They say: Swept along by an endless tide of bodily fluids (rarely their own), the trio bicker, fight and shag their way through the darkly funny maelstrom of their lives. Behind the uniforms, the sirens, and the fast driving, they are three ordinary blokes trying to make it through yet another shift. But once they've finished saving other people's lives, will they be able to salvage their own?
I say: Channel 4 comedies are always worth a shot and I like the premise, sounds a bit like a cross between ER and Peep Show.
This makes me think about those workers beeping away at the checkout, and the HR lady comes up and says 'errrr would you be in our panel of silliness please?'
Reminds me of the time we had to stand with cushions on our faces outside our old office last year:
I like the fact companies are doing more for charity though, Walkers are doing it too:
They're climbing in your windows,
They're snatching your ottamans up,
Tryin to rape them,
So ya'll need to hide your couch, hide your chairs
hide your couch, hide your chairs
hide your couch, hide your chairs
and hide your lazyboys
'cause they be humping furniture out here.
(via irascibleone)
Clever, clever Intel. They did it last year with Cannonbells, and now they've done the logical follow-up, a Romanian base-jumping, bass-bonging version where Intel employees clad in skintight blue are dropped from a great height onto bouncy castles hooked up to loudspeakers:
I can't wait to watch this one go viral! You can keep track of its viral spread here on the Viral Video Chart.
This video is pretty terrifying, and I don't know what to think from a video advertising point of view (apart from the fact that this is going to go viral very quickly).
Nestle claimed copyright infringement to get it taken off YouTube which is why it's on Vimeo:
Today's number 2 in the Viral Video Chart is another familiar face - Leprechaun in Mobile, Alaska.
It's an oldie (2006) but a goodie - lots of hilarity in the Unruly office just now. The resurfacing of this video once again just shows how good viral content can outlive the duration of a campaign. Make a St Patrick's Day video and it will get a free viral boost every single year as it suddenly becomes super-relevant again.
I'm looking forward to the April Fools' Day spoof videos I have no doubt will be appearing in the chart very soon!
OfficialTwilightFilm sent out a 10 second teaser trailer yesterday which made it to the top of the ViralVideoChart within hours. It's racked up 2.7 million views already.
Today they've released a 1:30 version:
What's smart about this is that they only made us wait 24 hours to reveal this. Good. People do not like to be kept waiting. Attention spans are short.
I hear we'll be treated to a 7 minute trailer on the 20th of March.
Today's new entry in at number 9 on the Viral Video Chart is 'Embrace Life.' It's a 1:30 advert with no script, no cats, no fights, no singing hamsters... but has somehow managed to get 2.7 million views, 1,293 blog posts and 246 Tweets.
The music is simple and perfect, which combined with the expressions on the actors' faces gave me shivers within 5 seconds of watching. I URGENTLY wanted to find out what the video was about, it kept me watching right to the end of the minute and a half, at which point the sponsor was revealed.
Just watched it a second time, and again I had the shivers. This video more than passes the physical reaction test (if it makes you jump, laugh, cry or shiver then it will go viral) and I predict it will be a in our chart for a good long while. I've just shared it with Facebook, my company and Twitter.
You can find more information about the making of this video here.
Iconic celebrity chefs make for great viewing: full of passion, they are unafraid to express their anger and it's exhilarating to see them unleash all that anger, especially from the safety of our laptop screens.
They also don't seem to mind being the star or subject of many a viral video. Here are two seeded by Unruly Media:
Why would you do it? At my wedding, no camcorders will be allowed. Yet for some reason, wedding slip-up videos have been popular since the dawn of internet-time. Let's have a look at the best and worst.
This is just agonisingly bad, a couple CONDONING the proliferation of their nauseating wedding ceremony, during which they update their Facebook relationship status:
PUKE.
Only one brand I know of has cashed in on this, Heineken with their disturbing/amusing 'Know the Signs' campaign:
Very good.
Two memes in one, I like it - Evolution of Dance Wedding Video:
And here's the granddaddy - the JK Wedding Entrance Dance which changed the history of viral video advertising (sending Chris Brown's song to number 4 on the itunes chart depite being 6 months old):
AHAHAHAAH - now THIS is the type of wedding video I can get on with:
The latest video doing the rounds today is this spine-chiller of a drunk woman in Boston who stumbled on the train tracks seconds before the train arrived:
It's works well as a viral video because it's terrifying, heartwarming at the end, and also raises a lot of questions which encourages people to share and discuss it.
1) Why did she fall on the tracks? (in other videos you can see her stumbling around in a very drunken fashion for a few seconds first) 2) Why didn't anyone help her when she was so dangerously close to the edge at the start? 3) How the hell did the train driver manage to see her and stop in time? 4) What happens afterwards? Is she in trouble? Is she an alcoholic?
The 'near miss' video genre is a popular one, but just puts me too much on edge to watch much of:
When people think 'viral video,' after gaping and scratching their head a bit they might say things like 'Durex, Pot Noodle, Burger King,' - all brands who've been given a GIFT and should be making viral videos every single month IMHO.
However, this industry is branching out. It's interesting to see finance brands and giant pharmaceutical companies dipping their toes in the water.
It's good to see Vodafone (albeit NZ only) embracing the power of viral video with this fabulous 'Symphonia' video, made using the sound of text messages being sent to 1,000 phones:
So I've decided to do a little top 5 of my favourite videos in this spirit, as they're one of my favourite in the viral video family. The ones that are real are the best, as they hit the "How did they do that?!?!?!?" trigger as people imagine how many hundreds of hours and planning went into the video. Either way, making music in an unexpected way is hugely viral, the bigger and more complicated the better.
No. 5 - Is it real? Isn't it? Debate over this helped push 'Bike Hero' to over 2 million views.
The original and my personal favourite, DJ Scotch Egg performing Bach with a Gameboy orchestra, loses points only because it looks too fake, but I'm a child of the 80's and this hits my 8-bit pleasure button:
No. 3 The Vodafone video must have been inspired by the success of AKQA's 'Happy Christmas' message last year, which is fine - viral video is allll about creative recycling. Jingle Bells remixed:
No.2 - a real pleasure to listen to, if stressful, I love this music made from Windows 98 and XP sounds only and with over 5 million views I can't be the only one:
Number 1: This goes straight to the top for being too clever and uber cool. Radiohead's 'Nude' - cover version wtih redundant hardware.
Runners up:
It's only a week old, by I like what these guys have done with their Stylophone beatboxes:
What do you think? Any I've missed? Please comment and send me links to any you think should be on there!
With a target audience of about 4 people, this particular one isn't going to go viral but wow! What a fantastic idea. As soon as I have a spare hour I'm going to be making lots of these:
