Brand Mix: Video of the week

For those who haven't seen it yet, here's the latest from OK Go:



Per OkGo on YouTube: "The official video for the recorded version of "This Too Shall Pass" off of the album "Of the Blue Colour of the Sky". The video was filmed in a two story warehouse, in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA. The "machine" was designed and built by the band, along with members of Syyn Labs ( http://syynlabs.com/ ) over the course of several months."

How are they going to top that?

The Susan Boyle phenomenon dissected

Better quality version here

Before Susan Boyle, there was Paul Potts. He was the winner of Britain's Got Talent in 2007 and a viral success in his own right. (The various videos of his first performance have over 52 million views.) But Susan Boyle is something else--a global, viral phenomenon not just on YouTube but in the mainstream media too, even in countries like the U.S. that don't air the show. Why?

The contestants have a lot in common. They are both attractively-challenged and they both emerged from obscurity (Susan Boyle, living with her cat in a small village in Scotland, and Paul Potts, working as a mobile phone salesperson in Wales). Both having seemingly impossible dreams to be professional singers and both setting up negative expectations with the judges and the audience that they then completely demolished with their performance. No doubt this was by design--I'm sure that Paul Pott's success in 2007 had the BGT team looking for a repeat performance. So, once again, why Susan Boyle?

Let's start with the judges explanation (after her semi-final performance):

Reality vs. expectations: This was where Simon focused: "I want to apologize because of the way we treated you before you sang the first time. You made me and everyone else look stupid." Although Paul Potts delivered an equally unexpected performance, the show did a better job this second time around of setting up and capturing the expectations of the judges and the audience.

Context (these hard times): When Paul Potts won the competition we were still in the sub-prime and derivatives-fueled boom-boom times. Now we're in a recession so, as Piers said: "When the world was going through a pretty tough time and was looking for a bit of hope and inspiration, Susan Boyle was there to deliver."

Some other ideas:

The song: "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables (Susan Boyle) vs. Giacomo Puccini's "Nessun Dorma" (Paul Potts). An advantage for Ms. Boyle. Not only because musicals are more familiar and accessible to the general population than Italian opera but also because the theme of her song mirrors her story. ("I dreamed a dream in time gone by, when hope was high and life, worth living.")

The back story: Another factor in favor of Susan Boyle. She really seems to have come from complete obscurity vs. Paul Potts who had had some professional experience prior to the show. Whereas he had sung with the Royal Philharmonic in front of an audience of 15,000, her experience had come from singing in church and karaoke in the local pubs in her village.

Practice makes perfect: I think that Paul Potts' success perhaps caught the show a little by surprise and they didn't take full advantage. No mistake this time round as they figured out every (camera) angle and every other way (cutting to Ant and Dec as the crowd gasps etc) to maximize the impact. They were ready.

So, there's five reasons but have I missed anything here? As I look at this list, I think it shows the importance of timing, the need for a deep and consistent story and how small details matter a lot.

One final thought--what about next year? I guarantee that the show will be scouring the nation's backwaters for more well disguised talent. But how are they going to avoid appearing like they've gone back to the well one too many times? Could Susan Boyle's great success actually be the beginning of the end for the show itself?

I don't know but let's leave the final word to Susan Boyle herself lest, by this dissection, we forget the bigger picture:

"All my life, I've always striven to prove to myself--that I can be accepted--that I'm not the worthless person that people think I am--that I do have something to offer...I just want that chance to perform in front of the Queen." Susan Boyle

Six of the Best Special Edition: The 2008 Virals (Part 3)

The final part of the SOTB three-parter on virals. Today's six picks are viral marketing campaigns. Where the virals from Part 1 and Part 2 came from the world of advertising, today's selections have their roots in promotion. The list includes games, interactive "build-your-own" cards/videos and microsites where people can share stories.

As you might expect of these more promotion-oriented campaigns, they generally have more of a call-to-action than the ads already featured although that call-to-action is sometimes limited to clicking onto a link or spending time on a microsite. Making the connection between the viral idea, the brand and a consumer action that might sooner or later drive business is a challenge that even these campaigns on the "best of" lists don't quite manage to achieve.

The blue star (*) is for virals that made it into my (heavily-defended) inbox.

Interactive/Marketing/Microsites
1. Elf Yourself *: OfficeMax's holiday website continues to be extremely popular. It's back again this year with new dances including disco and country. Has it anything at all to do with OfficeMax? Not really. (Review here)
2. Mistletoe Makeover *: Sephora's answer to the Elf. (May be a better look for women.) A set of lashes or a mini-lipstick as a free gift with any purchase. (Review here)
3. The Accent Game: Language Trainer's Group. Nominated as best of 2008 by techipedia (with review). I only got 23 points and even got one of the "England" accents wrong.
4. Tested Tough: Columbia Sportswear invites people to tell them what they have done or would do you to put its gear through the paces for a chance to win gear and other prizes.
5. Vibe Verses: An online rap music contest to get young and hip viewers to visit an urban music and culture website. Best videos were on by the VIBE community. The contest captured 60,000 new members.
6. Pink together: General Mills' battle against breast cancer taken onto MySpace. Visitors could share stories, comment and download badges and backgrounds for their own pages. The campaign reached more than 2.7 million people.
7. Letyourworriesgo.com: Northwestern Mutual Insurance shows that it can be done even with more unlikely businesses. Visitors to this interactive page could select concerns, such as financial troubles and dispose of them via catapult, rocket, submarine or hot air balloon.

