Tag archives: viral marketing

Non-Stop Fernando

How long does it take to fly from Dubai to Sao Paulo? 14 hours and 40 minutes… it’s a period of time long enough to discover everything (!) you need to know about Brazil, watching Fernando Ferreira in his non-stop performance for Emirates Airline. On www.nonstopfernando.com Fernando continues talking without stopping about Sao Paulo and Brazilian culture, and the cameras keep rolling for the entire 14 hours and 40 minutes; there are no breaks, no cuts, no edits and no cheating.

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BMW, relearn to drive

Relearn to drive is an amusing series of flashback videos launched by BMW to promote its Performance Driving School. Created by Juxt Interactive, based on a concept by GSD&M, the site features nine characters who provide you with advices on how to improve your driving skills. You can find the car seller who tells you “The bigger the rings, the better they look on the steering wheel“, or the poshy/divorced/nervous mum that explains “You should never drive faster than your age“. The whole thing is definitely funny to watch, and I’m quite sure that those who visit the site will not only have a look at all nine videos, but also hit the button and send the link to their friends (and enemies). A nice “plus” to point out, is that the “send to a friend” changes from video to video, generating personalized messages for all tastes and recipients. If you know a bad driver, spread the word.

The Shopping Boys

Since last fall Les Shoppen Boys are a marketing case in France. A bunch of men, wearing only red boxers act as models in Celio stores (a men clothing chain), and help women to choose clothes at the right size for their partners. If you’re not sure whether a t-shirt will fit your boyfriend, you pick a “Shoppen Boy” who looks the same size of your man, and he tries the t-shirt on for you. Basically the Shoppen Boys are the commercial version of the Full Monty… The video below recaps the action (an idea of Nouveau Jour) and highlights all the PR buzz generated in France (they even ended up on Tv several times).

Now the action has gone further, cashing on the PR. They’ve launched a site to recruit the 12 Shoppen Boys who will appear in the Celio 2008 calendar. Becoming one of the them is not easy, as men have to prove their skills sending a video in which they dance wearing only the boxers and following the music of the official soundtrack… Women, if you’re brave enough, visit the gallery with the submissions until now… If you want to be friend with the Shoppen Boys, they also have a page on Myspace.

Coughs for thought

Beware, this is kind of disgusting… It’s a “viral” (in every sense) launched in Belgium by OgilvyInteractive for Pfizer and the World No Tabacco Day… the site, in French or Flemish, allows visitors to send “personalized” smoker’s coughs to your friends…

Yes, I said “personalized” in the sense that you can “fine-tune” your cough, adjusting three criterias: loud/quiet, long/short and slimy/dry… Certainly the campaign is very serious and thought provokative, and has that touch of filth that usually work to generate word of mouth…

Millimetres Matter but online doesn’t

I got send this “viral” video by Samsung Mobile (watch out, I don’t call it viral), and I decided to post about it for two reasons. First, the macrophotography is great (or is it “micro”-photography???), The Viral Factory once again did a brilliant job. Second, even if they advertise a URL at the end of the commercial (www.millimetresmatter.com), if you visit the site, there isn’t anything to see. I mean, the link takes you to a page for 15 seconds where you can read a few words from behind the scenes of the spot. Then, automatically, you’re redirected to this product website which has nothing to do with the campaign. Isn’t this a shame? They invested so much in the spot, they did a great job, and then, they “forgot” to integrate/support/complete the effort online. Sigh, sigh, sigh. Never stop learning.

Snakes on the Internet

Snakes on the plane: send (voice) message to a friend from Samuel L. Jackson. It’s supposed to be a viral idea. You decide…

Are you lonesome tonight?

From France, an advertainment website created by Draft Paris for SFR Entreprises (the business offer of SFR cell phone operator). Les moments de solitude (moments of loneliness) highlights the importance for managers of being always reachable. How can you live/survive for a minute if you haven’t got your mobile with you? I will avoid answering the question… In any case, it’s nice to see viral ideas for B2B marketing. I recommend visiting the videos (les films) which are rather amusing, while you can absolutely skip the advergame.

It’s all about engagement… or maybe not?

On ClickZ, writes a very interesting article on the “engagement” idea in online marketing. I’m so happy to hear her point of view on this topic! One thing’s for certain: engagement as the objective of your next marketing campaign doesn’t make a lot of sense, at least until we’ve figured out how to definitively measure the results. It’s amazing how many times we concentrate all our attention on the “beauty” of a website, on how it is funny or on its viral potentials etc… and we therefore miss the key points any online effort should bear in mind: which are the marketing and communication objectives of my online campaign? Who am I trying to reach? Viral marketing applications can also be effective where engaging consumers is concerned if they serve a purpose beyond just that. Take a moment to recall some of the most popular viral videos and interactive tools and you’ll realize their success wasn’t measured in their ability to engage alone.

Yutaka Loves London

A great campaign by Virgin Atlantic which uses the fictional character of Yutaka, a Japanese programmer, to showcase London through an amusing and slick site (yutakaloveslondon.com). My favourite part is the ability to raise London bridge in real time and broadcast a message to London through one of the screens in Piccadilly Circus (www.yutakaprojects.com).

Viral Marketing Hall of Fame 2006

MarketingSherpa.com has collected and reviewed over 100 viral campaigns, now it presents the top 12. Very interesting to read to get inspiration, but also to learn a few basic lessons on viral marketing: a) You can create a successful viral campaign even with a tiny budget (and I mean, under 1000$) b) If you want to seed, use blogs c) Send out press releases with optmized keywords, it works and last, but not least: d) A true viral campaign gets forwarded because consumers are compelled to do so by the glory of the content, not because you bribed them with points