Sociable Communications’ Favourite Viral Advertising 2010

One of the key criteria of any ad campaign is the number of views any ad receives – literally the quantity of pairs-of-eyeballs any ad receives. As such, viral advertising should be judged for its quality for sure, but viewer quantity is also a key criteria. As such, I present my favourite viral video advertisements for 2010, with my humble commentary.

Old Spice – The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

This is (and will always likely be) legendary. It added “I’m on a Horse” to the lexicon. I laughed my ass off to everything the Old Spice guy did (including the brilliant ‘Twitter Responses’ campaign). And more to the point, I personally purchased Old Spice deodorant for the first time ever – I never would have considered doing so without this ad, and that call-to-action made the difference. I appreciate the Axe ads, but they weren’t for me – the Old Spice ads did hit the target though – until I ran out of Old Spice, and went back to my old habits. They may want to address that…



Arcade Fire – The Wilderness Downtown (Featuring “We Used to Wait”)

This is a game-changer in the world of music marketing and promotion – and a stunning example of how free web tools can be manipulated and embraced to create new (and shockingly personalized) works of art. And, the “video” is so damned good that you almost don’t notice how great the song is until your second pass through the “video” process (and let’s face it, didn’t everyone try it a few times??).

http://thewildernessdowntown.com/

Toyota – Swagger Wagon

Maybe it’s just the place I’m at in my life, but this ad blew my mind. There’s a whole series of viral ads with these characters, and I kind of want to hang out with these folks. This honestly makes me want to buy one of these vans, if only to support a company that could be this funny and cool.



Also, “Dare to dream – you could be this!!”



Transport Accident Commission, Victoria, Australia – Twenty Year Retrospective

The TAC in Victoria, Australia has been making deeply impactful conventional (as it were) television ads for twenty years. The Aussies don’t screw around with metaphors like us North Americans – they go for the throat, and get proven results with significantly reduced fatalities from drunk driving. This ad went global on the internet, and may hopefully make a global difference in the same way TAC’s television ads have had in Australia.



Axe – Clean Your Balls

From the divine to the inane… OK, this ad is a bit easy, but what the hell – an ad like this is designed for a viral space, and a brand like Axe is the one to do it with. Check out the long close-up on the golf balls – the tension is palpable. This kind of writing and direction takes some thought, and a bit of courage from the advertiser’s point-of-view. “Cleans right through the prickly surface”. Funny, well-cast, and smart (in spite of the over-the-top stupidity of the concept).



Adidas – Star Wars Cantina

Yeah, what can you say – awesome digital effects, funny, relevant celebrities, and Star Wars. Nerd heaven. Jedi Snoop-Dogg, David Beckham and Jay Baruchel (in particular) are genius. Baruchel sniffing the blaster is perfect – wouldn’t you do the same if you could?



Nike – Write the Future

This puts the aspirations of anyone who as even played a sport into a global context, and allows everyone to dream big, alongside their sports heroes. Ergo, if you wear Nike shoes, you can live your dream. Or something like that.



Tipp-Ex White and Rewrite – NSFW - A Hunter Shoots a Bear

This was a first – something I hadn’t seen before on YouTube, let alone in advertising, online or otherwise. The first time I saw it, I was legitimately surprised, and then delighted. I was even led to wonder about the technology itself, though I suspect YouTube was instrumental is adjusting their interface to allow this to work. It also had people trying new variations over and over – I bet the average viewing time was close to ten minutes – unbelievable for any advertisement. I just wonder how much it translated into purchase – I’ve never heard of (or seen) the product, and I almost worry that their product distribution didn’t match their impact. Still, the sheer depth of thought they put into this execution is stunning.