Viral Marketing Campaign: Samsung Omnia

Samsung put together a fantastic viral ad for their new Omnia touch phone. It's meant to look like you're typical "unboxing" video commonly seen on gadget blogs. Us geeks love seeing video of someone getting their mitts on a new gadget we haven't seen in stores yet. But this time, it's got a bit of a twist.

[via Geekologie]

Blogosphere Brings The News Fast. Like, Before It Even Happens Fast

Peter Bart has an interesting Variety article about how the viral nature of the tubes makes it impossible for publicity, marketing and press people to do their jobs. Traditionally, press breaks only break after they've been "nitpicked" by lawyers, publicists, corporate bureaucrats, etc. But now, this news is just out there, sometimes before it even happens:

...when Paramount Vantage set about to make staff reductions two weeks ago, the people who were being fired heard the news before they were informed about it by their superiors. Similarly, Brad Pitt was able to read that he'd been cast in Quentin Tarantino's new movie, "Inglorious Bastards," before he could read a contract or deal memo. [Variety]

When you're dealing with a generation of underlings who were socialized on the Internet, there's simply no longer such thing as secrecy.

John McCain and YouTube

Today's Washington Times article on John McCain and the Viral phenomenon surrounding his recent 'Celebrity' attacks is quite interesting. According to the article, the recent series of 'brutal yet entertaining' attack ads and the 'combination of wit and insult, has pushed his YouTube channel to the sixth most watched on the site this week.' And John McCain has beaten Barack Obama's channel for 'seven straight days and 11 of the past 14 days.'

This article theorizes that McCain is trying to court the YouTube vote. And goes on to characterize this as a 'giant reversal' since 'Obama had been quadrupling McCain's YouTube views and (was beating) him every day since February.'

The Drudge Report is also onto this theory and has titled the link to the article, 'McCain takes lead on YouTube hits.' Both parties see this as a good sign for McCain. BUT, all this harkens back our Viralroots argument/theory that knowing the true temperament of viewers is impossible. Right? Let's discuss, cause I'm not convinced this is a win for McCain.

Firstly, I don't always think all publicity is good publicity. There's the possiblity the ads could rub people the wrong way. And, regardless of the effect of the ads, its also not automatic that the the viewers are McCain supporters, ie. what if half the viewers are Obama fans who are pissed off, but want to see the ads? Does it even matter? Will online buzz even equate to votes? Time will tell.

But in my opinion, this stuff makes McCain look bad. His handlers have put him into a situation where he's associated him with Paris Hilton and Britney Spears attack ads and now...Paris Hilton's video has gone viral - and it attacks him back! This press can't be good for McCain. The message, whatever it was, is lost and the Viral-ness has taken over. Obama is virtually unaffected. And Paris Hilton is the real winner. Ya' know, cause she's so...hot. Uggg...

For some perspective with the statistics: Obama's YouTube channel still dominates, with 51 million all-time video views. McCain trails with 8.3 million views.
McCain's silver lining: He's garnered 4.1 million views this month compared with Obama's 2 million as of Wednesday evening.

(Washington Times Link)

Video: NYPD Cop Assaults Cyclist, Disciplined

As usual, I'm totally late to this story. But it's still worth sharing. The below footage is of an NYPD Cop intentionally and violently knocking over a bicyclist at a Critical Mass cycling event in New York. According to the NY Daily News, "Officer Patrick Pogan, 22, was placed on modified duty soon after the video of the Times Square incident appeared on YouTube." First off, it still blows my mind that there are 22 year-olds policing our streets and teaching our children. When I was 22, I was living on a friend's couch and huffing nitrous for lols. At any rate, these cyclists in New York are pretty ballsy, but they ain't got shit on the Crimanimalz here in LA riding bikes and rollerblading on the 405 during rush hour.

Scary City: New Mystery Web Series, With A Budget!

SCARY CITY is poised to be the next big viral webisode phenomenon. It's created by LONELYGIRL15 producer Yumiko Aoyagi and launches September 15th. And it's packing a $5.2 million budget. So here's my question: If we know it's fiction, do we care? Lonelygirl gathered steam because no one was really sure if it was real or not. The not-knowing seems to drive intrigue and viral distribution. At least that seems to be the case when it comes to these experimental long(er) form mystery webisodes and even alternate reality games. (Obviously this is less the case with short comedy clips.) Here's a brief description of the show from Variety:

The U.S. version of the story revolves around a haunted Los Angeles apartment complex and the missing 10-year-old daughter of an architect who battles the building's unseen evil forces. Tenants from all over the world get caught up in the global intrigue.

The Japanese version begins with a murder mystery that a Tokyo high school girl tries to solve.

Future versions of the mystery are planned for Korea, Israel, the U.K., France and Thailand, with the international casts involved in the globetrotting narrative.

Series will start with five episodes of 1½ to three minutes. Viewers will be able to email episodes of the show; installments will also be syndicated to sites such as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube.

Paris Hilton's Video Response to John McCain

In response to John McCain's celebrity Ad about Barack Obama, Paris Hilton has decided to fight back with her own lil' video about 'that wrinkly white haired guy.'

You know its an effed up world when John McCain and Paris Hilton have dueling Online political ads. Like...OMG, WTF. Check it:

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

John McCain's Confusion Level: High

The 24/7 press that surrounds our politics these days is fervently unrelenting. And when candidates get caught in awkward moments or candid speeches...all the world observes regardless of the size of the actual audience in the room. Check out the latest little clip to go Viral. John McCain in Panama City, Florida at a media event on Friday, appearing a little...well, uhm..uh... confused. Perhaps its a sign of his age? Its not egregious, like him singing about how he'd bomb Iran, but definitely funny enough to pass on. Check it:

Viral Video Of The Week: Ludacris Rap: Obama Is Here

Apparently, we have an angry reader. I've taken a look at our traffic logs and it seems that a commenter who was majorly pwned for using bad grammar has decided to flip it and rip on the Pulitzer-Prize-worthy work of Viralroots.com. Same IP address. Shittee becomes shitter. Interesting.
Anyway, I just wanted to remind all our readers of the insanely high standards to which Viralroots and the rest of the blogging community strive. Over the years, we've worked really hard to cite "sources", "license" content, report "facts", minimize "opinion" and conform to academic writing "standards". When we're not talking about how fucking hot Elizabeth Kucinich is, or prematurely declaring John McCain out of the race, we like to let our hair down and be a little silly. To remind you of the level of sophistication we're dealing with here, below please find Ludacris's new hit song about the awesomeness that is Barack Obama, our Viral Video Of The Week. Enjoy.