Dylan

DYLAN

The way I was exposed to this product was a simple flash video. They had taken the iconic video for ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ and with a little editing on Dylan’s placards advertising this new album got across quite a simple but quite an infectious message. They linked the Dylan brand with the chance to get back in touch with that, to reconnect with that. The album itself is just referred to as ‘Dylan’ because of the power of the brand.

When you click through onto the site you get given the chance to add your own words to Dylan’s placards and can watch the Homesick Blues video with your words featuring within it. You then have the opportunity to send this on to other people you might think would enjoy the message. The creators have then taken this further by creating a facebook application you can add to your profile which has at the time of checking something like 1,538 uses on a monthly basis all of those people in their own networks advertising the new album. I think this is a really novel idea which I can see being quite popular especially since Bob Dylan and the video in question are such iconic features to us in their own right it does a lot to tie in the product with the brand as well as the personal touch added by the consumer.

Youtube

Youtube

It’s hard to think who hasn’t heard of Youtube amongst regular web users. Youtube is a platform which many people flood with videos of all sorts in nature, viral videos are commonly found and Youtube exists purely to facilitate the spread of all it’s videos in a viral fashion with the use of embed codes and its hosting and compressing abilities. It’s an incredibly powerful brand which if properly realised uses the videos it hosts to spread itself virally to users at quite a successful rate. The watermark in the corner of the video’s and the characteristic player define youtube and the fact that the play can be placed nearly anywhere on the web means that youtube’s brand can be accessed to exposed to an audience anywhere on the web. It has a incredibly large target audience which makes it easier to market, but in reality no marketing is required because the site largely sells itself in a purely viral fashion.

The problem with this is Youtube is then automatically associated with the content of the videos and whilst for the most part this is fine, when some people upload videos which could be political, racist, explicitly sexual etc. etc. there’s a chance you could offend not only individuals but institutions which could damage the brand and it’s hard moderate viral content. However because it’s all in house Youtube can moderate the content which is displayed on the site or via the site ensuring the desired brand identity is maintained.

Blendtec

Blendtec

Blendtec have a campaign advertising their new Blender, it’s hard not to be exposed to this and not be left thinking or talking about the Blender or the brand Blendtec which implies Blending. They have a video library under the name “Will it blend?” statistically this is much more likely to appeal and to be passed on to others by men. However this proves highly successful and a lot of the videos find their way onto youtube, after all if theres a blender out there which has the capability to blend the likes of iPhone and golfballs that’s obviously something some people need to hear about.

All the videos can be embedded into websites so the potential for videos to find their way into blogs is definitely there and after one video it’s hard to ignore it and you’ll perhaps find yourself spending a good bit of time looking at the videos which all clock in at about a minute or a minute and a half. So this is a good way to keep people exposed to advertising or in getting them to remain on your website which is often a hard task concerning viral media.

The truth isn’t sexy

The truth isn't sexy

The truth isn’t sexy is a purely viral campaign set up to raise awareness, combat sex trafficking and to challenge preconceptions about the sex trade. The campaign operates by primarily placing beermats in clubs and pubs ‘advertising’ a sex worker where as underneath is information about the industry and the phone number supplies information on the reality of working in such a place. This has done a lot to raise the profile of the initiative which has made it possible for the group to organise benefit gigs hosted by the likes of the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club as well as getting recognition from MP’s in parliament and collaboration with existing initiatives.

The Beermats are often found in groups or are distributed by groups of volunteers or people who come across them which means the campaign at it’s root contains a viral aspect. The material is supplied by the initiative but distribution for the sake of awareness is almost entirely generated by consumers.