Viral Marketing... what the hell?

[MattinSTL]

New viral marketing videos come out all the time and it seems almost everybody takes them for what they appear to be. It doesn't matter how sharp I thought a person was, they don't think "hey check out this cool Nike ad"... instead they say "hey did you see that 14 year old girl [in Nike shoes] kick a [Nike soccer ball] through that donut sign 90 yards away [and 30' high]?"

My reaction is, "yeah she should be playing world cup soccer since she could kick goals across the entire field! She wouldn't even need teammates!"

People talk about how cool/amazing the "thing" is... or how amazing the stunt was. I'd see these ads as cool, if they were taken as advertisements, but it blows my mind that people repeatedly... constantly... take them as presented.

Use the lowest tech camera you can get to stage a simple setup that will disguise a camera trick or decent CGI... and be sure a product or logo appears a couple times during the video. Then sit back as millions watch in awe.

I just don't get it.

 

[Scott F]

 

[Rippie]

"You can never underestimate the stupidity of the of the general public." Scott Adams, (American Cartoonist, b.1957)
Nobody ever went broke by underestimating the intelligence or taste of the American public. - HL Mencken and/or PT Barnum

The list goes on..
​

 

[Matt Gottshalk]

Sometimes people just want to be entertained and dont mind, or care, about a little marketing thrown in.

Want a beer?

 

[Anhar_Miah]

Yea, I never got those videos either.

Usually when a co-worker says:

"loook at this kweel v....."

I smash them over the head with my keyboard.

This serve two very important functions:

(1) Stops the viral from spreading
(2) Cleans the dust from my keyboard.

 

[David Jimerson]

I don't know why anyone would take them as presented even if they didn't have ads in them.

Anyway, a Nike swoosh popping isn't going to cause me to associate Nike with anything but spam, so it hardly matters. Don't know why advertisers think a simple logo is sales gold, anyway.

 

[MattinSTL]

Sometimes people just want to be entertained and dont mind, or care, about a little marketing thrown in.

Want a beer?

LOL!... yes, that's what sparked this

Do you think that guy actually made that thing? OR... if he did... and what you think is happening IS happening... do you think he's just "some dude" who happened to put a Bud Light sticker on the box over the opening? AND he just happens to hold a BL can perfectly in front of the camera at the end?

In the past we had people (on this site... which is more amazing to me... people who DO video)... debating if Kobie actually jumped a car speeding directly at him, etc. I ask myself if these same people go into a movie, see Bruce Willis fly a jet into a semi and wonder how long it took Bruce to learn how to fly like that... and yet, make the video look "amateur" and people accept anything as reality.

Sometimes people just want to be entertained and dont mind, or care, about a little marketing thrown in.

My beef with these things is the setup, and how the setup is accepted by 99% of the viewers... If people on this very site didn't argue that Kobie actually risked death for a funny video clip... I wouldn't care. I gotta' tell myself that "my peeps" 'aint fooled that easy.

To Rippie... I almost made my last line in the opening post "PT Barnum was a genius"... and DeepFocus... your reply is smart, and I agree... I don't mind the ads, but I hate the "lie" and how almost nobody sees it for what it is.

In the case of the BL ad... the setup is quite elaborate... as the guy explains all the tech behind his funny little creation. Yep... Joe Shmoe rigged up a bunch of robotics and programed a little ugly box, that just happens to have a BL logo on it... to fire beers at people... and of course Joe Shmoe only has two vids on youtube... both of them the same vid in different edits.

Hey it's cool... but please realize what's behind it... it's not some dude that was just bored one week.

 

[Jawa Ex Machina]

Tron Guy should get a good lawyer and sue Disney. He's got at least a few millions coming to him for keeping the franchise alive between movies.