This viral UGC campaign by 3M’s Post-it I like a lot. Why? Since Post-it not only launched a standalone viral commercial (Super Sticky Man), but also took the strategic decision to build an online brand engagement theater inviting consumers to participate in a user created video competition.
3M Post-it have launched a branded YouTube Contest Page with an infomercial which explains clearly how the video competition works. And Post-it has launched this well designed (great usability) micro website.
Competition participants that upload their own created video to the Post-it website can win the grand prize of $10,000 cash!
Remember Dan Ackerman Greenberg? He caused quite a stir in the online marketing community after writing a guest post on Techchrunch in which he discussed some of his underhand tactics to get videos to go viral.
Later he claimed he was simply putting forward some of the ‘opportunities’ out there, rather than saying these were the tactics he used for his clients. Whatever the truth may be, he got plenty of attention.
Warner Bros must have been one of the interested parties as they’ve taken the concept and turned it into an online show. It’s called Viralcom and claims to give you a look into the ‘real world of viral marketing’. This is what it says on their website:
“Come behind the scenes at the web’s hottest “User Generated Content” studio for an exclusive look at the “real” viral video industry: a digital Hollywood where the A-listers are celebs like Chris Crocker and that Chocolate Rain guy, where everyone’s favorite YouTube classics are professionally produced, and where success hinges entirely on your number of “hits.”
So far 3 episodes and a trailer have been produced. The videos can be watched both on Youtube and the Viralcom Series website.
When making purchase decisions, affluent online consumers are using social media channels to share their own customer-service experiences and learn about those of others, according to a new study from the Society for New Communications Research, MarketingCharts reports.
Some 59% of respondents to a survey said they use social media to ‘vent’ about a customer-care experience.
More than 300 consumers who are active internet users participated in the survey, sponsored by Nuance Communications, focusing on how customer care influences brand reputation in light of the quickly growing adoption of social media.
Other key findings from the report, “Exploring the Link Between Customer Care and Brand Reputation in the Age of Social Media,” include the following:
Viral Friday is the weekly viral video chart of ViralBlog, showing the 10 most popular viral videos, commercials or user-generated videos, carefully selected and ranked by popularity, viral impact & spread.
This weeks Viral Friday #1 position goes to Nick Paumgarten with Trapped in an Elevator for 41 Hours. A time-lapse video of a man trapped in an elevator for 41 hours has become something of an Internet sensation after surveillance camera footage emerged after nearly a decade. The runner up spot is for Nokia’s Human Snake. Farfar and Hobbyfilm created the innovative “Get Out and Play” campaign to promote Nokia’s game console N-Gage. Humanitainment.com completes this week’s top 3 with Baracky: The Movie. Hillary Clinton had to score big in Pennsylvania, and did. But can she win from Baracky…
Do you want to see this week’s list from 1 to 10? Go on then, and have a look! We’d like to hear your opinion about the virals. Have fun!
In The Netherlands ABN AMRO has introduced Flametree, an online social network for entrepreneurs and SME’s.
Customers of ABN AMRO asked: please open up your network for us, so we can share it too. ABN AMRO listened to it’s customers and launched Flametree as a facilitating engagement platform.
Flametree e.g. offers solutions to share knowledge and information and will launch several new services coming year. Flametree is free, and also ‘open’ to non ABN AMRO entrepreneurs. That also might be a great acquisition opportunity to ABN AMRO. I think it’s great that ABN AMRO has listened to it’s customers and is willing to facilitate and help them.
In my opinion more brands should take the next steps from shouting to listening. Loudly shouting brands scare people away. But brands that listen will create loyal customers and mutual beneficial relationships.
Nike-owned sports brand Umbro released a viral video as the digital element of its campaign to support its ‘Bring it on’ football manifesto. The video features freestyle footballer John Farnworth, as well as footage of real fans at football clubs across the UK and on the streets of Manchester.
Umbro will also run a survey on its site for fans to support the manifesto, which is being pushed through stadium promotions and product ads featuring players. The Umbro Bring it on viral clips are created by Silver Films.
One of the Umbro TV commercials can be seen above and here’s the other TV commercial.
Umbro is getting there, but I feel Nike is taking viral videos a step further. Look at the T90 introduction by Wayne Rooney for Nike. Even better is the Wayne Rooney viral spot, in which he kicks the hell out of the famous Dirty Sanchez Boyz with his new Nike T90’s. Which viral spot do you like most?
Following Nike’s 2006 Joga Bonito Soccer chain, Google’s collaborative Gmail video and the video message in a bottle by Greenpeace, BT FON has launched a fun new campaign called The World’s Biggest Mexican Wave, to celebrate the new online/communications partnership between British Telecom and FON, raise awareness of the world’s largest Wi-Fi community and to find out which football team in the UK has the most passionate fans.
Martin Varsavsky of FON explains why they chose the Mexican Wave: “Well, first of all it’s fun. Secondly a WiFi community is just like a Mexican Wave: people contribute with their individual (radio) wave, and the more people, the better it gets.”
Viral Friday is the weekly viral video chart of ViralBlog, showing the 10 most popular viral videos, commercials or user-generated videos, carefully selected and ranked by popularity, viral impact & spread.
This weeks Viral Friday #1 position goes to Nike with Kobe Bryant Jumps Over an Aston Martin. To promote the new Nike Hyperdunk shoe Nike made a viral video in which Kobe Bryant jumps over a speeding Aston Martin. The runner up spot is for Sony’s Foam City. After a lot of buzz on Flickr, YouTube, Technorati and Twitter, Fallon London finally launched the new Sony Bravia commercial last week. Excitechina.com.cn completes this week’s top 3 with Mario Theme Played with RC Car and Bottles. A radio-controlled car, beer bottles and the Super Mario tune are the ingredients of this viral video for the Chinese entertainment site.
Do you want to see this week’s list from 1 to 10? Go on then, and have a look! We’d like to hear your opinion about the virals. Have fun!
Iceland’s low fare airline Iceland Express, based in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavík, <as launched a new fun viral campaign called “Iceland Socks“, involving a rag-tag bunch of loudmouth sock puppets with questionable taste in clothing.
Visitors of Iceland Socks can customize their own experience in Iceland, by adding subtitles or selecting scenes depicting thirteen well-known Icelandic tourist attractions e.g. Geysir (the best known geyser in Iceland), The Blue Lagoon (a lagoon that holds geothermal seawater), Reykjavík (Iceland’s capital), Jökulsárlón (a lagoon full of icebergs, broken from glaciers), Mývatn (lake renowned for its natural beauty), Seljalandsfoss, Seyðisfjörður (one of Iceland’s many fjords), Skógarfoss (one of the most spectacular waterfalls in Iceland), Snæfellsjökull (a glacier visible from Reykjavik), Þingvellir (an important place in Icelandic history), Reykjavíkurtjörn (Downtown Reykjavík) and an Icelandic restaurant.
Unilever seems really dedicated to integrate viral commercials and social media succesfully into it’s marketing approach? In this item we will show you an overview of Unilever’s viral campaigns.
Already in 2006 Unilever’s Axe used the pretty MySpace user Christina Dolce AKA ForBiddeN, with Game Killers. Christina had 900.000 MySpace friends at that moment and was the perfect vehicle to reach 18-24 year old guys. At the Christina Dolce MySpace profile an interactive game with datingtips, named Game Killers was launched, with hints to Axe. Over 75.000 MySpace users participated! Read more at DLD.
