We Didn't Start the Viral

Want a quick referesher of everything that's gotten popular on the web? Check out this quick video which showcases some of the most popular viral content on the web over the last couple of years.

Funny stuff.


We Didnt Start The Viral - Watch more free videos

Chuck Porter at the CMA Digital Conference

I returned about 3 hours ago from an interesting morning at the CMA Digital Marketing conference. I was privileged to see Chuck Porter from CP+B speak.

He made a great point about how there is no real secret to creating viral. The only secret is to create a lot and hope some of it works. To create, present and sell-through crazy, unique or risky ideas you need a culture that nurtures this. CP+B has a culture of taking risks and over-delivering on creative. Instead of presenting three concepts at a presentation they bring in 30 - the clients are bound to like something and there are very few things that the clients love to see more than agencies get excited about their brand.

Another point I really liked is in reference to brands getting involved with Social Media he said "Social Media marketing is like a digital Tupperware party". That is the mistake most brands are making in that space; you need to engage without selling. Give the consumer an emotional experience and they will begin to connect with the brand. This connection will bring them towards your product when it comes time to purchase.

Which leads me to my next point. Chuck quoted this interesting quote from Plato:
"There is no learning without emotion."

Chuck followed up this quote by saying that if every advertiser had this quote on their wall we would have a lot less crappy advertising. I agree.

He finished by saying at CP+B that all they do is go into work everyday and try to do something cool.

What have you done today that is cool?

GodTube.com - Broadcast Him

Yes. This actually exists.

As the web continues to grow, many of the most popular sites (like YouTube, Facebook and MySpace) will soon make way for specific niche social networks.

In a recent post about Ning, we discussed a number of different niche groups around very specific interests - from Vampires to Cabbage Patch doll enthausists, there seems to be something for everyone out there.

But what for the religious groups? GodTube.com might be one of the answers.

Like YouTube, GodTube showcases a number of user generated videos around religion and God. These videos are huge in range but some can be extremely popular - rivalling some of the major viral videos on YouTube.

Think religion is out of date? Check out the Mac parody below.

More proof that there is something for everyone on the web - no matter what your beliefs are, there is a place for you. If there isn't, just create one.

VW shadow poster

This is genius. Click to enlarge.

Found on Adgoodness

Google to track TV ads

According to the NY Times Google is about to announce a partnership with Nielsen Company. Nielsen is currently the authority of TV tracking and with this partnership they hope to give advertisers a more vivid and accurate snapshot than ever before of how many people are viewing commercials on a second-by-second basis, and who those people are.

Since May, Google has been selling ads on the 125 national satellite channels distributed by EchoStar Communications’ DISH Network. Cable networks routinely provide distributors with a few minutes each hour for local commercials; Google is responsible for a portion of EchoStar’s local time and creates an online auction market for it.

Google then analyzes the data from set-top boxes to determine exactly which ads were watched or skipped, with a second-by-second breakdown. With Nielsen’s help, Google will begin to take that information and overlay sampling-based ratings, adding a rich demographic layer to the raw numbers that EchoStar provides.

“For 40 years, we’ve been placing advertising believing that commercials are getting the same reach that programs are getting. We now know that’s not true,” said Steven J. Farella, president and chief executive at TargetCast TCM, a media planning and buying agency in New York.

View the fill NY Times article here.

Trojan Evolve - Banned Spot

Got sent an interesting spot yesterday from Trojan. Although it's been out for a little while, the spot is worth watching due to the amount of contraversory generated around it.

The spot, and campaign, is about being a real man - not a pig - and using a condom. As you'll see, any man without a condom is...well...a pig. Want to get the ladies? Get a Trojan.



Seems simple, doesn't it?

Many networks, including Fox and CBS, refused to air this spot due to the "men are pigs dramatization" and the pursuit of having multiple partners being OK as long as you're wearing a condom.

And with over 150,000 views on YouTube and hundreds of other comments, the debate over this spot rages on. Some of my favorite comments include:

"Everyone who doesn't admit this ad is evil, is also evil. So most of the posters [people who have commented in a positive way] here are evil because you hate innocent males"

"For all of you who are obviously uneducated, Trojan and Durex are targeting females to increase condom use. Females report using condoms less frequently than males and lack self-efficacy, yes that's a fancy word-look it up, to negotiate condom use with a partner. Try picking up a newspaper every now and then before commenting about subjects you know nothing about. If you're offended about being referred to as a pig, you probably are one."

"Trojan has lost my business, which consists of 6+ condoms/week.This ad is just unacceptable, and can no longer be tolerated."

All and all, some interesting opinions and posts. Check out the spot and feel free to comment.

Thanks to Steve for the link!

Hugo Boss Street Fights

I really hope I see this while I am walking around Toronto. Something tells me it will cause everyone around it to feel awkward. I pity the poor actors.

