Hats off to General Motors for this refreshing viral advertising campaign featuring flying cars. I almost hesitate to reveal GM as the sponsor because conspiracy theories would be more fun (and they’re already taking place). For instance, Future Technology Today is taking them pretty darned seriously. I think.
Meanwhile, the GM chat board is pretty stoked. To see the videos with surrounding GM paid ads, visit Jalopnik.com.
- Video 1: Vegas Road Trip with Flying Car. Guys talk about vacationing when you don’t have a job. Then spot cars.
- Video 2: Flying Cars in Hollywood. A German speaking tourist sees flying cars (photo)
- Video 3: Flying Cards Over Skateboard Ramp. A 40-year-old guy is videotaping his skateboarding to attract a sponsor. Flying cars distract cameraman.
WillVideoforFood gives this “5 stars” for moving the viral-video “advertising revolution” forward so well. We’d like to know the agency behind them. The campaign avoids the 7 Deadly Sins of Viral Video Advertising, and has some new tricks worth featuring:
- Footage is convincingly amateur. Terrible white balance, shaky camera, grainy images.
- Each video starts with people engaged in another moment that they’d realistically be videotaping. The flying car comes later while the camera happens to be rolling.
- The videos were submitted individually on YouTube with profiles that match the people in the video. For instance, the skateboard video is posted by “Sneaky Snake Eyes,” who identifies himself as 40 and has other skateboard videos “favorited.” Nice attention to detail. Too bad each submitter has only submitted one video (a giveaway).
Very well done. The only way to improve this campaign is to engineer a longer gap between when they were posted and when they were connected to GM. I would have gone a week or two before letting out the secret or running ads with the videos.
P.S. Don’t try flying your own car. It can be fatal as this CNN story reveals.
I wonder if I started making videos of me enjoying Coca-Cola in a typical moment, would people think they were Coke ads? That would be a neat experiment.
I know the new interactive guy at Coke because I used to work with him. Give it a shot, and I’ll send them his way.
I think I will. I actually used Coke in an episode of Zack Scott Reports. Also, my “One Cool Cat” video (which is on the front page of MetaCafe right now) includes lots of Coke in the fridge. Unfortunately, I accidently get a shot of the 1 can of Dr. Pepper. Oh well, Coke bottles it around here. Or cans it. Whatever.
Okay, here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbPomuKs_rU
And here:
http://one.revver.com/videos/watch/62643
This is basically reality tv in a 30 second format, no? I mean these commericals of “real life” inspire the same voyeurism that attracts us all to “The Amazing Race” and “Survivor.” In that case, I guess I’m more inclined to ask, “What took the ad guys so long to catch on?”
Great post.
It was clearly the clients that “didn’t get it.” 🙂
hola amigos!
Me ha parecido muy divertido.
COJONUDO
“Future Technology Today” doesn’t cross check on Google. Have you conisdered that the website could be part of the larger guerilla campaign by GM?
Your site is also very interesting, very calming effect just reading it. Will spend more time with certain areas. Well done and good luck with your work.
I just want you to know that I think you did a terrific job on this websight.
Excellent Blog …Thanks