Friday Viral - Michael Jackson lives on!

For much of the media, the story of Michael Jackson's death, two weeks on, is now old news. However, this in not the case in the digital world. From thousands of options, I've chosen two viral videos below and a truly brilliant viral website called The Eternal Moonwalk.

Video # 1 The flashmob geniuses are at it again, this time in Stockholm



Video # 2 Hitler finds out that Michael Jackson is dead (no, this is not a video clip from the afterlife, rather a spoof from the much viralled scene in The Downfall)



The MJ memorial service was covered extensively by every media organisation last week, and the Guardian compiled the following days newspaper reaction. It's interesting to see different editorial takes for all over the world (my favourite is the cover of a paper from Brazil - pictured). They all seem to have agreed to salut MJ and portray him in a respectful manner - and not surprisingly, the rest of the world has followed suit - thus Michael Jackson is the most popular person or brand on Facebook with over 8 million fans, surpassing Barack Obama.

Absolut Arts Festival

This years Galway Arts festival is under way and one brand advertising their involvement as it's main sponsor is Absolut Vodka (with a €250,000campaign). A company famous for it's brand building exercise, and it's Absolut Art initiative has always been a core element of it's marketing strategy.

The Absolut Art collection has spanned over 20 years to over 800 works from over 350 artists including contemporary pop art legends such as Romero Britto, Andy Warhol and Keith Harding. It's a great example of a brand supporting the arts, and very welcome to an Irish cultural festival during these times. There will be 16 works on display at the festival gallery on Merchants Road from the 13th to 26th of July.

There is an Irish version of the website, and what would be even more impressive would be if one of the pieces on show was a commissioned bottle design by an Irish Artist to capture the mood of the nation. Someone like Will St Ledger as an adaption of his 'sinking ship' might work?

Contemporary artists are capturing current trends in their work and attempting to connect with the public all the time; in many ways brands are trying to do the same thing. Without having a full-on 'art strategy', advertising campaigns could utilise the work of young artists more effectively.

Budweiser Lyrics

Budweiser Lyrics is a new ad for the Irish Market by UK agency Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB). The campaign is 'All together now', and this ad, 'Lyrics', was shot last November in Chicago (An American location for an iconic American brand 'Why run away from what you are'), it took 5 days and uncountable amounts of footage, so much that 'they don't know what to do with it all'.

WHPR, Dublin put on a bloggers event (they're good at these) to preview the ad before it launches this Saturday on Independence Day (USA! USA! USA!). There will be a website www.alltogethernow.ie (launching 4th July also) for user generated content.

Before seeing the ad, I was expecting a follow up to 'Answer the Call' ads, which didn't appeal to me much, instead I got a cinematic treat, a 'Big Idea' on the scale of Fallon's Sony Bravia 'Colour Like No Other' ads. The ad was put winning by Dave Henderson and Richard Denney, and shot by award winning director Chris Palmer (of Skoda Cakes fame), and we had the honour and privilege to speak to them via Skype Video chat. More info about the ad here.

The surface on which advertising stands is shifting, but lets not run ahead of it. Epic ads, and by that I mean big ideas put into place by the industries best talent, and then incorporated into the new media are right now! Remember a big idea transmits all media.

Friday Viral - Hijacked by MJ

This weeks Friday viral has been hijacked by Michael Jackson who died yesterday. As well as being the greatest performer of my time, he was also the darling of the Advertising world. Here is a great post from Campaign on the top 10 Michael Jackson Advertisements.

I've chosen a series of Pepsi TV ads from 1988, 'The Choice of a New Generation', each titled separately 'The Chase', 'Chopper', 'The Museum', 'The Finale'. As with all good marketing, culturally and artistically they get the zeitgeist spot on.

MJ R.I.P

Friday Viral - Garda drives off with an Opel Insignia...

This video is 2 weeks old and didn't really go vrial. It could be because it's not that good or it could be that due to the critical mass level required for a viral video in Ireland is a much larger % of total online population than larger counties. What ever the reason, it's still interesting though, the comments make reference that it's easy to tell that it's a fake. Why do people feel as if brands are out to trick them. All good branded viral's are creative solutions to an online consumer demand for entertainment, so that would mean that the are fake. So what? We don't complain when a show like Little Britian include a joke that the wrote. Are all jokes on comedy shows fake? Yes, it is obvious that this is a fake, but the brand won't mind the chatter either. This isn't the greatest viral in the world, but I do like the armature feel to it and the localness!?



A good viral will create branded entertainment, and create it especially for your online community of brand lovers. It should be a response to what the online community is saying about your brand. Find the conversation, listen to the conversation and then part take. A viral is a response. This entertainment does or does not have to be branded, but it should at least have a link to a micro site like the Garda video above: www.youvegottodriveit.com which re-directs to www.insigniaproject.ie

Banksy vs Bristol Museum

Anonomyous street artist Banksy is having a museum exhibition in Bristol this summer and above is a promotional video, as the popularity of street art continues to know no end. Cybercom have blogged on how digital marketers can learn from Street Art. Currently (until the 30th of June) there is a show in the Tramyard Gallery in Dalkey showing some of Banksy's work. And incase you missed it, here is a microsite for his work in New York: The Village Pet Shop and Charcoal Grill

Patrick street, Vietnam

This is a street art installation in cork as part of the mid summer festival. It is of a famous photo of the vietnamese war. They move to different places around the city, today it is on patrick st, yesterdays irish times had a photo of it on grand parade. (BK J photography)

Friday Viral - Deadline

This weeks Friday Viral is a short firm by Bang-yao Liu of the Savannah College of Art and Design. The idea behind it:
"Where my idea comes from is that every time when I am busy, I feel that I am not fighting with my works, I am fighting with those post-it notes and deadline. I manipulating the post-it notes to do pixel-like stop motion and there are some interactions between real actor and post-its".

'You are invited to my wedding'

What a createive way to send an invitation to your wedding (via Rick O Shea). It does remind me a bit of the Oren Lavie video, but the style is more reminiscent to PES films. These are made by taking thousands of photos and making a slight adjustments each time! His work is well reknowned as has been comissioned by brands for comercials, here is a new ad they did for Orange Telecom.



I have to include a video of my favourite PES films: here is Roof Sex:

Vodafone Taxi Grand Prix

Not too many years ago I used to enter every Fantasy Football competition in the tabloid newspapers, spending ages every August coming up with my team, and lots of money on an expensive entry hot line number, only to forget about it soon after. Then came Fantasy Premier League; a competition engineered so well, that all others we're swept aside.

Brands often come up with fantasy games to accompany the sporting events that they sponsor, many of which have lacked imagination of late. Refreshing it was then to see a game for Formula 1 by Vodafone, called Taxi Grand Prix that has evolved the format a bit. They even have a twitter profile which is provides tips for the competition. The race promotes the GPS function of Vodafone’s HTC Magic handset. And there is this viral video featuring McClaren drivers Lewis Hamilton races Heikki Kovalainen