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- And now that fashion brands are involved, we've relabeled the flashmob FlashWalk.
- Want to be Phamous in Vegas? Oops, that's another casino's thing. Anyway, Mandalay Bay has launched the Untamed Adventure Contest. Facebook. Untamed moments. Compromising positions. Pictures. Prizes.
- Dear PR people: Don't lie. You don't want to "gauge my interest." You want me to give you press. There's no need for code words.
- Please Hire Us. Crispin Porter + Bogusky interns beg for jobs. Complete with retro flashing logo.
- If you somehow missed it during the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, here's the :90 Michael Bay-directed commercial for your viewing pleasure.
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So by now you've seen the video of Microsoft Store employees breaking into "spontaneous" dance in their new Mission Viejo store, right? If not, watch it here and then come back.
OK? Was that the most horrifically forced thing you've ever witnessed? Not that this is news or anything. After all, everything Microsoft does is forced, unnatural and desperate. What's news is the fact the video has been labeled a viral stunt.
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Back in 2006, Wieden + Kennedy created a Honda Civic commercial which had a choir provide the sounds for the car in the ad. It was an amazing feat. Not as amazing as the Honda Cog commercial but much more amazing than this knock off for the Alfa Romeo Mito which is being seeded as a viral.
It's not very funny which is sad becasue everything that involves helium should be funny. Sadly, the singers in this commercials look like Alvin and the Chipmunks in church.
The Denver Egoist shares the story of an underwater billboard hoax/viral/stunt/lie in which Ivar's Seafood Restaurant placed billboards underneath the Puget Sound. They told the media the boards had been placed there in the 50's by Ivar's founder who, as the story goes, thought people would one day travel beneath the Sound in submarines. The founder wanted to make sure his advertising message was there for all to see.
Of course, the story is fake and the boards were placed there just weeks before the story was planted and the boards hauled up. While this hoax/viral/lie was making the rounds, an ad campaign touted the fact Ivar's would roll back its chowder pricing to 1950's levels in celebration of the discovery.
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Trying hard to work in some party girl material before I leave, Heineken is back with the Know The Signs campaign and a Buzz Toolkit. They have a series of clips out where you can roll over parts of scenes which takes you to... more other scenes. Interactive! They have a series of different characters to watch out for. (Except I don't see drunk dad anywhere.) Ennyway, Drunk Pole Dancing looks like a lotta staged viral fun, after the jump. For my money, the Taxi spot is still the best spot I've seen for drinking responsibly.
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"Hi Steve,
Wanted to see if you were planning any holiday shopping stories focused on major retailers' interactive marketing plans for boosting this season's sales."
No.
............................................................................
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Back in the day we'd all watch in awe "viral videos" which showed people doing seemingly unbelievable stunts that would escape the abilities of normal human beings. For a few seconds, we actually believed there were people out there that could do such amazing things as catch sunglasses on their face, jump over moving cars or make amazing basketball shots.
Now, we scoff at the idiocy of brands who shill this shit. Yet, we still watch. We are still amazed. It's like a Saw movie. We don't want to watch but we can't turn away as people are slowly and gruesomely mutilated in new and different ways.
So Samsung is out with a couple a videos to pimp their involvement with the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Purportedly, they were shot by the brand's Mobile Explorers. In one, a skater drills herself into the ice and, in another, a hockey player scores a goal with a 40 pound curling rock.
Both are mildly amusing. Both will get views. Both will not sell any Samsung phones.
Remember when internet memes, internet celebrities and viral videos were all the rage? Oh for the innocence of those early days before the genre was forever tainted by big bad marketers who sucked every last drop of fun out those clips we used to enjoy so much.
For a trip down memory lane, Adland has a video from Judit & Judit and Swedish internet provider Comhem which celebrates all the favorites. Adland notes, "we see references to Mentos & Coke*, Chocolate Rain *, "Leave Britney alone!"*, the Swedish TV host who was suddenly ill on live television *, Nunchuck guy *, The Bad Day Viral (which already spawned it's own viral homage), Ansiktsburk * a turkish song subtitled with what it sounds like in Swedish, ending up being a love poem to "face-cans""
Britney! Mentos/Coke! Star Wars Kid! Chocolate Rain! We miss it all.
If you're going to shoot a "viral" of a hot chick like Yfke Sturm stripping in a limo to pimp your Samsung Allure 5 phone, the least you could do is film it so we could actually see what was going on. Especially when she's got assets like these.
Oh wait. We get it. You shot it to purposefully make us drool for more. It's viral strategy 4,745. Sorry. We should know this stuff by now. Our bad.
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Hello? Hello? The helium-fueled floating viral thing has already been done people! Don't you pay attention to YouTube everyday? Apparently you don't because now you're blowing bubbles with helium and floating into the air like those idiots in the Levi's video.
Oops. Wait. This is different. For Blue Film Production, Rapp France created the video and is pimping to any brand that would like to slap its logo on it with the apparent intention of getting some viral goodness. Trouble is if everyone's already seen the unbranded version, why would anyone want to see a branded version?
As Loren Feldman loves to say, "It doesn't matter." It's all a ruse to get people to check out a case study covering the steps it takes to create a successful viral campaign.
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