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Lio Olive Oil Slick Pickin’

Lio Olive Oil Slick Pickin’

Vote on whether olive oil cans make sweet banjo music in this homemade video.

Posted Tuesday, January 6, 2009 - 4:31pm

From the groves of Italy to the sounds of the Appalachia, The Big Money asks whether this video of a homemade banjo affects Lio Olive Oil’s brand.

 

 

Name: Making the Oilcan Banjo
Stats: Apparently, you can construct a perfectly decent-sounding banjo out of certain household products. YouTubers are expert at this. The site is teeming with videos of handyman musicians playing banjos made from, to name a few, a Franzia wine-in-a-box container, another from an oil can, still others from a cookie tin, a bleach bottle, and a cigar box. This video, posted by YouTube user "rpeek," is one of the most popular in the genre of DIY banjos. He made his from a Lio Olive Oil can. The video has been viewed more than 138,000 times, generating 192 comments from marveling fans, plus 26 video responses.
What you see: The purpose of the video is spelled out in the opening seconds, YouTube documentary-style. The words "Making the Oilcan Banjo" flash on the screen accompanied by some impressive banjo picking. Next we see the raw materials in a series of still photos: the Lio Olive Oil can, a banjo neck, and tools. Then we see "rpeek" himself assembling the instrument step by step until, voilà, we have a banjo—in one minute flat.
Takeout/Takeaway: Packaged-goods brands, beware. Your best inventions are being turned into a recycled orchestra, courtesy of YouTube fans.
Social Media Effect: : Lio Olive Oil's print ads run with the slogan "The New Cooking Life Style." The print ads are in classic Mediterranean hues of golden yellow and olive green, conjuring a spirit of Old World refinement and healthy living. Contrast that with "rpeek" and his blistering banjo picking accompanying a quick-cut instructive video on how to make a banjo out of discarded product. Probably not what the marketing team had in mind.

YouTube BrandWatch is The Big Money's exploration into how the world's best-known businesses, so adept at managing their images offline, are being perceived online, where control is harder to come by. Every week, The Big Money features a corporate-themed video that's had significant viewership on YouTube: some approved, some unapproved, some mashed-up combinations of the two. And we'll ask our readers to vote on how the video affects the brands. We think the responses will surprise you, and provide a window onto what is fast becoming the most important playground for corporate games. (Note: This feature has no official relationship to YouTube or its owner, Google.)

 

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