Who doesn't love a good viral video? People spend hours watching funny and outrageous viral videos about just about anything you can think of. Advertisers are well aware of the ability of viral videos to attract eyeballs, which is why many have attempted to create viral video campaigns for their clients. Some have been hits and others were misses. Mashable.com has put together a list of the top 10 most innovative viral videos from 2010.
Number one on the list is an advertisement for Tipp-Ex white out pens titled "A Hunter Shoots a Bear." This video mixes the viral aspect with the Millenial Generation's need for interactivity. The video shows a hunter's camp ground being invaded by a bear. Crude words are uttered and the hunter grabs his gun. At the end of the video, viewers are given the option to click "shoot the bear" or "don't shoot the bear." The links take viewers to another video, in which the hunter grabs a white out pen and erases "shoots" from the title. Viewers are then instructed to type their own word in the title and click play. Doing so brings up more videos with the hunter acting out the viewer's title. There's no question as to why this video topped the list for most innovative!
Another viral ad shows a man walking across America in his Levi Strauss & Co. jeans. The video uses stop-motion filming to show the man walking through distinct landmarks across the country. The video is accompanied by a Google Map that tracks the route of the man and has photos from each destination.
The list certainly wouldn't be complete without mentioning the Old Spice video responses that took social media by storm this past summer. You can read a previous blog post about those personalized viral ads here.
To check out which viral ads made Mashable's list, click here. Which one is your favorite? Can you think of any other notably innovative viral ads from this year that didn't make the list?
No doubt that viral videos are addicting to watch. I love watching successful and not so successful viral videos to see what they have done right or wrong. Not any video can go viral. It has to have that extra spark to make it funny, crazy or emotionally appealing to viewers, so it is always interesting to see what people come up with.
ReplyDelete