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How companies are viewed online.
Michael Phelps Swings and Misses
By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - 1:21pm
To promote the next Winter Games, the International Olympic Committee has recruited popular athletes like Michael Phelps to play sports with which they’re not familiar. Does the ad work, or is it only fun to watch the sports stars when they’re winning?
Title: Michael Phelps Speed-Putting—The Best of Us Challenge
Stats: Posted to YouTube on Oct. 22, the video has been viewed 378,900 times.
What you see: Olympic swimmer, multi-gold medalist Michael Phelps attempting to putt as many golf balls as possible into plastic cups in a 60-second period.
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EmailTrident's Song and Dance
By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Tuesday, October 27, 2009 - 11:37am
Staged song-and-dance routines are popping up in random supermarket aisles, only to land on YouTube hours later, where adoring fans hoot and howl over the creativity! The randomness! The LOL fun of it all! And now canny brands are sponsoring these mini productions. It's possible every person in this video is an actor, and all the praise comes from family and friends, but even still, it makes you wonder: Can you ever shuffle to the supermarket again in your ratty old sweats for a carton of milk?
Title: Grocery Store Musical
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Motorola Ad Slams the iPhone
By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Wednesday, October 21, 2009 - 9:26am
The list of so-called i-killers is indeed a long one. Remember the Zune, Microsoft's (MSFT) iPod killer? (Overseas readers of this column of course do not, but maybe a good 5 percent of the rest of you do.) And then there are the many iPhone killers from Samsung, Sony Ericsson (SNE), and Nokia (NOK) that have emerged over the years, plugging along with single-digit market share. Alas, we have another i-killer, this one designed by Motorola (MOT) and to be distributed by Verizon Wireless (VZ). It's called the Droid, and it's just now getting airtime, triggering a never-tiring debate online.
Title: iDon't
Stats: Posted to YouTube on Oct. 17, the video has amassed more than 476,000 viewings and upwards of 1,400 comments.
What you see: Statements drop onto the background of a white screen while a pleasant Lily Allen-esque pop song plays. They read. "iDon't have a real keyboard" and "iDon't run simultaneous apps," obvious jabs at the shortcomings of the ubiquitous iPhone. Midway through, the cheery music cuts out ominously, pointing us to Droiddoes.com and a type of "stay tuned" message for an apparent November launch.
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Ford’s New Focus
By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Wednesday, October 14, 2009 - 10:48am
Ford's latest campaign stars its drivers and little else, giving short shrift to the cars. In a series of vignette testimonials, Ford (F) drivers tell you what they like about their new Ford. For all we know, no Ford owners were harmed in the filming of these spots.
Title: One More Reason: Becky's Fusion Hybrid Performance
Stats: OK, the viewing numbers aren't quite in "viral" territory and may not get there any time soon. Still, the first eight 15-second spots Ford has posted to YouTube as of Oct. 7 have amassed more than 40,000 viewers. This one is one of the most popular, registering 8,400 viewings since it was posted a week ago with four text responses.
What you see: Viewers are introduced to Becky, a Ford Fusion Hybrid owner, while she's behind the wheel. "It's got plenty of pickup," she tells us in a tight shot, before the action cuts to the car making a right turn. That's it, though. The camera goes back to the driver and we don't see the car again. We just hear and see Becky.
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Freebord's Human Tetris
By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Wednesday, October 7, 2009 - 12:15pm
What do you get when you take 36 skaters fitted with crash helmets that emit funky colors and send them careening down a San Francisco street at night? A viral video that may just yet put the "freebord" on a foothold to knock off the mighty skateboard. Dubious? Check out this video first.
Title: 36 Skaters Make Downhill Neon Video Game w/ Freebords
Stats: Uploaded on Sept. 21, the video has amassed more than 480,000 viewings, plus 597 comments and another 3 video comments.
What you see: Under cover of darkness, "freebord" skaters take off one by one down a car-free slope in a leafy San Francisco neighborhood. We get a top-down perspective as the tubing connected to the skaters' helmets is illuminated. The effect created is that of brightly colored puzzle pieces cascading from above. At the bottom of the hill, the skaters stop and the pieces collect, Tetris-style, to form a cube of bright colors and shapes. The skaters set off again, and the cube dissolves.
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The Debtors Are Coming!
By Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Posted Wednesday, September 30, 2009 - 11:10am
Before new federal consumer protections come into place later this year, credit card issuers have been tweaking terms and increasing rates. While most of us grumble in private, a California woman, Ann Minch, better known by her YouTube handle "Rockerchic4God," tells Bank of America (BAC) "You are evil thieving bastards!" in response to their decision to more than double her credit card interest rate over night. She vows to stage a "debtors revolt." Yes, this revolution will be aired ... on YouTube.
Title: DEBTORS REVOLT BEGINS NOW!
Stats: Uploaded on Sept. 8, the video has amassed more than 380,000 viewings, plus 5,749 comments and another 26 video comments.
What you see: Ann Minch sits before a single camera, her back to a case of miniature vintage cars behind glass. Over the next 4 minutes and 28 seconds, Minch tells us Bank of America jacked up the interest rate on her credit card to 30 percent APR. (Or is it closer to 23 percent? Never mind.) She puts the bank and former Enron CEO Kenneth Lay on notice. (She sweetly corrects this in a later version to say that she meant Ken Lewis, BoA CEO; "both crooks, so easy to confuse!") "I'm staging a debtors’ revolt right here, right now and thereby refuse to pay you one more red cent on your 30 percent credit card account," she declares.
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