The problem with the increasingly rare viral-video commercial is that they make it look easy. So for every breakout like this Evian baby skateboarder video (I confess that I prefer the surprise of baby break dancing)…. there are countless awkward attempts.
Today’s lesson: Make your commercial so remarkable that people may send it around, but don’t count on it. I proclaimed viral dead, but there’s always an exception or maybe a post-death muscle twitch.
Props for the non gratuitous product placement. For the sequel, it’d be great to see the heads move with the bodies — a little less Jibjabian creepy. But that’s splitting hairs. The lighting effects were amazing.
And check out the “making of” video. I want more.
Great spot, and great caveat to those who are bankin’ on a viral breakout. I agree that you can’t deliberately “make” a hit like this one on purpose… But you CAN make it, like you said, remarkable enough for “your” audience to share…
By the way, that video took so long to make, I heard that one of those babies turned out to be the teenager who fell in the manhole while texting the other day.
OMG!! Those babies are soooo cute!!!
Didn’t see that one coming, did you.
Viral video is dead.
Evian may get a nice boost from this for their sales, but it’s unsustainable. You can’t keep surprising the audience.
Where are you now Cadbury’s Gorilla with a penchant for Phil Collins’ solo stuff?
Did I mention that I broke up with viral video a while back? http://blog.eyeviewdigital.com/2009/05/breaking-up-with-viral-video.html in case you missed it.
I love that skating babies video!
Daniel Sevitt “broke up” with viral video? Did viral video even know they were going together?
“So for every breakout like this Evian baby skateboarder video (I confess that I prefer the surprise of baby break dancing)…. there are countless awkward attempts.”
Can you please post some awkward attempts?
Hey DahliaK,
Here’s one of the awkward attempts, Kevin might have been talking about:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/198788/classic_pick_up_attempt/
And BTW, viral video and I were friends with benefits. It’s possible that I ruined the relationship when I started offering to pay for viral video, and then paying less and less each time.
Viral video said to me, “$2 CPM? What kind of video do you think I am?”
I said, “Honey, we both know exactly what you are, we’re just negotiating the price.”
Oh, and Winston Churchill is somewhere in that story as well, I think.
creepy!
I don’t know. I think creepy helps.