ON: The Top 10 Viral Campaigns of 2007

The internet has revolutionized a plethora of pastimes: the way people communicate, find dates, commit crimes, you name it. But the business of selling stuff and of building brands continues to see one of the most radical transformations.  At the cutting edge is the viral campaign; the short video clip, game, widget or ad that is so compelling much of an advertiser’s work is done for them when their prospective customers forward it to their contacts quickly building up an audience of millions.

What I love about the following ten campaigns is that they did not set out to be viral - they set their creative foot forward and the audience embraced the ideas and made them viral by continuing the conversation.  The ones that captured the most attention are edgy, surprising, original, erotic and emotional that tapped in to sub-cultures or into popular culture.

1. Nike:  This clip is one of the all time greatest virals ever, with more than 50 million views globally. Featuring world famous soccer star Ronaldinho hitting the crossbar no less than four times, without the ball touching the floor. The creative material is from Framfab, in Denmark. The product on display is the Nike R10 football boot. A massive discussion on whether the clip was actually real or computer edited drove millions of interested viewers to the campaign.

2. John West Salmon Ad: A John West employee fights a grizzly bear off to land a fish – just to go that extra mile for quality. Obviously, it is set up, but with costumes from the Jim Henson Creature Shop it looks surprisingly real, until the bear starts throwing Kung Fu tricks at the “fisherman”

3. Dove Onslaught: Another classic out of Janet Kestin and Ogilvy & Mather, Toronto

4. Harley Davidson Widget:  This widget launched with a LIVE video feed for H.O.G's and now acts as a fantastic source of entertainment on web pages across the internet.

5.  Marc Ecko: Having started several enterprises around the hip/hop, skater and style scene, Ecko decided to create a ideological statement on the First Amendment. He filmed a session of himself ”tagging” Air Force One and used the following hype to explain why. Did he really spray grafitti on the President’s jet? Judge for yourself @ http://www.stillfree.com

6. Ice Breakers Watch and Whoa:  The Spring Break Casting call reality web cast followed four couples on their Spring Beak adventure that ultimately lead one couple to star in the Ice Breakers Beach commercial.  While the "Citrus Relay" (http://www.ifilm.com/video/2833182) lead the pack of 32 videos, the site received the biggest fanfare.

7. Coke Zero - Sue A Friend:  Two actors pose as marketing execs who start a grassroots campaign to sue coke.  A site, rich media with widgets facilitated the spread of the fun functionality.

8. The Trojan Games: Trojan Condoms in the United Kingdom, the "official" web site for the so-called "Trojan Games" was created with several clips by UK-based The Viral Factory.  This one is my favorite.

9. Quicksilver Dynamite Surfing: How to go surf in a country without waves: a group of young men throw a bundle of dynamite into an urban lake. Whether the clip was real or not was never really discovered, a factor that itself garnered attention.

10. Criss Angel Freak Your Mind: EVB pulls off a multi-platform magic trick that plunges users into the unbelievable illusions of A&E's "Criss Angel MindFreak." (http://www.freakyourmind.com/)  Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest. That's certainly the case with this site. By focusing the experience on "Freaking your friend's mind" and the resulting magical video and follow-up phone call, the designers were able to create an experience that requires little effort from the viewer but has a very cool and impressive payoff.

What is were your favorites this year??  Help add to my list and study by submitting campaigns that were conversation worthy in your social circles.

Comments

[Travel Guy]

Elf Yourself was great, even though it was seasonal, the problem is, how many people associate it with OfficeMax?

[vpisteve]

Ah, ok then. :)

In that case, the Criss Angel MindFreak thing was pretty darn amazing and fun, making it my definite favorite of the bunch.

[Joanna Pena-Bickley]

wido, I love it when marketers don't speak to eachother and share their best practices. kinda wish team USA would have brought this to the US. i think a widget with locations of the next blast could be cool! imagine a "live" video feed

[windo]

as a surfer, the quicksilver dynamite surfing was best i've seen in awhile. i got that one sent to me from my cuz in australia right when it hit. the quicksilver usa marketing guys here didn't even know about it. and btw, yes, totally fake. could never happen, but was really cool nonetheless. nice post.

[Joanna Pena-Bickley]

Chris: That was a great campaign and I agree should make a top 07 list! Thanks for the reminder!
I would argue that online might be the serving medium (the great communications facilitator)but in reality people are the medium when it comes to WOM/viral. It is people we should measure success criteria on - the people who helped move the message.

[Chris Wexler]

I was on the Harley-Davidson widget team -- thanks for the mention! And nice post!

That said, I think you missed the viral campaign of the year -- Marc Ecko's purchase and vote on branding of Barry Bond's 756 HR ball at www.vote756.com

He got millions of votes on what to do with the ball -- and more importantly, it garnered major national news coverage. It transcended online and became a part of popular culture. From sports talk radio to the Today show. Now that is viral success.

Was it a purely online viral hit? No. That is why it was so successful. It was a website that became something MUCH, MUCH bigger. The people we are trying to talk to don't think "I got an online message from Marc Ecko", they think, "Marc Ecko just said something."

[Joanna Pena-Bickley]

vpisteve and craig, while these campaigns were launched a year ago I was highlighting that the timeless creative has endured and gained cult status this past year. did you guys have favorites?

[Craig]

Nice list, although the "The Trojan Games" campaign was actually done for the 2004 Olympic games, so that pretty old. The "John West Salmon Ad" is also a few years old.

[vpisteve]

Hmm, the John West Salmon Ad is at least 5 or 6 years old. How does this count as one of the best viral campaigns of 2007??

[Paul Madden]

Thanks for taking the time to put this together. I had seen most, but enjoyed viewing again in one place.

[David Berkowitz]

Great roundup! I've just added your blog to my blogroll; thanks for including me on yours.

[jkl]

Year-end wrap ups are great – especially for those of us playing along at home. But what a blogger really wants is the ’08 preview. Map me from two-point-oh to three. I know you know. Why are you holding out?

[gibbs12]

I think the Criss Angel 'Freak Your Friends' promo should be higher because it takes the standard "send-to-friend" viral concept further than most with some creative thinking.

I also liked Office Max's Scrooge and Elf Yourself.

Overall, nice list.