My favorite of these six: Vibe Verses

Why? Because of the strong connection between the competition and the brand plus the metrics which show that it was successful.

Links to: Part 1 and Part 2 of the series and, as a bonus, a link to the new Burger King Fire Meets Desire site for their incredible new body spray: "The scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat." Selling like hotcakes!

Sources:
1) Top 10 viral ads of the year: Organ Grinder Blog @ The Guardian
2) Top 10 Virals of 2008: Campaign
3) Top 100 funniest virals of 2008 The Sun's Funny Ad Clips
4) Viral Hall of Fame: Marketing Sherpa's 2008 list via "The Browser"
5) ViralBlog: Viral Ideas. Trends. Inspiration

Six of the Best Special Edition: The 2008 Virals (Part 2)

Part 2 of an SOTB three-parter on virals. Today's six are what I'm classifying as YouTube-style ads. These are ads that take their cues from YouTube or other online channels, contrasting with the ads from Part 1 which are essentially modified TV ads. There are a couple of spoofs on the list as well as a couple of ads that directly mimic typical YouTube product reviews.

By embracing the medium more actively, these ads get a head start over those from Part 1, at least in terms of audience receptivity. And it's probably no coincidence that the top picks from my "best-of" list sources come from this batch. These ads also have more of a call-to-action point about them than the first group although not that strong in all cases.

The blue star (*) is for virals that made it into my (heavily-defended) inbox.

YouTube-style ads (Spoofs and/or done in the style of YouTube)
1. Wassup anno 2008 *: Vote Obama spoof (by the original director) of Budweiser' famous Wassup ad (Organ Grinder's #1 pick)
2. Moonwalking Bear *: Transport for London's cycling safety spot.
3. Tiger Woods 09 – Walk on Water *: Electronic Arts clever response to a flaw in one of its games.
4. Pot Noodle "Tipping Pot:" A £10,000 spoof of the £10 million Guiness TV ad. (Campaign's #1 pick)
5. Samsung Omnia i900 Unboxing: Samsung's spoof of the tech-fan trend of filming box-opening.
6. Printing's Alive: This Montreal-based printer loves printing and shares his love in this video. 135,000 views on YouTube but, more importantly, 800 inbound calls from potential customers.

My favorite of these six: Printing's Alive



Partly because here I can actually see the data that proves that the ad worked but also just for the sheer bravado of the printing-loving printer.

Next up: Viral marketing campaigns

Sources:
1) Top 10 viral ads of the year: Organ Grinder Blog @ The Guardian
2) Top 10 Virals of 2008: Campaign
3) Top 100 funniest virals of 2008 The Sun's Funny Ad Clips
4) Viral Hall of Fame: Marketing Sherpa's 2008 list via "The Browser"
5) ViralBlog: Viral Ideas. Trends. Inspiration

Six of the Best Special Edition: The 2008 Virals

What counts as a good viral campaign? Is it just a question of circulation and buzz? Or should we be asking for a little more? A little more, I think. Here's my own evaluation criteria:

1) Popularity: Did it actually go viral and create buzz?
2) Watchability/Engagement: Did it hold attention and engage the audience?
3) Branding: Was it on-brand and did it enhance the brand's relevance and differentiation? Or, setting the bar a little lower, do you even remember the brand?
4) Call to action: Did it influence/support sales?

This three-part (yeah!) SOTB Special Edition takes a look at the 2008 viral campaigns that have risen to the top of "best-of" lists. Most of the ads on these lists are enjoyable to watch but many are not so strong in terms of branding and especially call to action.

This first set of six campaigns are what I'm classifying as "high production quality" spots. These are ads that use online as another media channel making some adjustments for content (focus on watchability) and length (not restricting themselves to the 30 second format). The challenge for all these spots is that the single-minded pursuit of entertainment tends to crowd out everything else. "Great ad." "Which brand?" "No idea."

The blue star (*) is for virals that actually made it into my (heavily-defended) inbox.

Viral ads (High production)
1. Extreme Street Football *: Electronic Arts. Football/soccer from Brazil as never seen before.
2. Adam and Eve *: Centraal Beheer Insurance company ad featuring Adam and a disappointed Eve that was banned from TV before becoming an online hit.
3. Doghouse *: JCPenney's ad about men being thrown into the doghouse for giving their significant others bad gifts. Generating big holiday buzz and a lot of blog commentary (reviews here (critical) and here (positive)).
4. Penguins: The BBC's iPlayer service was launched with this video of a colony of Adelie Penguins flying thousands of miles across Antarctica to the Amazon Rainforest. It later released a viral video showing how it faked the footage.
5. Take it to the next level: Nike's GuyRitchie-directed tale of a teenage football/soccer star.
6. SFW XXX Party Invitation: Diesel's naughty montage of 1980s porn films, supposedly SFW (safe-for-work) but that may depend on where you work.

My favorite of these six: Penguins: BBC



For me, the best combination of popularity, watchability, brand consistency and call to action. Also, in the tradition of April Fool's jokes for the BBC that goes all the way back to Panorama's famous spaghetti trees.

Next up: YouTube-style ads and then viral marketing

Sources:
1) Top 10 viral ads of the year: Organ Grinder Blog @ The Guardian
2) Top 10 Virals of 2008: Campaign
3) Top 100 funniest virals of 2008 The Sun's Funny Ad Clips
4) Viral Hall of Fame: Marketing Sherpa's 2008 list via "The Browser"
5) ViralBlog: Viral Ideas. Trends. Inspiration