The Viralroots Store

From time to time we talk about great books and dvds that deal with the social and viral nature of the web. Links to them are sorta scattered all over the blog, but fear not. In an entirely self-serving move, I've thrown together an Amazon aStore where I can add all the wares I talk about, when I talk about them. I reads alot, you see. Especially about ways to support myself from sitting in front of a computer. The store is neat because it lets you make different categories. That's helpful because when I go on weird tangents in blog posts from out of nowhere, I can throw up books so you'll have some background. So, check it out: The Viralroots Store

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]

Viral Video of The Week err make that Month

This is what Viral Marketing is made of. The above video is amateur camcorder footage of Kobe Bryant Jumping over a speeding Aston Martin. It's obviously not real, but a really smart marketing campaign by Nike for a new shoe. And my boy Ronny Turiaf is in it for added effect. A quick search of the net yields a bevy of reactions. Some calling the campaign breakthrough and genius. Others saying the video is stupid. And some calling it irresponsible because of how dangerous the stunt is. Well, I think it's awesome. It's a perfectly crafted short that starts with two pro athletes on the roof of a building, arguing over whether Kobe is going to get hurt. He then starts throwing his new Nikes on as he talks to the camera. In such a short time, they build a nice bit of anticipation and then they slam right into the great looking "stunt." Hands down, the best viral marketing video in a while. Check it out.

Gmail: Behind The Scenes And Around The World

This is the new Internet.
Step 1: You gotta be Google.
Step 2: Post a single video on YouTube that conveys a concept and ask for submissions that elaborate on it.
Step 3: Watch the video spread virally around the world.
Step 4: Wait for the responses to come pouring in.
Step 5: Edit them together into one video.
Step 6: Disco. You have an original, entertaining and collaboratively created video promoting Google Gmail.

Google recieved 1100 clips from users in 65 different countries to create this video.

UFO HAITI: Viral Marketing Watch Averted

Whew. The daunting task of having to write another long-winded Viral Marketing Watch post has been averted. The recent release of the below video timed with the LA Times article 'It Came From Outer Space', led me to believe there might be another Simpsons-esque marketing situation on our hands. But alas, there is no brilliant corporate puppeteer out there, its merely a brilliant individual with some brilliantly utilized extra time on his hands - which has yielded the UFO Haiti and UFO Dominican Republic videos.

And according to David Sarno of the LA Times this isn't the first time he's done it. Sarno who tracked down this mysterious Frenchman (who prefers anonymity) learned that he made similar vids in the past which showcased UFO's over Brooklyn and Paris. But, while those failed to garner much attention, these have reached viral levels and the UFO Haiti and UFO Dominican Republic videos have garnered 2.6 million and 300,000 views respectively in the last couple weeks.

Word on the street is, the vids were made on a Mac and it took the mystery youtuber 12 hours to make the Haiti video - which for my money is really friggin solid. When Sarno got the creator on the phone, to prove he really created the vids, the Frenchman made the Naughty Granny vid (below) to prove it.

Okay, so its no Viral Marketing Campaign, but its a viral phenomenon regardless. Check it out:

Viral Marketing Watch: 070829

There's a new viral marketing campaign out there. Let's call it 070829 because that's the URL of the website. It's strange cell phone or mp3 player esque images floating around on a black background with creepy sounds slightly reminiscent of THE RING. If you wait long enough, you get red lady lips over static. It's no doubt for some sort of portable device it seems most definately to be by Nokia and is most likely for the Nokia N81 as discussed here.

Simpsons Movie: Viral Marketing Follow Up

Our previous posts about the Simpson's Viral Marketing campaigns have proven to be spot on. The Simpsons Movie has shot to number one in the box office this weekend and grossed a solid $72 Million domestically - and a staggering $168 Million world wide. Fox's Marketing department deserves a raise, a bonus...or at least some Duff beer. They've really done well with what I feel is an inherently narrow American-esque style of comedy, and made sure that everyone in the world felt the buzz.

They had the real life Simpson's intro that's been seen over 15 Million times and then more recently had the Statue of Liberty clip, the Hollywood Sign clip, and the Seattle Space Needle clip, which all three clocked in nearly a million view each.

We'll never be able to accurately link Viral buzz to box office success with quantitative accuracy, but one has to offer this as positive evidence of the correlation. Check out The Daily Variety article on The Simpsons Movie's success here.

Viral Marketing Watch: The Simpsons -Third Installment

The viral marketing campaign of The Simpson's Movie continues. The first video we found of the Statue of Liberty has clocked nearly a Million views and the second video we found, showcasing the Hollywood sign is up to 950,000 views.

This latest video shows a donut on the Seattle Space Needle and so far has nearly 650,000 views in just a day. I don't love it as much as the others, which look more authentic by attempting to look like they've been filmed from a hand held camera, but judge for yourself.

Five Creative Internet Campaign Tactics

YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, blogs, we've been there, done that. Now, let's take a look at some of the more unique techie tactics to which candidates have taken.

First, There's text messaging updates. Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama all have little fields on their websites that either allow you to enter your cellphone number or tell you where to send a message. Complete the step and you'll start getting SMS text message campaign updates. Regardless of how useful the updates are, it's always fun to go to Hillary Clinton's page and enter a co-worker's cell phone number as a practical joke.

Next, let's talk about the Ron Paul. There's a link on his homepage to Digg. Why? Cuz his supporters are the craziest Diggers ever. They'll click on anything if you tell them it'll help get Ron Paul some network media attention. 7000 Diggs to support Ron Paul getting on the Daily Show? It sounds a little like spam to me. But the Digg guys know better than to take it down cuz Ron Paul rEVOLutionaries would burn the Digg headquarters to the ground.

Next up is Barack Obama's very own Social Network built right into his website. It's an ambitious effort, but when you have the type of support that he has on MySpace, Youtube and Facebook, it's just redundant and excessive.

Now, Rudy Giuliani's got a weird one. As a fundraising tactic, Rudy wants you to start a baseball team. Go online, register a team of nine players. Each player donates $25 to Rudy. Do that, and you'll get you're very own Rudy Giuliani pennant! If your team raises $2008 you get your very own SIGNED Rudy trading card! And $5000? Get read for this one. You get your very own Rudy Giuliani signed Baseball! Yeah!

Last up is EONS. Eons is a social network for OLD people like babyboomers. So far I've found Hillary Clinton and John Edwards on there. Hillary Clinton even links to her Eons profile from her site. But it doesn't seem all that effective. Neither candidate has more than a handful of "Eons friends." It just goes to show how effective the web is with young people. So I hope the candidates keep up the creative web marketing and look forward to getting messages from Ron Paul on Pownce.