Here are a few interesting stories of viral Youtube videos that turned out to be sneaky marketing ploys by companies. I wrote this post after Social Media Marketing Las Vegas Conference 2011 by Murray Newlands (@MurrayNewlands) at the Flamingo Las Vegas the day after Affiliate Summit West. I heard some of these from Peter VanRynsdam’s talk on “How NOT to go Viral” plus I added some more favourites – let me know what you think of these and if you have any fav viral youtube videos in the comments below 🙂
Sydneys Cinderella Jacket Man – Viral Youtube Shill Marketing backfires
A Sydney woman Heidi Clarke did an online video about how she met a man at a cafe, didn’t get his number and can’t stop thinking about him. In the video she shows he left his jacket behind, its beautiful has silk lining, claims to want to find him and give his jacket back.
The video went viral on youtube but was exposed as a viral marketing stunt for the jacket by an Australian menswear retailer.
Watch the youtube video “are you my man in the jacket”:
Most experts agree it is best to let the cat out of the bag, especially once caught. This video did suffer backlash and scathing comments from youtube. As of February 2011 it had 250,000 views but 363 dislikes compared to 152 likes.
Has been criticised as when first contacted by newspapers, she said it was a genuine search for love and not a fake viral stunt.
What do you guys think? Did this stunt do more harm than good? Was the 250,000 views worth it or did they come across as dishonest and make their viewers feel cheated?
United Breaks Guitars – Viral Youtube Marketing bites United Airlines
On a United Airlines Flight, Dave Carroll saw United Airlines baggage handlers throwing and breaking his $3,500 taylor guitar. He complained to United staff but according to him they didn’t care, and United would not pay for the damage.
Dave them published a song “United Breaks Guitars” which went viral on Youtube, the chorus went “I should have flown with someone else, or gone by car, ’cause United breaks guitars.”
It amassed 150,000 views in 1 day and was all over the media, including CNN, the LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Rolling Stone Magazine & the BBC. While United refused to compensate for the damage, Taylor Guitars stepped up and gave Dave Taylor 2 free Guitar and props for his next song.
As at Feb 2011, the video has almost 10 million views on Youtube, and has been a tremendous boost for Dave Carroll and his band Sons of Maxwell who made a trilogy of videos about the saga. “United Breaks Guitars” was ranked #7 in the Top Ten Viral Videos of 2009 by Time Magazine. So United Breaks Guitars ended up instead being a great viral ad for Dave Carroll’s band.
All I Want for Xmas is a PSP
A 9 yr old put a rap video why he should get a PSP. Was all a stunt by Sony.
Videos where they tried too hard to fool people and continued to be dishonest after being caught tended to backfire and get backlash, so some of the ones that work better are when they go way over the top so the audience knows it is all in good fun. Some good examples that went over the top include:
NFL Fantasy File by NFL.com and Reebok
Featured many videos of NFL stars doing amazing things in order to get picked, such as Laurence Maroney running up and jumping through a car, in the window one side and out the other. The videos easily got over 20 millions views and thousands of comments from people debating whether the impossible stunts were fake.
David Beckham kicks 3 balls into trash cans viral video
One of my favourite viral youtube ads was David Beckham kicking 3 balls into trash cans, while drinking Pepsi. Many people were fooled, asking is the David Beckham video kicking 3 balls into trash cans stunt real or a fake Pepsi ad? Is it just a coincidence that he is holding a Pepsi can, puts it down carefully then has a sip after?
Let me know in the comments – what is your favourite viral youtube social media ad or video?
