AdverClast

A Chronicle of Disruptive Advertising

Top 10 Viral Ads

A mix of off- and online ads, this is a running list of the top 10 viral advertisements. For the most part, these ads are the result of innovative thought by top advertising professionals. While you can be the judge, we think they “get” viral marketing are are among it’s most accomplished practitioners.

1. Wario Land: “Shake It” - The current leader with it’s off-the-board graphics. Only problem… it makes the page tough to navigate.

2. Gatorade: The ball girl - Can you spot the Gatorade in this viral video?

3. London Transport: Do The Test - Take the test + Be surprised + Think about the implications = Good Advertising. Put it online and it’s good viral advertising.

4. Nike: “I’ve got soul but I’m not a soldier” - Good music, emotive graphics, strong back story. A personal favorite this viral ad is really just a viral music video except Nike products appear throughout.

5. Alex Tew: The Million Dollar Homepage - Seemed like a silly idea… that went on to peak at #127 on Alexa making a 21-year-old from England a cool $1,000,037. One of the few non-video viral ads, it’s actually a viral website.

6. Charles Stone III: Wassup 2008 - W/ tongue placed firmly in cheek, this ad makes visual the top stories of the day and links them directly to the fundamental message of change put forth by the Obama campaign. Like or dislike Obama, director Charles Stone has created a visual, concise and emotive political ad that will take top honors this season.

7. Fallon / BMW Films: The Hire - Eight 8-minute feature-ette’s produced for BMW by Fallon in 2001/2. Star-studded, taught, suspenseful,… oh and with BMW’s.

8. John West Salmon - Funny, very funny ad pitting man against bear in a fight to the death over… salmon. Speaks well to the lengths John West Co. will go to get you your salmon.

9. Nike / Ronaldinho: Touch of Gold - 25M YouTube views for this Nike product placement. Brazilian soccer star Ronaldinho works his magic including four direct, consecutive hits on the crossbar… from 50+ feet out…without the ball hitting the ground. It’s a bit long, but worth it.

10. Columbia Records / Dylan’s Greatest Hits - Still one of the better viral email/video awareness campaigns. Sept, 07 Columbia Records campaign promoted the release of Dylan’s Greatest Hits. Users provided cue-card content for famous opening segment of D.A. Pennebaker’s documentary “Don’t Look Back” in which Dylan sifted through the cards to the tune “Subterranean Homesick Blues”. Song was from 1965 “Bringing it all back home” album. 81,000 viral videos were emailed during the first 3 weeks of the campaign. Email subject line read: “Bob Dylan has a message for you”, took you to the website for your custom presentation and ended w/ an opporunity to buy the album, join the mailing list, etc.

Honorable Mention

BBH / Lynx: Axe Bom Chicka Wah Wah - Dentist - While there are a LOT of these Axe fragrance ads out there, this one is a favorite. Brief and to the point.

Crispin Porter + Bogusky / Burger King: Subservient Chicken - While no longer the best, one of the first and still most innovative.

Cloverfield - The 2008 new year started out with a bang. Several actually in the viral marketing for the alien / catastrophe film Cloverfield.

Cutwater / Rayban: Catch The Sunglasses - Down-home style, laid-back characters and subtle effects make these sunglass catches almost believable but definitely memorable.

BlendTec: Will It Blend? - Like it or loathe it, YouTube took BlendTec’s product demos viral.

Tay Zonday / “Chocolate Rain” - While not initially produced as an ad, Tay’s music video and associated YouTube page has become an ad including solicitations to buy ringtones, visit websites, subscribe to Tay’s blog, follow him on twitter, etc. Originally posted in April, 2007, the song garnered over 30 million views as of October 2008. It was ranked as the hottest viral video of Summer 2007 by CTV.ca and as the number 2 viral video in the world by utalkmarketing.com. It even won the 2007 YouTube award in the Music category.

To be continued. Have you got an example? We’ll gladly bump one of these off and, who knows, you may take the top spot. Mike Doeff did!

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