'You've got to watch this Youtube video!' and other marketing strategies

Have you heard? Last week Some Crazy Guy Cut Off A Parking Meter With A Saw!! A video of the act was all over Youtube within days. I bet you want to watch it don't you (if you haven't already)?

Did you enjoy that? Pretty crazy, huh?

WELL, it turns out you have been duped my friend.


The whole scenario was actually a stunt planned by Thinkmodo, a viral marketing agency who play up to our modern-day fixation with wacky videos of random people in order to cause viral sensations; in this case to promote JT's new film, 'In Time' (see how I feed into it all with this post? Paycheque in the post thanks, Thinkmodo).

To an (online) onlooker, it looked like a genuine reaction from a guy majorly miffed about getting a parking ticket.

But a week or so after the viral seeds had been sown, an extended version of the video was released, which concluded with some additional footage of a luminous countdown on the filmer's arm, followed by the movie title and web address, the rating etc. This extra footage was the first tangible reference to indicate that this whole thing was actually about a movie. 



In the movie, everyone has a stopwatch on their arm that records how much time
they have left - time is the currency, with the poorest earning just enough
to survive each day, and the rich stockpiling thousands of years of life.

In this way, it's very hard-hitting, since, like so many videos that reach 'viral sensation' status, you've got all caught up in the novelty/cuteness/wondrousness (in this case it's the inexplicability of the whole destroying-a-parking-meter-with-a-saw-thing), you've come to accept that there are actually some really, well... ANGRY people in the world who would behave like that, and you've had a laugh sharing it with your mates... Only to have this all turned upside down. And the campaign managed to hit out twice, with the first set of viewers returning to see the truth, and those who had missed it the first time round drawn in by the unconventionality of the whole fakery. It's not often a movie goes beyond your standard trailer in their advertising endeavour, so finding out that it's all staged is really effective in making the movie stand out in the minds of potential viewers - a vital result if it affects those people deciding what to see at the cinema this weekend.

Now I know that in the title of this post I promised you some 'other marketing strategies', but I feel like the viral campaign guys at Thinkmodo deserve a little bit more blog space. Check out their other activities, including: a video for client HeadBlade, which demonstrates the idea of a 'Shaving Helmet', which you wear in order to get a hands-free head shave. The results of this viral campaign saw the sales of HeadBlade shaving products increase by 31%! Another example on Thinkmodo's repertoire, a great demonstration of the agency's character, is a video that they uploaded  (using a fabricated Youtube account, just like all the others) regarding an iPhone app called 'Nude It', which supposedly lets you see through people's clothes - and was done just for the hell of it. Co-founder James Percelay claimed that this video at one point was inciting around "50 requests per day from Middle Eastern men for Nude It" ( - are you allowed to say things like that?!)  

Anyway, back to the point, which is how these campaigns perfectly emphasise the golden goal of marketing - to impact upon people's attitudes and also the hope that this impact is so great that it translates into actions that benefit the brand, as we saw in the case of HeadBlade. The organic growth and the scope for creativity of the viral campaign is without a doubt a useful tool for modern marketers, and I'm very excited to see what else surfaces in the future.  

Perhaps just remember to think twice about the credibility of the next wacky Youtube video your friend sends you - it may just be an advert in disguise...

P.S. Anyone who stuck with this ramble until the end deserves a treat.