what kind of true leads they have developed from these videos.

Technorati Tags: viral video, B2C, B2B

Doritos ran a Superbowl contest where users could submit their own commercials and the winners commercial was played during the Superbowl. The winner of the contest just happened to be a group of 21 year olds from where I live now, Cary, North Carolina. If have not seen the commercial, you can view it below.

I have been reading this morning all these posts from “advertising executives” that the quality of this user generated commercial and user generated commercials in general are no where close to the professionally done ones. Here are some responses:

“The Doritos user-generated ad wasn’t our choice, but got great laughs. It just needs a stronger ending.”

“Doritos. User generated content. Don’t give up your day job. …”

“Doritos user-generated spot: I hope this commercial finally dispels the myth of user- generated content, and most importantly as a submission-based campaign. It doesn’t work. These spots aren’t good, or funny, and there is a reason people get paid to make ads for a living.”

Quotes were found here.

My response: Please… The Doritos commercial which was made for less than $15 dollars proves that content can be created on par with commercials that are created by big advertising agencies for millions upon millions of dollars. Tell me 5 commercials that aired last night that were significantly better than the Doritos commercial?

Technorati Tags: Doritos, Superbowl contest, commercial

I would be willing to put down a small wager that GoDaddy.com‘s goal is to get their commercials banned from being played on the Superbowl. I think they get a great deal more publicity before and after for posting their banned videos online compared to the money they would have to spend actually airing a Superbowl commercial. Anyhow, below is this years banned ad, it is totally tame compared to years past and in my opinion, it’s not that funny either. The way I see it, Godaddy.com needed to either have attractive women in scantily clad outfits or it needed to be funny. This unfortunately has neither.

Technorati Tags: GoDaddy.com, Superbowl commercial

I wrote in a previous post, how we cannot forget or take for granted what an amazing time we are living in. How technology has given everyone who wants their voice to be heard an opportunity to do so. I guess it was a coincidence that I wrote that last night and this morning I stumbled upon an amazing video that really drove the point home. I recommend everyone watch this. I know it is a bit long, but if you don’t watch it all the way through you will really be missing out. Many thanks to Sean as I found this video on his excellent blog.

I am sure many of you have seen this already. A video of a spoiled girl who gets a new car but because it is red, she does not want it. It got all kinds of attention on YouTube. Here it is if you want to see it:

Anyhow, I just learned today that this was the first part of a three part viral video series for Dominos Pizza. I cannot find the last video where they reveal it. If you happen to know where it is, can you post it in the comments. The first video was good, the second and third went downhill dramatically.

Technorati Tags: spoiled girl, YouTube, viral video