Hugo Boss will soon raise the curtain on a marketing effort in support of its new XX fragrance for men and XY fragrance for women.

At the centre of the campaign is a street marketing initiative in which actors hired to play couples will appear on downtown streets and at selected Bay stores in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal on Nov. 3 and 4.

The “couples” will break out in heated arguments in these locations, debating which of the two fragrances is sexier. The actors will also involve consumers in the arguments by asking passersby to give opinions on the relative sexiness of the two scents.
The campaign also includes a partnership with dating website Lavalife. A 20-second video spot advertising XX and XY will run on the website, and the products will also be featured in Lavalife’s first-ever holiday gift guide. The campaign was developed by Toronto agency Compound.

Elisha Wagman, creative director for Compound, describes the street-level initiative as an experiment in getting the attention of consumers 30 to 40.
“We’re bombarded with media messages, so what we wanted to do was bring in the human element and reach this target audience face-to-face,” says Wagman. “You don’t have as much control as you would with a typical campaign. But we were quite confident that we would be able to reach the audience in a way that made a difference in the marketplace.

About two months ago The Bay, a retail store in Canada staged protests outside of there stores where women chanted "Don't blame us for being fabulous", "We have a right to feel beautiful" and many other lines. As I stood at the corner at 8:00 am everyone face was saying "What the hell is going on". It was extremely awkward and as one women tried to get by them on the sidewalk she retorted "Get a job".

Good luck Hugo.

Found on Marketing Magazine Daily

When Life and Music Collide...

Great concept from Leo Burnett in Cairo. Melody Tunes is Egypt's first all English music channel and to raise awareness around their launch, they've created a series of spots that combine real life with the Popular videos on their channel.

There are a number of different music products in the market - from iTunes to mobile music downloads - that all have similair strategies. That being said, this simple combination with added the foreign flavor is quite hilarious.

Ad Quote of The Day

"Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it. (S. Leacock)"

More Naked Women Promote PETA

If PETA ever wants to get taken seriously they need to send the perverted creative team back to the world of Beer advertising they came from.

Yes I know, I am posting about it, I am looking at it and sharing it so the message is spreading. BUT I am still going to walk home tonight in my leather shoes to eat a Beautiful Black Forest Ham, put cheese on my broccoli and enjoy a glass of milk.

Good Advertising Turns Me On...

...so does BMW's. Put them together and well...

Ad of Da Month - Are you Innit?

Ad of da month is a site where all of you creative geniuses out there can post the best work you have managed to sell through to the client and see if the Jury of industry peers likes your creative best.

To avoid making Saatchi & Saatchi errors I don't recommend posting work that has been approved ;) ...did I just seriously make a smiley face in a post...wow.

Anyways the site is filled with interesting ads worthy of wasting away billable hours. The Jury is made up of CD's from Singapore, NY, Cape Town, Berlin and others corners of the advertising world.

Check it out in our blog roll or click on the links.

Immersive Site? Maybe. Rip off? Yes.

Check out this immersive mobile phone site for the Norway telecommunications company Telenor.

The site uses video as the main navigation tool for the user. Click on certain characters to discover the featured handsets or click on the teen rockstar (showcased in a boring introductory video) to smash up the room.

A site like this would have been quite costly to produce. In the end, the navigation helps one of the most saught after metrics for advertisers - time spent. More time spent typically indicates that users are more interested in the site (or have just left their computers running).

That being said, the site falls short because it is - well - boring. As interesting as it is to navigate with video, the pay-off's of each click need to live up to the inital hoopla of the overall setting. Linking through the larger product page after 2-clicks is more of a lunch-bag let down than a reward.

One of the top sites that uses video navigation is the 1366 microsite for Stella.

Stella was able to create not only a navigational experience but also a neat advergame centered around the journey of creating the perfect beer. The site recently came second in the CMA Digital awards - mostly due to is unique style and functionality.

And, as you'll see, each click takes you deeper into the site - with new videos, games and challanges.

Thanks to pantyboy22 for the Telenor link!

Interesting Facts

Every degree that the temperature rises above 14 degrees Celsius, sales of water increases by 5.2%.
~ The soft drink association.

In a poll of 1,000 Facebook users, 85% preferred boxers to briefs.
~ Facebook

69% of all text messages sent by Saudi teenagers are pornographic.
~ The Three billion project

Bollywood's global audience is estimated at 3BN, while Hollywood's is about 2.6BN.
~ Times

Each year about 70 new Vodka's are launched into shops and bars globally.
~ www.thedrinkshop.com

87 new manga series will be launched in the second half of 2007.
~ ICv2

Found in The Future Laboratories THE:LAUNCH:ISSUE

Lowe Coasters

BBDO New York has created coasters for Lowes Building Centres. A unique idea that actually make sense for the brand. Lowes customers like to build and their demo definitely drinks.

