Posts Tagged ‘Viral Production services’
Fast Lane By Volkswagen
Sharing similar aspects to the “Piano staircase” by the Fun Factory, the Fast lane by Volkswagen is designed to offer a slightly bizarre public experiment. Set on a staircase heading down to an underground train station, a bright orange slide has been built to offer people a question.
The question is who will step up to the fast lane and take the plunge down the slide, instead of the normality of the stairs and conformity of society.
The experiment is launched on the back of Volkswagens Social Media campaign combined with the new Polo GTI, as it joins the online world with a Facebook fan page and a twitter account. This step up to the online media world is more than welcome by Volkswagen who produce some top quality automobiles. Its a clever viral, that whilst lacks complete originality still has some great aspects, the main being that it is carried out in a social environment where the public are unaware of what is happening. This has proved time and time again to be a winning formula for viral campaigns.
I am fully aware of how severe the BP oil spill is over the pond and I am by no means being disrespectful to the people directly and indirectly affected by the spill….but this is a funny parody.
Acted out by Americans, the sketch involves a BP board meeting discussing how best to solve the current problem. This time the problem is coffee spilt over the table…not quite as devastating for sure, but a crisis nonetheless!
This disastrous situation leads the whole team down a number of avenues and tactics to solve the problem. All are thwarted by the impossible spillage and the blame and responsibility is shifted round the group.
It is a pretty funny parody of a not so funny situation with a cheeky cameo from Kevin Costner too. Definitely worth a watch however and with nearly 5 million views on YouTube alone Im sure the rest of the world agrees too.
Mixing original Star Wars footage with some huge celebrity names is an instant classic, and thats exactly what Adidas have done here.
Featuring the likes of David Beckham, Daft Punk, Snoop Dogg, Franz Beckenbauer, Noel Gallagher, Ian Brown, Ciara, Jay Baruchel, DJ Neil Armstrong, not to mention the original cast and settings from Star Wars – It even has the same music with the characters interacting with the original footage as if they were always a part of it.
This clip from Adidas Originals went viral in June and has already collected 3.2 million hits on YouTube alone. It displays a wide range of their products from shoes to polo shirts, and includes a selection from smart to casual, modeled by the array of celebrities.
I imagine this is the kind of advert that they all wanted to be in and had a lot of fun doing, Star Wars is such an iconic film saga and a brand in fact, that its almost supporting the Adidas brand with an even bigger brand, itself.
I don’t have anything negative to say about it, I think its a great advert that allows you to relive a famous film scene with new characters and you have the added bonus of spotting which celebrities are taking part throughout the clip.
Great viral.
Despite making an appearance in the viral charts this has not been quite as big a success as Pepsi would have hoped for. The video still sits under the 1 million mark for views and is very much shadowed by some more than impressive World Cup adverts from the likes of Nike – Write your future, Carlsberg Don’d Do Team Talks, and even Coca Cola’s celebration viral featuring the official World Cup song!
Now compared to the likes of those adverts, all striking the same World Cup theme – this clip from Pepsi has failed to get as wide a reach than the others. Not for the lack of trying though, the campaign features Lampard, Drogba, Arshavin, Kaka, Messi and Akon…certainly some big names there, but it lacks the same level of interest than the others and seems to rely on the quality of the big names involved to make it viral rather than the content of the ad.
There is no real tricks or flare from the players and the concept is a little strange and unexplained to say the least…Im not expecting an introduction middle and end here, but why are they all in Africa without enough money to buy a can of pepsi even? An overly cynical critique perhaps and its not dreadful by any means, but it does not make me excited about the World Cup or the brand – Pepsi Max. Something has not quite worked here for pepsi, who are renowned for creating some pretty special World Cup adverts.
Walking on water, as far as I know, is only possible if your a Lizard, some other form of insect/reptile….or Jesus.
Now these guys are none of the above. But this little gem from Hi-Tec has already collected over 4 million views in over a month. Created by CCCP, an award winning dutch production agency, this agency has captured and delivered exactly what Hi-Tec wanted.
This is a perfect example of a viral video, it has literally made people doubt, believe and question it so much so, that the creators had to release a “Walking on Water – The Making of” video. They also created a lot of pictures and footage of all the staff and sportsmen involved to add more to the viral element – creating a hive of information online ready to be shared across peoples viral networks at the touch of a few buttons.
What I really like more than anything is the comments on YouTube from people:
“Its fake, its definitely fake”
No way man its real!! They even explain it in the making of video!”
This is perfect, they have created a debate amongst the masses and video responses have started as an attempt to justify the cause on each side. This has done wonders for Hi-Tec who were a relatively out of date brand in the sporting world and forced to focus on more mountaineering and outdoor sports. This will have kick started the brand amongst a younger generation and justified its position in the outdoor sports market.
If you are wondering whether its real or not, take a look and see for yourself. But just to save you the trouble of scrolling the web looking for the answer, I have also included the making of video – Which is definitely worth a watch.
