Unilever's Sure Unleashes the World Cup Beasts

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Unilever's Sure Sport is getting Football (soccer) fans all worked up with a new video clip featuring all manner of wild animals and site that has anything and everything a football fan cold possibly wish for. Spend some time with it.

by Steve Hall    Apr-10-06    
Topic: Good, Online, Viral



Extremely Stupid Sex Video Promotes Text Messaging

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This video promoting a text messaging service is extremely stupid not to mention it making viewers wait way, way, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long for the punchline which, itself, is also very stupid. Yea, yea, we know it's a riff on that Beautiful Agony site but it's a bad one. Whatever. It's from the UK. They like this stuff.

by Steve Hall    Apr- 7-06    
Topic: Bad, Online, Viral



OMG! Check Out These Weird VH1 Videos Before They Go Offline!

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So we get this email from some dude who said he received an email from a "friend" who wrote fervently, "WTF!!!!!! Have you seen this yet? Someone's lost their fucking mind! Better download them now, before they take them off the server. http://68.178.246.54/test2.html. Um, yea right.They might as well put out a press release saying, "VH1 is promoting its daily news show Best Week Ever with a series of quirky videos to imbue the decidedly odd character of the show." Anyway, hurry up a view them now because (gasp!) they may not stay online for long!!!

UPDATE: In a very encouraging sign, VH1 has owned up and acknowledged to us they could have handled the release of these video is a less "OMG, check this out" manner. There are no hard and fast rules anymore regarding the so called "correct" way to release a promotion. Especially when there's so many bitchy bloggers like us ready jump all over people who are simply trying to figure out how to get their message out in a media landscape that is changing hourly. So go easy on them. We're all learning here. Well, not too easy otherwise there's be no point for this website:-)

by Steve Hall    Apr- 4-06    
Topic: Online, Strange, Viral



Chevy Leaves Negative Tahoe Ads Up On 'Chevy Apprentice' Site

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After viewing all the humorous, consumer-created SUV-bashing Tahoe ads born out of the Chevy Apprentice make-your-own ad promotion and reading some think GM is making a mistake with this, we thought we'd share out opinion that, lame as this might have been seen at first, it is, if left unedited, one of the better consumer-created marketing promotions. We think there are some voices inside GM that understand social media very well and knew this would happen. We're not surprised at all and we're not surprised they've left the negative ads up. If all we saw on that site were glowing praises of the vehicle, the promotion would simply be seen as just another lame attempt at capitalizing on a trend and a giant corporation trying to thrust it's twisted version of reality upon us.

more »

by Steve Hall    Apr- 2-06    
Topic: Brands, Consumer Created, Good, Online, Promotions, Viral



The Lenovo Tapes Arrive Just in Time to Combat Bad Press

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Just in time to combat worries Chinese built Lenovo computers sold to the U.S. government may contain software to spy on government agencies comes this must-be hoax called The Lenovo Tapes, a site with three video showing laptops doing amazing things like sending out holographic images, automatically cleaning up coffee split on the keyboard and even mini rockets that prevent it from hitting the floor too hard if dropped. The guy who apparently wrote the site claims he was leaked the tapes from an acquaintance. The thing that really tells us this is a joke is the cheesy Geocities-like site design. I mean come on. Who would hand code when they could place this all on a blog? Why didn't the guy upload these to a YouTube account? Why is this, while the site's been around for a while, just appearing now, soon after Lenovo gets bad press? Whatever.

by Steve Hall    Mar-29-06    
Topic: Spoofs, Viral



Movie Promo Highlights The Painful Effects of Ketchup

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Guys, and we do mean guys, this is painful. Very painful. But, very funny as well. To promote the Swedish teen film, originally called Hip Hip Hora, a movie that follows a 13 year old girl to a party where she does the usual teen things like get drunk and get hit on by older, 14-year-old boys, a microsite, under the new name of the film, The Ketchup Effect, was launched which contains a video caused us to mention the word "pain." It's not exactly the kind of teaser you see emanating from the U.S. which, of course, is why it's so good. Give the teaser a look.

by Steve Hall    Mar-24-06    
Topic: Good, Online, Viral



Renault Still 'Shakin' That Ass'

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AdFreak thinks it's ho-hum and perhaps an overuse of the company's apparent theme song, Groove Armada's I See You Baby, Shakin' That Ass used in ads and pissing off parents since 2003, but we love it. Perhaps it's the chance to grab some ass. Perhaps it's the infectious song. We don't know. We don't care. After all, it's just a fun little ad to introduce Renault's new 2006 Megane.

by Steve Hall    Mar-23-06    
Topic: Games, Good, Online, Viral



42 Below Takes On Celebrities in Latest Viral

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While this is definitely not as funny as their classic gay viral, New Zealand's 42 Below Vodka has, in its cheeky fashion, taken on celebrities for it latest viral.

by Steve Hall    Mar-15-06    
Topic: Viral



MarketingSherpa Seeks Viral Marketing Campaigns For Survey

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MarketingSherpa needs agencies and companies using viral marketing and advertising to participate in this year's survey on Viral Marketing, and to submit their best viral marketing and advertising campaigns for the 2006 Viral Advertising Hall of Fame here. "Last year, we conducted the first survey, gathering practical information and data about Viral Advertising. We were blown away by participation from more than 2,400 survey participants," explains MarketingSherpa's Publisher Anne Holland. "We're interested in seeing year-over-year data, as well as this year's most successful viral marketing campaigns." The survey results will be available for free at MarketingSherpa.com and will be sent to everyone who participates in the survey. The survey deadline is March 17th; for campaign submissions, March 22nd. get thee virals submitted.

by Steve Hall    Mar-15-06    
Topic: Research, Viral



Microsoft Created It's Own iPod Packaging Spoof

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iPod Observer reports Microsoft was behind the creation of the iPod packaging spoof we had here earlier that slammed Microsoft for its overuse of design elements, snips and other call outs on it's packagaing. The video spoof demonstrated what an iPod package would look like if it came from Microsoft. Microsoft spokesman Tom Pilla told iPod Observer, "It was an internal-only video clip commissioned by our packaging [team] to humorously highlight the challenges we have faced RE: packaging and to educate marketers here about the pitfalls of packaging/branding,"

Nothing this funny, whether created internally or externally, is able to be contained. While the video has been removed from YouTube, you can view it at Google Video.

by Steve Hall    Mar-15-06    
Topic: Brands, Good, Spoofs, Viral