I have recently seen a Carlsberg viral video on the Internet that stages 148 bikers and some innocent couples in a theatre. The room is full of these unfriendly looking bikers, and there are only two seats left, just in the middle of them. The video shows the reaction of the couples that enter the room and see these special spectators.
The video just works as a candid camera, and it is funny to see the way these couples react, and if they will have the “courage” to seat. Those who dare take the two free seats are congratulated by all the bikers, which suddenly turn friendly and offer them beers. Then, the theatre screen displays the Carlsberg logo and slogan.
Heineken used the same technique last year to trick Italian soccer fans. On the night of an very important European Champion’s League game that opposed Milan and Madrid, 1000 Milan team fans where “invited” by their girlfriends, friends or professors to go to a fake classical music event.
Then, the poetry/classical musical concerts starts and… see by yourself in the video below:
Internet offers the perfect spot to produce these viral videos, as they are a bit long: the story has to be set, the trick has to be explained to the audience… It is common to see a 5 minutes video on the Internet. Buzz marketing has grown a lot in the recent years and it seems that now companies use this way to communicate at the drop of a hat. It requires a lot of creativity to make a successful viral campaign, as now Internet is full of videos and advertisement.
I find Carlsberg and Heineken viral videos funny and efficient in generating brand awareness and giving it and cool image. I think that the key point of this process is that it is innovative, so the people are not bored and react positively to it.
It is not about saying that this beer is most tasteful, or refreshing, it is not about selling the product. Taking the example of Heineken, we see how efficient viral videos can be in generating activity around a brand. The medias talked a lot about the fake event, and Heineken’s website had more than 5 million unique visitors in the to weeks after the event. The brand is now more likely to be associated with soccer (or sports in general) in the people’s mind, and they may buy Heineken next time they watch a soccer game.
Sylvain Daressy
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ReplyDeleteGreat post! I've actually never seen these videos, so thanks for sharing! I think this is a great example of one of the topics we've read about - how advertising is moving away from just talking "at" customers, and instead interacting "with" them. We're tired of being lectured why we should choose a certain beer brand - it's tastier, colder, trendier, healthier - we've heard and seen it all. It's old and boring. But it's super fun to feel like I'm in on a secret, part of a scheme, being entertained, and then seeing what brand is associated with this little trick. Even though, in the end, I'm still just sitting here watching an ad, I myself am fooled into thinking I'm interacting with them. This reminds me of the Gatorade Replay ads we watched at the beginning of the mini. When a company can make us smile, or laugh, or feel sentimental by telling us a story... and doing it for free on YouTube... it's pretty brilliant!
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