Sometimes unique ideas make it into market that are horrible and make no sense at all for a brand - such as the Foldgers manhole covers. Who wants to associate their brand with sewer steam?

Lights Out

Neat post from BoingBoing today -

For an eco-friendly San Francisco fund raiser, organizers decided to "turn out the lights" in the city for an hour. One of the organizers was a former PR exec at Google and had friends who helped turn out the lights on the Google homepage.

Want to create awareness for your campaign or cause? Just go to the front door of the web and throw up a nice sign (if you have the contacts and cash...)

Next Generation Social Marketing

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NBA - Where Amazing Happens?

Where amazing happens? Is this really the new tagline for the NBA? Everything in all 3 of the spots happens in pretty much every major sport. They should have tried to capitalize on what makes the NBA unique.

Better luck next season.

See the spots.

Historical TV Viewing Activity

It amazes me that the average household watches almost 510 minutes of TV per day.

Found on adverlab:

One Hit Wonders on the increase

Lately I have been hearing and noticing a lot more one-hit wonders. Many 'music' people will say that this is because the quality of music is going down faster than a groupie on a roofie, but I believe it is because of the Internet and the wonderful marketing tools available to every indi-band in the world.

Myspace, flickr, facebook, websites and mp3 sharing sites has made every band able to offer their music to the world. For this reason the OK bands that stumble on that one hit get noticed, get big quick and disappear. Little does my friends band Empire Alley know but I have been watching their marketing tactics and seeing how they spread the word of their good music.

Empire Alley is a Vancouver based indi-band that in my opinion has a few pretty good tracks. Hopefully they will make it big and not be a "one-hit wonder" but at this moment they have quite a marketing plan in the mix.

A flickr site where fans can upload pictures from shows.

A myspace page with 8000 friends, songs with 1000's of plays, banners you can post on your own site and an eventful link to request tour stops in your town.

A facebook group with 543 friends.

And all of this exposure cost them only a little bit of time. To have this same level of awareness would have taken a lot more work back in the 80's. The thought leadership shown by big dreams and small budgets will never cease to amaze me.

Drop by myspace and have a listen and look.

The First Advergame?

I can't believe that this is the first I have heard of this. Advergames on vinyl records played on a spectrum.

"In the case of these programs on vinyl, the user would have to play back the proper portion of the record, record the resultant chatter to tape, and load the tape into the spectrum. Some users have mentioned playing certain games so much that they could recognize the loading sounds.A gigantic step up from encoded text files were actual games included in the grooves of records. In 1984, The Thompson Twins released 'The Thompson Twins Adventure Game' in both regular vinyl and flexi disc formats. The game is a bizarre text-based adventure in which you guide the Thompson Twins around a land of beaches and caves."

Similarly encoded games were also added to the tape releases.

Unbelievably cool.

Found on Adverlab.

"LIVE" concerts in Second Life

This U2inSL concert from last year had me thinkign lately about if and when an animated Second Life concert will become apart of a bands tour schedule.

There is a lot that could be done here such as the first 100,000 CD's have a code that you can use to go online and recieve free SL concert tickets. Or what about setting up a create your own concert selection on SL. Literally create a playlist then watch the concert. Labels could let you pick from a selection of bands and make your own Personal Lollapaloza.

Lately I have read the SL is on the decline so this may not be that close but I imagine it is coming.

Why Blog?

A lot of people (and by "a lot" I mean about 3) have asked me in the last couple of weeks why I blog.

"What's the point?" is probably the most common question for those who haven't read blogs before.
For the 106 million bloggers out there, the answer is always unique. Some do it for money (or the hopes of making money), others do it to help connect with a specific niche of people - like Vampire lovers or Sailboat enthusiasts.

Whatever the reason might be, something about blogging as struck a chord in millions of people across the world. It could be the desire to be heard. To have a simple forum to communicate your passions, thoughts and interests.

Or it could be the need to continually update people on where you've been and what you're doing. Many of the blogs out there are immensely personal. An online diary about your real life for anyone to read.

I started blogging as an experiment to see what it was like and why so many people did it. "Why would I need to blog if I'm already am addicted to Facebook and Google Reader?" I thought.

More importantly, don't I have something better to do?

After 8 weeks of solid blogging, the answer is a resounding no.

Is that a bad thing? Depends on who you are, I suppose. But the fact remains that blogging, for those who have the stomach for it, can be highly addictive, frustrating and personal. That being said, if you enjoy your topic(s) and can find your voice (and audience) it's quite rewarding.

We Love Kids...

A fun European spot that's recieved some great coverage around the web.

Defining Innovation

If you haven't seen this old spot from BMW, it's well worth checking out.

"The walls between art and engineering exist only in our minds"