5 Best Executed Viral Marketing Campaigns

Posted by Jenn Lowther

Following up to the post I wrote about the 5 Worst Executed Viral Marketing Campaigns, I thought that I’d put together a post of the 5 Best. Enjoy.

5. LOLcats

Over the past year the LOLcat has sprung up all over the internet, now I know that this is technically an internet meme not a viral marketing campaign, but how could I resist including this on the list - its cute pictures of little kitty cats. Mix cute pictures of cats with funny poor – but phonetically correct – grammar and you have a LOLcat. They have become so popular and ubiquitous, that they even have their own facebook application. Bask in the following LOLcat cuteness.

Here are a couple of links to websites that are devoted to LOLcats, the last one lets you create your own LOLcat (warning: going to these websites will seriously reduce you productivity at work - don’t say you weren’t warned)
I Can Haz Cheezburger

LOLcats

LOLcat Generator

4. Mentos/Diet Coke – Geyser Video Contest

This actually started off as an internet meme and not a marketing contest by either Coke or Mentos. It all came about as a science demonstration when someone dropped several Mentos into a two liter of Diet Coke and filmed the subsequent reaction. This video made its way around the internet and tons of imitation videos began to pop up. In reaction to the wild success these videos were having on the internet – Mentos decided to cash in on this success and set up the Mentos Geyser Video Contest. The contest hosted on YouTube in conjunction with a contest microsite. The contest received 126 entries and had almost 2000 members. The contest was an unqualified success.

3. Smirnoff – Tea Partay

After the LOLcats, this is by my favorite entry on this list. In order to promote their two new tea coolers, Smirnoff created a series of videos that parodies stereotypical rich white kids and plays on the East Coast – West Coast rap rivalry that existed in the 90’s. The result is two of the funniest videos that I’ve watched in a while. I’ve watched each of these videos at least half a dozen times each, and passed them on to countless friends, and each time I am as thoroughly amused as the first time I watched it.

Smirnoff has set up a campaign microsite that allows you to watch the videos and has included links associated contests and information about the two new products. The videos, which have been uploaded to YouTube, have both received over 3 million views.

2. Dove – Evolution Video

The Dove Evolution video is part of the companies larger Campaign for Real Beauty. The video is a time lapse of what it takes to create the images of women that we see in magazines everyday. Dove uploaded the video to YouTube and to date it has received over more than 4 ½ million views. After they uploaded the video, and it started making its way around the internet, their campaign website received triple the traffic that they received after their Super Bowl commercial the previous year.

The video became such a large internet phenomenon, that it crossed over to main stream media and was featured on the Ellen Show and The View. At one point, according to Technorati, it was amongst the top 15 most linked to videos.

1. Blendtec – Will it Blend?

The entire premise behind the Blendtec Will it Blend video series is ingenious. I can just imagine the brainstorming session that the company had when they came up with this idea. I’d imagine that it went something like this:

K, we have a really powerful blender and need to sell it, but we don’t have any money available for advertising. Hey I’ve got an idea lets put things that no one in their right mind would blend, film it, and upload it to YouTube. Brilliant idea lets do it.

Now at most companies this idea would have been tossed out immediately, but the marketing people at Blendtec are not your average in-house marketing team. This is why they have been able to become on of the most popular video channels on YouTube, have tons of subscribers, and have had millions of people view their video…all for almost zero cost. Below is a selection of some of my favorite Blendtec videos. Sit back and enjoy (oh yeah and don’t try any of them at home).

As if the campaign videos were not funny enough, after they blended an electronic item, the guys at Blendtec decide to try and return the item - and they video taped the attempt.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 21st, 2007 at 2:59 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.