Samsung's Viral Sheep

Over the last couple of days I have noticed people mentioning a viral advert that used sheep with LED's attached to them to recreate images of a fireworks display and retro Atari game pong.

I thought I would check the advert out to see what I had been missing, considering all the attention the advert had been getting.



These are my thoughts after watching the viral advert

The first thing I noticed is the duration of the piece is 2 minutes 44 seconds as general rule viral adverts should not be over 3 minutes (with 2 minutes being an optimal length) already this viral is a little on the long side

The opening titles of the piece introducing the viewer to each sheep hearder and their quirky job (Ermis The Electrcian, Gerry The Player, Rob The LED Master and Bernard, The General) In introducing each character this creates a sense of suspense and makes you want to find out about the characters and what they are about to do.

I did however find some of the time it is not clear what shapes and images the sheep are making.

I also find the ending scene of the video to be a weak point. It ends with the text "With thanks to Samsung Smart LED technology. Look at there LED TVs. Oh go on!" It would have been nice if the had of included a URL or even a search term.

Over all I felt the viral video did not relate to the product enough and did not inspire me to go check out Samsung Smart LED TVs

On the plus side I did find out that the advert was made by The Viral Factory and I will be adding them to my student wiki space of companies I would like to work for, as well as dropping them an e-mail to make them aware of who I am and asking for advice on how to get in to the viral video market

Advertising and Viral Marketing

This morning I woke up and flicked on the TV only to be greeted by a program called "Advertising Uncut"



Advertising and marketing has always interested me (it's another reason why i am studying digital media, I would love to be part of a high profile successful advert campaign)

"A revealing, informative and entertaining anatomy of the world of marketing and advertising. This episode goes behind the scenes to reveal the astonishing attention to detail that lies behind the glamour of an advertising shoot. The programme also discovers the tricks of the trade from computer technology to photoshopping."

http://uk-tv-guide.com/programme-details/Channel+4/2+October+2008/09%3A00/Advertising+Uncut/Documentary/

The episode I watched was episode 3

PROGRAMME 3: THE CAMPAIGN

"This programme focuses on the techniques used by advertisers when developing a campaign. We learn tricks for getting the media and the public interested in a new product, and we see new and exciting ways of advertising, both on the streets and via the computer.

PROGRAMME AIMS

This programme aims to give an overview of advertising campaigns including:

the money involved in buying advertising space
Public Relations (PR)
product placement
the future of advertising (including viral and buzz advertising)"

http://www.4learning.co.uk/support/programmenotes/micro/advertisinguncut/prog3.html

I found the program to be interesting and engaging. I learnt

1. how advertise pay more money for an advert on the right hand page of a magazine as that is where peoples eyes tend to fall first
   
   
2. Advertisers pay more money to feature a advert next to a article that may relate to its product i.e a skin care product advert next to a skin care article
   
   
3. How advertisers use the allure of "celebrity" to give the products an image and "cool" factor
   
   
4. How advertisers can use product placement with in a TV program. The example they used was Hyunda had give one of their cars to the character of a wealthy business man in the TV program Emmerdale in the hope that people would associate that car with success and luxury living (a very clever technique i thought!)
   

I also learnt about some non orthodox methods of advertising.

Student brand managers are something I had never heard of until watching this program. In Advertising Uncut the example they showed involved a Sheffield student getting local bands to come and play gigs outside the Three Mobile Phone Store, then he had to invite as many people down to the gig as he could. Three hoped that this would link them to being promoters of new music and would therefore attract the young trendy crowd of people who like to listen to new music to buy there products

CLICK HERE for more on studnet brand managers

I would really like to have a go at being a student brand manager and with the giant list of social networks I belong to i'm sure I could generate quite a big crowd or reach a vast number of people world wide, electronically via the internet. (If you read this and have any openings as a student brand manager or know some one who does please leave me a comment or click my e-mail link at the top of this blog)

The program also covered buzz marketing. This is the kind of thing that creates a buzz and makes the advertisers message get passed on via word of mouth.

Examples included

1. Sending out actors into the street dressed as 118 charecters.
   
   
2. Locking two graffiti artist in a glass box with a Nissan car for 48 hours while they decorated the box.
   

But my personal favourite was a viral video created for a swivel mobile phone that was released on youtube. The people who made the advert discussed the video saying that the video looks as though it could have been crearted by a genuine youtube user which is part of what makes it so successful.

Word of mouth success for this video can been seen in this forum HERE where people are discussing the video as a piece of user generated content rather than an advert

They also commented that you need to be careful with this kind of thing as much as they are using youtube to there advantage, if the users of youtube did not like it they have exactly the same power (of using the internet) to express that view and it could be very damaging to the brand or product!

Just to prove that buzz marketing does work and is successful I have embed the clip below for you. Leave me some comments and let me know what you think to it



As I am at college for the rest of the week I don't think I will be able to catch any more episodes in this series, but if any one knows where I can find them online, or if it is possible to order them from Channel 4 as an education piece let me know I would really really like to see the rest of them!