Adidas Knows How to Party : The sportswear company hosts a rowdy star-studded get-together.

How companies are viewed online.

A Disney Princess Bride-to-Be

By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Tuesday, June 30, 2009 - 11:30am

Disney is perhaps best known on YouTube for clever fan mash-ups and Hannah Montana videos. Riding this wave, Disney's theme parks division figures a little impromptu singing and dancing on its well-groomed Main Street, U.S.A., will create yet another "magical moment." But winning over YouTube critics takes more than a happy song as Disney learns.

Title: Disneyland Musical Marriage Proposal

Stats: Appearing on June 8, this video has attracted more than 265,000 viewers and over 3,600 text responses.

What you see: A couple are walking along a crowded street in a Disney-designed downtown when the man steps forward, whips out a megaphone, and asks his girlfriend to marry him. She just shrieks and holds her hand over her mouth as he goes into a full song-and-dance routine of wedded bliss. She says very little—just an "Oh my God"—and seals the proposal with a kiss. A happy ending. The crowd cheers.


  • Bernhard Warner is editorial director of Social Media Influence.
  • Matthew Yeomans runs Custom Communication
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Paramount’s Premature Promo?

By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Friday, June 26, 2009 - 12:03pm

The most popular genre of YouTube videos these days is, not surprisingly, trailers for summer and autumn Hollywood blockbusters, (usually the kind involving the imminent invasion of Earth or some other kind of sci-fi menace). The trailers for Transformers 2 and 2012 alone have amassed more than 9 million viewings so far. The competition for eyeballs is so fierce that Paramount Pictures has even decided to start plugging now the release of its big summer sci-fi adventure flick The Last Airbender, a full year ahead of its big-screen debut. Too soon? You be the judge.

Stats: Paramount posted this video on June 22, registering more than 237,000 viewings and nearly 2,300 text comments in the first four days. Other fans of the Last Airbender story have posted their own "teaser" vids, bringing the total number of viewers closer to 1 million.

What you see: "He is the last of his kind, all that remains of a once powerful nation," the solemn voice-over informs us, while in a ring appears a robed samurai busting some impressive moves. Cue ominous music as the narrator informs us some unnamed baddies are bent on destroying this young shaven-head hero. The camera pulls back, and the perspective shifts to the sea where a menacing armada bombards the screen with flaming artillery.

Takeout/take-away: The official big-screen debut for The Last Airbender in the United States is not until Independence Day weekend, 2010. But Hollywood is a firm believer in the axiom: It's never too early to start building buzz. It doesn't even matter if the crew is still in post-production, evidently.

Social-media effect: Producers of sci-fi adventure flicks have to feed the YouTube beast well before the final edits are made. That much is beyond dispute. But at some point you'd wonder if teaser trailers posted online a full 13 months before the movie hits theaters is a good strategy? How do you keep interest high then over the long autumn, winter, and spring? By producing trailer after trailer? Hollywood will watch this strategy closely to see at what point trailer fatigue sets in or whether it needs to build interest even earlier in its expensive summer blockbusters.


  • Bernhard Warner is editorial director of Social Media Influence.
  • Matthew Yeomans runs Custom Communication
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Bacardi’s Designated Driver

By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Tuesday, June 23, 2009 - 1:12pm

Earlier this decade, Formula One driver Michael Schumacher was branded the world's first "billionaire athlete." (If Tiger Woods hasn't yet caught him earningswise, he soon will.) Now retired, Schumacher still plays the role of celebrity pitchman for various advertisers, including for liquor brand Bacardi on its campaign to remind consumers not to drink and drive. It's an expensive investment for Bacardi. Is the message catching on?

Title: As seen on Top Gear - Schumacher Drink Drive Simulation

Stats: Not very impressive—just 4,330 viewings since it was posted to Bacardi's YouTube channel on June 21, generating just one text comment.

What you see: This is not our typical public service announcement lecturing us not to drink and drive. It shows the seven-time Formula One champion taking a black sports car through its paces, speeding around a race track. We're informed that Schumacher never drinks and drives, but if he did here's what kind of impairments he'd encounter. For starters, we're informed that after one drink, a driver is more easily distracted and his eyesight is impaired. To simulate these effects, Schumacher is required to speed around the track with a trio of suited men singing alongside him and with mud splattered on his windshield. Of course, Schumacher makes it around the course intact. Schumacher then tells us he doesn't drink and drive. "Why would you?" he wonders.


  • Bernhard Warner is editorial director of Social Media Influence.
  • Matthew Yeomans runs Custom Communication
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Olympus Camera Cocktail

By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Friday, June 19, 2009 - 10:13am

Tom Dickson of "Will it Blend?" fame has shredded, cleaved, and mutilated all manner of objects in his Blendtec blender, from golf balls to credit cards, creating one of the Internet’s most enduring viral infomercials. What’s next? Japanese camera maker Olympus has been a good sport, lending its new digital camera to the gag. But will it blend?

Title: Will It Blend?—Take Two: The full Olympus Multimedia Blend

 

Stats: There are two version of this video, both published to Blendtec’s YouTube channel this month, collecting nearly 240,000 viewers and 1,572 text comments.


  • Bernhard Warner is editorial director of Social Media Influence.
  • Matthew Yeomans runs Custom Communication
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The Post-Hit

By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Tuesday, June 16, 2009 - 5:46pm

If you were to raid the company supply closet and make off with 6,000 Post-it notes, what kind of mischief might you get up to? Admittedly, it's a strange question, but keep that figure (the 6,000 Post-it notes) in mind when you watch this next video. It took a student at Savannah College of Art and Design three months to plan and shoot this colorful stop-motion video using the lowest of low-tech messaging: the sticky Post-it note.

Title: DEADLINE post-it stop motion

 

Stats: Appearing on June 5, this video has attracted more than 738,000 viewers, 31 video responses, and 1,510 text responses.


  • Bernhard Warner is editorial director of Social Media Influence.
  • Matthew Yeomans runs Custom Communication
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Adidas Knows How to Party

By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Friday, June 12, 2009 - 11:15am

A touch of the Ting Tings, a dose of David Beckham, and a smattering of hip-hop royalty made this Adidas ad a hit first time around. Now a whiff of controversy has given it new prominence online.

Title: Adidas House Party

Stats: The two main versions of Originals House Party ad have been viewed 1,691,000 times.

What you see: The culmination of a major marketing effort to celebrate Adidas' 60th anniversary, rap impresario Russell Simmons and ultimate brand ambassadors Run DMC, Missy Eliot, David Beckham, and a host of other celebs (oh, and a lot of hot women) are invited to a house party. All seem to be having a great time as the music builds and the house begins to feel the brunt of festivities on this scale (someone apparently invited a load of graffiti artists who didn't take to the original décor).


  • Bernhard Warner is editorial director of Social Media Influence.
  • Matthew Yeomans runs Custom Communication
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