This is a pretty cool campaign looking to get 1 million shirts for the people of Africa. The guys from IWearYourShirt.com are backing this and it looks like it could use

Click here for more information on the group. For now Water is Life is serving as the financial agency for the transactions.

Now while I like the video’s embrace of the Flash Mob, I wonder if it is a sustainable marketing tool. For starters, other competing brands are seen in the video – Macy’s and Sacks – in a natural setting. Do you want to give the competition more face time?  I would also  assume that the kids were wearing H&M gear – but I can’t be sure.

While those questions center on the brand, I also wonder about the validity of the Flash Mob. Since there were multiple camera angles, you have to wonder if the audience was in on the event or if they were innocent bystanders. Also since it’s an ad do they need to sign waivers?

If the group was in on the secret does this remove the essence of the Flash Mob and become just another catchy advertising ploy? What do you think?

After years of thinking the Internet was made of Skittles and Unicorn poop, my world has been shattered. Gabe & Max break it down in a viral video that makes you wonder what you ever did before seeing it (click here if you can’t view it). You will thank me for wasting the five minutes of your time. I still wonder if they were serious or if the gum popping was a cruel joke.

Click here if you can’t view the video.

A week after plugging in my email address I received a coupon for my pack of franks, which I have yet to redeem, but am looking forward to seeing what all of the fuss was about. Normally when I get a coupon in the mail its usually a safe bet that I won’t hear from the company anytime shortly. However with Oscar Mayer, it was different. On Monday I got an email with the following heading: Frank follow-up from Oscar Mayer (R)‏. At first glance, I thought that it might be another survey to answer or a follow up coupon.But neither of them was inside the email, rather there was an interesting email soliciting video content with the following text:

It’s true that Oscar Mayer Jumbo Beef Franks beat the regular beef frank of both Ball Park^® and Hebrew National^®—their best-selling beef franks—in a national taste test, but we want to hear what you have to say. Just submit your video review to our official YouTube group, tell us how you much you love Oscar Mayer Jumbo Beef Franks in your most creative way, and we’ll do the rest. While you’re there, be sure to check out videos from other hot dog lovers like you.*

Intrigued by an online campaign where folks were asked to talk about loving franks in a creative way, I had to check it out. Some of the videos were awful, while some aren’t half bad. The whole crop is 59 strong, but I was kind of disappointed that the old jingle was not incorporated into the videos I watched.

My favorite one was this one, I give the mom an A for effort but junior was not having it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ2cIG8dkIM]

With the contest Oscar Mayer was able to get great content out of one of the best review resources available, mommy bloggers and also built up a buzz that will populate a search of hot dogs on a Google video search.

So here’s to you Mr. Bun Filler Upper Guy.

YouTube is filled with millions of videos from everyone from middle school kids to cartoons to backyard wrestling

Image courtesy of WiiRally.com

and MMA. Hell even my grandmother made an appearance on YouTube (a 79 year old dancing with a fratboy is always good for some laughs). After watching thousands of videos during December, I broke down the videos that get a ton of traction into four groups without touching on kids committing acts of violence with an eye to applying the findings to my company:

1. Commercials with celebrities
2. Comedy & Humor (sometimes associated with companies)
3. Charity related
4. Stupid people tricks

Commercials with celebrities

This category was filled with a number of videos that gained instant traction due to their credibility with the celebrity featured in the commercial and were typically with a large brand.  This category also held a video that came with the most controversy on if it was fact or fiction. In Nike’s ad to promote Kobe Bryant’s new sneaker, the Laker star jumps over a speeding Aston Martin. With a national audience surrounding the NBA Kobe’s response to a reporter’s question over if he had done this, he replied “It’s Hollywood baby!,” which spurned many knockoff videos and exposure flicks on how the video was faked.

This category also featured a brilliant video from EA Sports that addressed a video of a user who exposed a glitch in Tiger Woods Golf where Tiger can walk on water.  The video then goes on to have Tiger address the video and take a shot after walking on water.

Keeping in line with the video game them, Guitar Hero’s video of Heidi Klum drew the ire of network television for being too racy. The slimmed down and less scandalous commercial still drew critical acclaim with papers and television stations, even landing in the middle of a rant from Bill O’Reilly.

The group also has a pseudo-celebrity in the group, Mr. Fong, from IBM. The videos were featured in B@B and asked users to help Mr. Fong reunite with his crew. While the viewership was not a true viral case study, it was watched by the core customer base of the computer giant.

On the lighter side

This group was headlined by videos for Ray Ban and Levis. Using a soft sell, the videos feature the products through some zany antics. In the case of Ray Ban, two guys are seen catching sunglasses thrown at them on thier face everywhere from a couch to a speeding car. The Levis commercial has a group of twenty-something guys jumping into a pair of 501′s that climaxes with a backflip off a seesaw into the jeans.

Charity related

This category is dominated by Starbucks, two of the more popular ones were for their voting campaign and their red cup campaign.

Stupid people tricks

This is my favorite viral group. Without using violence these videos portrayed some skits that were both funny and thought invoking. Perhaps the most famous was the Mentos & Diet Coke video. The mad scientists do a variety of experiments with Mentos and Diet Coke to get some explosive reactions. Not only did this video succeed in having a number of spin offs made on YouTube, but it  also was turned into a special on MythBusters. One video in this category that I could not fathom, but it got a lot of views was trampoline skateboarding. I must be getting old, but this has zero appeal to me. Do you get it?

While my report may have hit on some key areas of viral videos, I am sure I missed out on some key ones. Let me know what you think, or share your favorite videos with me. I will share my company’s video when we get around to it. So without further adieu, I offer to you my favorite viral video of all time

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JMOh-cul6M]