There are two incredibly talented people behind this. Firstly the world champion free diver, Guillaum Nery. But secondly and certainly not least the camera women, Julie Gauiter, who produced some fantastic shots but also carried out the filming on “breath hold”.
The legendary Deans Blue Hole in the Bahamas is a well known and epic location in the diving world. The pair wanted to create an artistic impression of how the two sports of free diving and base jumping could link together for some great filming.
Now the free divers do not claim to have actually reached the bottom without tanks, nor to have completed the shots in one swift take. This what some of the criticisms have been saying as reviews, but the divers never claimed to do that. More importantly the fact still remains that even if it was done in a few takes, they still went an incredibly significant way down, without tanks, without any equipment and stil managed to pull off a great short film thats being spread around like wildfire at the moment.
However you watch it, its still so impressive and I think the camera shots are fantastic. They are two highly talented people. Take a look and see if you can hold your breath….these guys can do it for a scary amount of time.
When I first saw this I thought….hang on, Ive seen this before somewhere haven’t I?
Sure enough it is a parody of the original Sony Bravia’s bouncing balls through the streets of San Fransisco. Certainly not a disappointment though.
Whilst set in a particularly less glamourous setting, the beginning is all too familiar with the image of some balls harmlessly bouncing around the street. Then it instantly changes as you realise they are in fact bowling balls, smashing down the street in a completely reckless and out of control path of destruction.
Whilst every other car is being destroyed by these bowling balls, the Nissan Qashqai calmly pulls out of its bay at the end, unscathed by the perfectly normal assault on the city, and drives away without a single dent.
Very clever advert by nissan, knowing that people would remember that epic Sony scene, and to be honest they have pulled off something pretty fantastic themselves. “Urbanproof” is a great buzz word for their campaign as they attempt to market the SUV towards the city drivers.
Making it into the viral charts for June its set to go viral a lot more, certainly looked like a big clean up operation afterwards though
Is Social Media a fad?
Thats the interesting question posed at the start of this clip from 2009. I wanted to put it up to show you how it has answered that question so much more over the past 12 months.
Produced by the author of “Socialnomics” this video throws powerful statistics at you that are very difficult to ignore. Whilst these stats are more than interesting, the problem still remains for a lot of companies – How do we get on board with this revolution?
As I mentioned in my previous post “YouTube turns 5″, it is still a difficult formula to get right from a business perspective. Invading peoples social space is a problem. However engaging with them in a social and viral way is often the route to their communities.
Take a look at the video, the statistics will really get you excited about the potential of online for your business.
This first went viral in May, but I absolutely love this.
Its a very clever twist on the classic phenomenon of Star Wars, but shows the character Darth Vader in a behind the scene environment as he attempts to fit in to normal life in the 21st Century. It shows him at a recording studio to do a voiceover for the Satellite Navigation system from Tom Tom.
The script is genius and so are the characters interactions. It feels like you are watching a comedy program instantly and you are waiting for the next akward/hilarious comment or outburst.
A very clever way to show the differences that a Sat Nav could have, and a voice over from a character like Darth Vader is very clever.
Great little viral.
As YouTube enters its 5th year of existence I wanted to briefly look back at how much it has changed not only the Internet in those 5 years, but also people in the offline world.
I don’t think “transformation” comes anywhere close to how YouTube and video sharing sites alike have shaped the current use of the internet. “Evolved” is much more fitting and justified considering how much people can now share with the entire world with the help of a video camera and an internet connection to upload to the hungry masses.
It really is phenomenal how involved the world is getting with this evolution of the internet, which I genuinely believe was massively enhanced by video sharing websites, in particular YouTube. More people become involved each and every day.Even offline, people talk about it as if its a fundamental part of their social lives and interactions. Its a huge success for the younger generations that is expanding its possibilities and capabilities for older generations, and even businesses.
As a shift to online TV is beginning to occur in an almost revolutionary format, companies are trying to get involved and get in front of their ideal target audience with powerful messages that deliver responsive and accurate analytics to the effect of their viral campaigns. The “buzz” that comes as a result is an incredibly effective tool that allows viewers to share what they have seen to their communities in a powerful and traditional marketing technique, word of mouth, passing on the message to others.
Whilst this cannot work for every business out there, it has astonishing results for the ones it can help. A viral cannot work by simply being an advert you would see on TV, which is pushed on to the world, hoping the online masses will lap it up and take in the message and brand. The new generation expects more, it needs to be attracted to a viral, to hear from others that its “worth a watch”, and has pre-built buzz about it. This way they are pulled into the concept of it and encouraged to share it on with their communities, both online and offline.
It is an exciting (r)evolution that is still in its earlier phases, but nonetheless it is in active and in place. How the future will play out is ever changing. Attempts to find the perfect formula for this change is a exhilarating prospect indeed.
For what has started though, I personally thank the likes of YouTube and Facebook.
Happy Birthday YouTube.
As Seen On…
