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The biggest obstacle most brands have with viral video is its inherent need to be provocative. This is a great example of how tone can tame those fears. As long as you respect the intelligence and humor of the audience you are trying to reach, you are good to go..
You’ll find yourself humming along to this one if you are a regular Trader Joe’s shopper like me. The lyrics ring true to the character and experience of shopping at TJs. This is unauthorized, which is plainly obvious from the playful deprecation of the director’s favorite store, but that is a quality that should be more present in ‘authorized’ viral video. Willingness to criticize one’s brand builds trust and credibility in our eyes. Wouldn’t it have been wonderful if Trader Joe’s had actually made this themselves?
Trader Joes Homebrew Commercial
From http://feedproxy.google.com/newteevee?format=xml
A video of a supposed assassination attempt in Russia pops up on YouTube and clocks over 400,000 views and 1,500+ comments in under a week. The info directs viewers to MIR-12, a shadowy organization bent on uncovering a deeply rooted Russian conspiracy they claim began in the 1950s. Turns out Natasha Norvikov, the fallen would-be assassin, was a member of MIR-12, and the site’s blog promises us that her death will not be in vain; the terrifying truth of the conspiracy will be exposed. Soon, a new video appears on the MIR-12 site, replete with stories of mysterious deaths and a secret Russian island with unstable radiation levels and the ability to disappear completely.
Either Russia really is running nefarious energy experiments and flirting dangerously with the space time continuum, and the only people capable of uncovering it are a covert group of operatives who like to Twitter, or…something viral is afoot. And Netizens are picking up the scent.
In fact, as blog dosdotzero uncovered via some pretty nifty detective work, this is all a campaign for Activision’s new first-person shooter game Singularity, steered by ad agency DDB and video-seeding maestros Feed Company. The intrepid forum posters at Unfiction have uncovered even more content, including Flickr and Facebook accounts for Natasha. They also found another site, named Katorga 12 after the creepy island in question (and the in-game, tell-all book of the same name, whose author was killed under suspicious circumstances), which turns out to be the home of the Singularity trailer. Ah, yes, it’s all coming together.
Adding to the depth of content are nice little touches like Natasha’s Facebook friend, Emily, corresponding with curious online sleuths, and alxnder12, the YouTube poster of the assassination video, adding as “Favorites” actual Russian news stories that might catch the eye of an international conspiracy theorist. Yes, critics are already cropping up and taking swipes at the original video’s production values, the shakiness of some of the Russian translations, and the unlikelihood of anything very terrible happening with Einsteinium (the ominously referenced Element 99), no matter how far amok scientists might run with it. And sure, when you’re promoting a shooter, sooner or later you’re going go have to step away from the backstory and show some, you know, shooting. But these are still early days, and so far, this seems to be a pretty well-orchestrated campaign that’s already doing what it’s supposed to do: It’s got people talking.
Stay tuned. And keep an eye out for mad Russian scientists. Just in case.
The age of streaming video is still nubile and while many companies are still scratching their heads, Blendtec, jumped in feet first. The brand markets a line of consumer and industrial appliances that have an uncanny ability to demonstratively break down almost any material or object. They published their first video back in October of 2006, a one minute segment that poses the eternal question.. “Will it Blend?” In this original video our host, Tom Dickson, pours 50 marbles into a Blendtec brand blender and dices the little glass spheres into a toxic powder. The segment became an instant classic with its faux infomercial aesthetic and to date has had 1.8 million views. They introduced and demonstrated the prowess of the brand in a quirky, entertaining style and saved themselves a small fortune in traditional broadcast dollars.
Now just a little less than a year later they are one of the most subscribed channels of all time on YouTube with 57 segments attempting to discover the potential for puree of objects ranging from food to the cultish iPhone.
This spot was designed to turn the weakness of the ipod into an asset for mobile phone based podcasting service. Using entirely original material, the aesthetic of the iPod ads are recreated with an emphasis on how syncing with a computer is cumbersome, complicated, and unnecessary.
