Teen Gives Birth on Playground As Students Watch

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Tactic 375 from the book, "How to Guarantee Your Ad Will Get Banned...And Get Seen by Millions" - make an amateur video of a teenage girl giving birth on a Leicester (England) high school field as students crowd around to watch like it's some kind of hair pulling bitch fight.

The clip comes from the National Health Service. As with many "virals," it's unbranded which, as is always the case, makes us wonder, "What's the point?" If you're just going to shock without including any viewpoint, why do it in the first place? Oh right. We can't actually tell people stuff. Then it would be advertising and people hate advertising. So we have to be all sneaky and shit. Hence faux viral clips such as this.

Actually, we should just shut up. Like the reveal of an old school teaser billboard, a branded version of this clip will be seeded later this week.

Created by The Rocket Science Group, the video was seeded by The 7th Chamber Friday and quickly got the boot from YouTube. Predictable, the press are all over it. The Sun. The Guardian. The Leicester Mercury. BrandRepublic.

by Steve Hall    May-18-09    
Topic: Cause, Racy, Video, Viral



Success of 'Signs' Springboards Schweppes into YouTube Top 10

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In a coup to position itself as the refresher of choice for discriminating grown-ups, last year Schweppes Europe launched the Schweppes Short Film Festival.

Like Little Minx's Cadavre Exquis ("Exquisite Cadaver") project, five directors from The Sweet Shop were tasked with creating short human dramas for the 'net, the only requirement being that each film contain a "Schhh Moment."

"Consequently all the shorts make reference to Schweppes at some point, however this product placement is thankfully subtle and clever," says Creative Review, which posted the films on its blog.

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by Angela Natividad    May-14-09    
Topic: Best, Brands, Campaigns, Online, Specialty, Video, Viral



Cheater Video is Actually Boat Promotion. Who Knew?

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"Cheaters" depicts a guy destroying the car and motor home of his cheating wife's beau -- using a boat suspended from a crane.

And in the event you wonder why, just wait for them to talk. Then you'll go "...ohhhh" -- and maybe, if you're like us, you'll have a weird inexplicable desire to watch Deliverance.

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by Angela Natividad    May-13-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Promotions, Video, Viral



Rule of Thumb: Before Molesting Strangers with Nipple Tassles, Be Famous.

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Berlin agency Aimaq Rapp Stolle promotes HEAD's new "Speed" racquet with a little extra-extra action from Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic. Apparently Speed makes him so virile that he manages to run into the aisle and spit game at a blonde before the ball even returns to him.

But "spit game" is an understatement; the guy busts out with balloon animals (which would've been enough to impress us), boy band moves, nipple tassles, and seals (both animal and Navy).

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by Angela Natividad    May- 5-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Celebrity, Sponsorship, Strange, Video, Viral



Nestea Is Liquid Awesomeness. No, It Is, Really.

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"Witness what happens when the awesome power of Nestea collides with the local bowling alley. Get ready for mayhem, hilarity, and just a hint of comical destruction." So says the YouTube description for this real fake viral [post-jump]. "dumb. bad attempt at viral nestea. I like the drink though. You don't need an idiot fake bowling. If that were a real bowling ball, that's what would've made it viral."

So says a comment there.

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by Bill Green    Apr-23-09    
Topic: Viral



Every YouTube Clip Ever Now in One Music Video.

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Sorta. Using YouTube's annotation editor, director Dennis Liu and Krystalline Armendariz animated basically every clip they could find for this Kyle Andrews music video called Sushi. It's all technique tied to the rhythm of the song more than anything relating to the song's lyrical meaning. Wait, unless the feels so real lyrics actually does play off the artificial world of YouTube. But, YouTube is real I thought. Hmmm. So maybe there is a deeper meaning at work. Yeah, know what, just shut up and watch. Why?

Because that's a sick amount of editing here and sometimes a cool video is just that.

by Bill Green    Apr-22-09    




'I Think We're In A Viral'

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Hilarious! And finally! Viral breaks the fourth wall and spoofs in this Mini viral that's not a viral that, well, may actually turn out to be viral after all. This rocks. Isn't it about time we crapped on all the fake videos out there from the likes of RayBan and Levis? Yes, indeed, it is time. And this one does it superbly.

by Steve Hall    Mar-25-09    
Topic: Spoofs, Viral



Extreme Sheep, Pong and Classical Art. What Else Do You NEED?

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London's The Viral Factory just hit us upside our delicate craniums with "Extreme Sheep LED Art." You may not be able to wrap your brain around that right away, but it's exactly what it sounds like.

The video, a promotion for Samsung's LED line, is equal parts hilarious, a brainfuck and painful to watch -- painful because it's long and about sheep, a brainfuck because the sheep are being (EXTREME!) shepherded in such a way that they reproduce high art (sort of), and funny because THEY PLAY PONG. USING THE SHEEP.

Grand in its unyielding over-the-toppiness -- brought extreme fishing to mind for a sec -- and reviews on YouTube have been favorable. As always you've got the more eloquent members of the human race arguing over whether or not this was "enhanced" -- or demonstrating superiority with their absolute certainty: "fake as hell."

(*shakes head sadly*)

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by Angela Natividad    Mar-19-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Strange, Video, Viral



This Video Has Been Viewed Every 4 Seconds Since It Went Live.

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It's called "Ken Block Gymkhana Practice." (But what is Gymkhana?, you ask.)

We didn't really get the big deal, but that was before we realized our fingers had burrowed into the glass tabletop. Then Ken Block did donuts around a guy on a Segway, and it was like, "Ohhh."

(It's racer porn. Plenty sexier than that one time you watched two Ford Fiestas tango in London. Even if you're not a speed junkie, the handling depicted in Gymkhana is fit to give you tingles.)

Mad Media put the video together in collaboration with Ken Block, DC Shoes and Subaru. Stats listed below.

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by Angela Natividad    Feb-23-09    
Topic: Brands, Events, Good, Online, Sponsorship, Video, Viral



Revisionist Historians Add The Watchmen to Man's Timetable

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Every once in awhile you come across some viral propaganda that's actually pretty neat, actually. (Consider.)

Hoping to reignite the sleeping flames of The Watchmen comic series fans, Rubber Republic launched a YouTube channel to populate with retro news stories.

Commentary's mostly favourable and views are high: all signs of happy viral life. People seem impatient for more news stories to appear as the public release of The Watchmen draws near. (In theatres March 6, boys and girls.)

We're suckers for an elaborate backstory, so this is some pretty cool shit. Hopefully the film will maintain the same fidelity to the spirit of the original comics.

Find more goodies -- including a retro game, widgets and all the necessary social network tie-ins -- at thenewfrontiersman.net. One of the videos has also been posted below.

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by Angela Natividad    Feb-16-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Good, Guerilla, Online, Social, Video, Viral