Never say no to the Panda: A Case Study
Posted by Jan in 
This week saw the re-release of a series commercials reach 1.5 million views on youtube (and counting) since an upload five days ago. The incredible reach of this video reveals an important insight about the nature of internet users: we like bizarre.
While the jury is still out on how well the series did for Panda cheese when it was released over the air in Egypt, it is absolutely certain that the brand has gained considerable exposure in a limited amount of time. The rate at which views are being accumulated for this video indicate that users are sharing this in a way that promotes future sharing.
But what is the root of this? The commercials themselves are unexpected, for an actual commercial to portray a Goodfellas-esque Panda threatening shoppers into buying cheese is a concept that many users find shocking. The humor is in the expectations of a conventional commercial which are broken by the actual content.
For brands that are trying to reach an online audience, this means that a different skill set is needed than conventional marketing needs. What we have seen time and time again is novelty appealing to the internet population. There are no formulas which can be applied to what captures the increasingly diminished attention span of internet users. But when something is created that does, the results are enormous.
Double Rainbow Man Cashes in
The saga of Paul “Double Rainbow Guy” Vasquez continues with the release of a new double rainbow application for the iPhone today. When we last covered Double Rainbow Guy, he was slinging photo editors for Microsoft, but this newest of developments may have further entrenched his position as viral sensation gone sellout.
While the Microsoft ad was fairly relevant and the result of clever marketing by the friendly fellas over at Microsoft, this latest development is much less shiny. The app displays a single screen and then superimposes a double rainbow on whatever photo is taken with the iPhone. And it’s a steal at 99 cents.
Whether Double Rainbow Man ends up making a profit of this remains to be seen but one has to wonder at which point he decided investing in an app developer was the best thing he could do with his money. Regardless of what happens, it seems he has gone… ehm.. all the way.
Andy Warhol famously commented that in the future, everyone would be famous for 15 minutes. Perhaps he should have also said that in the future, everyone would try to cash in on those fifteen minutes.
Is this the new model of entrepreneurship? Are we headed towards a dystopian tomorrow in which the entire population vies for attention through Johnny Knoxville-esque antics to survive; meme’ing away to survive? Sound off in the comments.
Viral Video Watch – September 16th, 2010
Today’s hot viral video has been accelerating at a rate of over 1 million views per day, since it’s launch on the 14th. DC shoes has gotten incredible exposure from this video due to it’s extreme appeal, something its customers, extreme sport enthusiasts themselves, find valuable. Not to mention the fact that no guy in his right mind would watch this video without telling his friends…
Viral Video Watch – September 15th, 2010
Today’s hot viral video is not very new. In fact, it’s been on YouTube since December 22nd, 2005, which is only about a month after the video sharing site launched. BUT, it’s a video we feel all must see, especially those who are fans of classic cinema, and more notably, Orson Welles.
Choose your own ADventure: You Tube Edition
Once in a while, a new ad campaign comes along that opens new doors and pushes the boundaries of what can and cannot be done. Two weeks ago, Tippex, a whiteout manufacturer, launched a mind blowing You Tube campaign that takes us back to the days of Choose Your Own Adventure novels and is the greatest thing since the Old Spice campaign.
The campaign, titled NSWF. A hunter shoots a bear! starts with a simple enough video (Not Safe For Work Language) of some hikers talking about their sexual escapades. Suddenly, a bear comes out of the woods, and just as one of the scared hikers is about to blow its head off, two options come up on the screen: Shoot The Bear and Don’t Shoot The Bear. Upon clicking on either one, the user is taken to the Tippex YouTube channel.
The videos goes on, but the hunter in the frame turns to the camera, reaches out of the video box, grabs the giant Tippex container in the ad on the right hand side, and erases shoots in the video title. He then breaks the fourth wall and asked the user to type in their own scenario.
Following this, the user can input literally any word(s) he/she wants and press Play to be taken to their chose scenario involving the bear and the hunter. In some cases, the scenarios have been grouped together, like if the user inputs any type of sport it will go to a soccer video with a streaker running by and the bear scoring a goal on the hunter.
In the event that a non-filmed or non-recognizable scenario is entered, the user will be taken to an error clip. 
By this point, you are likely thinking that this is quite the extravagant campaign for something as simple as a whiteout company. But it’s genius considering that it was timed perfectly with back to school, and contains a lot of swearing and a hilarious result if anything sexual is typed in (hence appealing to the youth). It also spits in the face of the bigger companies that struggle to launch successful online campaigns.
It’s one for the little guys. Inspiring, to say the least.
The Day the Double Rainbow Died
If you have to work in an office during those beautiful summer months and you stare out the window at the sunshine you are not enjoying, viral videos have likely become one of the only sources of joy in your day.
Likely the hottest (see what I did there) video this past season was Double Rainbow, posted by HungryBear9562. If you haven’t seen it, I very much recommend you check it out. Even though it was posted in January 2010, it rapidly gained popularity this past July and spawned countless parodies and auto tune remixes. Paul Vasquez, the man behind the camera in the video, is the type of guy who would probably never gain fame in other way. With this clip however, he instantly became a YouTube celebrity, and Double Rainbow became entrenched in the Internet Pop Culture Lexicon forever. The guy seemed a little crazy in the video, and the fact that he was able to leave a smile on so many people’s faces gave you a bit of a warm feeling your tummy. A success story if you will.
Until now.
Vasquez has apparently sold out, and is now featured in the latest Windows Live Photo Gallery add. Bad HungryBear9562, very very bad HungryBear9562. The magic of YouTube stars is that the lot of them never really sell out, other than mass manufacturing t-shirts of their meme, appearing in a Weezer video, or going on Television to discuss their fame.
Alas, you can decide for yourself. Do you think this is selling out?