I was amazed the first time I read a post on Facebook from a friend back home in South Africa spreading the viral video that has become Gangnam Style. At first I thought that the Psy's Gangnam Style was just another Korean Pop (K-Pop) one hit wonder in South Korea. The catchy song is a satire concerning current Korean consumerism and has soared past the 90-million views mark on YouTube. K-Pop is part of Korea's much sought after K-Pop soft-power image which is one of the reasons Psy's song has been able to stand out from the rest. At first...
The raw emotion shown by Olympic swimmer Chad Le Clos' father in the wake of his son's victory in the 200 metre butterfly endeared him to the media and people around the world. As his interview with BBC sports presenter Claire Balding went viral though, the South African also became a social media phenomenon. That video only has 17 000-odd views, but the post of the interview on sports site Deadspin has over 26 00 likes on Facebook and has been viewed nearly 276 000 times. The younger Le Clos has a couple of his own memes: The...
The Dark Knight rises, the utterly-epic finale to the Batman trilogy hits theaters on 20 July. In celebration, or to fuel the viral flames of war which Batman has always been excellent at, there's a shiny new 13-minute long TV special to wrap your cape around. Some men just want to watch the world burn, others want to watch Batman TV specials. This TV spot is chock-full of spoilers. You have been...
This is a piece of unparalleled genius. It's a fan cover lamenting all the changes George Lucas has made to the Star Wars franchise because, you know, they suck. The video was made by Teddie Films, the production duo of Eddie King and Tyler Marshall. The pair is clearly the kind of die-hard fans who hate everything Lucas has done to the beloved franchise but watches everything new he puts out any...
Many forward-looking companies are having huge success integrating YouTube into their social media strategy. Besides just engaging on the YouTube platform itself, brands can integrate other networks by creating conversations on Twitter or forming communities on Facebook, all tailored around the YouTube video. One example of this is Orabrush. The campaign's a couple of years old, but the lessons are still there. To start off with you have to watch the video: What started off as a bit of a dud product on a lesser known low key shopping channel became the brainchild of (student at the time) Jeffrey Harmon....
You've been bombarded with Prometheus trailers, viral campaigns and Twitter teases but still you want more. Today, your gift is the Prometheus international launch trailer, all 2-minutes and 54-seconds of it. A warning before you watch it. The trailer pretty much gives away 90% of the plot. Ridley Scott fans will be able to pick apart the Aliens references with a fine-toothed comb. The video is just shy of 100 000 views, with most of the...
Following the recent "Kony 2012" campaign by non-profit organisation Invisible Children, Newsweek reporter, Scott Johnson traveled to Uganda in search of Joseph Kony. On his return, Johnson took to Reddit to answer questions about his trip and the campaign. Kony is the head of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a group engaged in a violent campaign to establish theocratic government based on the Ten Commandments throughout Uganda. The LRA says that God has sent spirits to communicate this mission directly to Kony. The campaign became widely popular with support from prominent Hollywood figures and US heads of state. Hitting more...
Batman did it, the Avengers tried it and now the Amazing Spiderman is in on the game, namely viral marketing. This site, WebbedMenace.com is the home for Spiderman hate and fans have been asked to "end this masked hooligan's reign and shine a light on the shadows of vigilantism". Basically, take a picture of yourself acting like a nut, all the while dressed up as Spiderman. It’s a sparse site, but fits well into the viral template set down by so many superior campaigns of the same ilk. For now, the crux of the site rests on a five-minute interview...
Invisible Children wanted to make Joseph Kony's name known around the world. Well the organisation has succeeded. The 30-minute documentary "Kony 2012" is now the most viral video in history according to analytics platform, Visible Measures. Hitting more than 100-million views in six days across the web, the documentary about the Ugandan warlord and Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) leader is the most discussed topic on the web. In its report, Visible...
Dollar Shave Club’s debut video is cool. Scratch that. It is damn cool. It might even have convinced a few people to buy the product. Here’s the thing; it’s also been attracting investors. In fact, it was doing so long before it was convincing us to stop giving most of the money we spend on razors to Roger Federer. According to Mashable, CEO Michael Dubin -- who’s also the star of the video --...
Yes it's going mad. It's all most of the internet is talking about it. Peter Parker's return to the big screen in the all new movie, The Amazing Spiderman. The last Spiderman franchise ended with more of fizzle than a bang, but this new "untold story" has all the geeks excited. Starring Andrew Garfield of The Social Network fame, the movie promises to be a 3D spectacular. With a YouTube count of...
A teaser for Die Antwoord's second full-length album Ten$ion -- set to drop on 7 February -- has been viewed nearly 250 000 times (correct at time of writing) since being uploaded a few days ago. The widely anticipated album is a follow-up to 2010's $0$, which featured the hit song Enter the Ninja. The teaser video features singer and rapper Yolandi Visser made up in white body paint and sporting pointed...
A five-month-old video has a new, viral, lease on life. The video features Slovakian violinist Lukas Kmit, being interrupted by a Nokia ringtone. Rather than storming off or histrionically berating the phone’s owner, Kmit simply started playing the ringtone. The interruption took place while Kmit was giving a recital at a Jewish Orthodox Synagogue in Presov, eastern Slovakia. According to Cnet’s Chris Matyszczyk, the video went viral after a recent incident in...
There’s no doubt that online video is becoming more and more of an important medium for brands. Here are some of the best campaigns we saw in 2011. 1. The Inside Experience (Intel and Toshiba) You know that experience when you’re watching a horror film and the heroine starts doing something obviously stupid (like running up the stairs) and you yell at the screen trying to tell her what to do? Well, Intel and Toshiba created an experience where your interactions could actually make a difference to the action. The interactive movie consists of a series of video clips that were released...
It’s that time of year again when we feel the need to look back and consider everything that has happened and been achieved over the last twelve months. YouTube recently published its official list, which contained few surprises. Our list is a little different and contains some our favourite viral videos of 2011. They may not have had the most hits, but they did have a tonne of awesome! 10. T-Mobile Angry...
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