The most popular commercial on YouTube is for the Sony Bravia LCD television. Almost 3.5 million people have watched it, and while it doesn't have the same verve as Volkswagen's Un-pimp Your Ride, it reaffirms the power of video as a viral marketing tool.
As impressive as the numbers are for Sony and VW, they don't hold a candle to Judd Laipply's, Evolution of Dance. This video has been viewed over 29,000,000 times according to YouTube. No fancy effects, just a guy on stage who was videotaped by someone in the audience.
Revver is one company taking advantage of amateur Internet video by allowing people to monetize the clips they upload by tagging a commercial weblink at the end of the video. It remains to be seen whether or not this model will work. There will be all kinds of copyright issues, and the fact that tagging a commercial at the end of a video will reduce the "cool" factor that gives these videos such legs.
Can viral video help companies capture local search traffic? With the right web infrastructure (great website, professional hosting, and the ability to handle large spikes of traffic) my answer would be a resounding yes.
It was 122 degrees in North Hills this weekend. Now imagine 2 people walking down the street with a squirt gun and a video camera asking people if they want to "cool down." Let's say these two people were employees of a local bar that served "the coldest beer in town." They post the video on their website, they play it in their bar, and, well, you get the idea. I'm no Spielberg, but a short video that involves the community and that can be easily distributed could help promote your business to a local market and drive traffic to your site.
And finally, if you haven't seen what you can do with Diet Coke and Mentos, check this out.
I've heard some comments that to a certain degree people won't mind a limited amount of ads if it's done right on video.
The problem has been that what "limited" means to consumers and where they will draw the line.
It seems that some are going to have to be the pioneers in this and pave the way. At this time is seems hard to grasp and find out exactly what will be tolerated and still work.
Posted by: Gary Bourgeault (thealphamarketer.com) | July 25, 2006 at 12:55 AM