"Viral" Videos as Marketing Tools

Although they were first announced over a year ago, Adidas' adicolor short films received an influx of fresh new hits when one of them hit the front page of Digg's video section the other day. The video, "Pink," directed by Charlie White, is chilling and, some would say, brilliant. But were the films a good investment for the company?

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According to the Adidas press release, seven unique directors "were each assigned one of seven colors - Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Pink, Black or White. A simple, open-ended brief asked each director to create a viral film based on their emotional and creative response to that color." Links to the rest of the films can be found at their press release page. Ostensibly, the purpose of this project was to celebrate "color, customization, and personal expression," in keeping with the branding of their adicolor line.

The issue these videos bring up is how effective viral campaigns can be for promoting your products or building your brand. I couldn't help but compare Adidas' relatively recent effort with BMW's critically acclaimed "The Hire" film series. There are a number of important differences between these two projects that may point to how successful these efforts may have been for their respective companies:

Accessibility - "The Hire" film series was accessible to almost anyone who had ever seen an action/drama film. They certainly weren't universally loved, but people understood, at a basic level, what was happening in each film. On the other hand, while some adored the adicolor films and tried to explore their deeper meanings, many people on Youtube and Digg found the experimental nature of the films bizarre and alienating.

Brand Association - Although at their core, they were glorified commercials, the BMW film series generated positive brand associations with the company's products. BMWs were shown to be incredible vehicles that could be depended upon to survive war zones, weave through city traffic, and in one particularly memorable scene, take down hostile helicopters. The adicolor films did not feature Adidas products in any prominent way.

General Buzz - "The Hire" was heavily advertised on television and received rave reviews from a variety of entertainment outlets. A couple of the BMW films were also screened at Cannes. The adicolor shorts did not receive nearly as much promotion.

It appears as though "The Hire" was a more successful brand-building investment. If Adidas' goal was solely to show its support for the independent filmmaking community, then it has succeeded admirably. However, given the adicolor films' explicit association with the adicolor line of apparel, it would seem as though their motives were not so magnanimous. In that case, the adicolor films represent an important lesson: Creating viral works of art is a risky and challenging proposition. From an investment standpoint, it's always best to have a clear goal before proceeding.

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Glen Allsopp, August 21, 2007

That video is pretty disturbing haha. Great write-up on the comparison side of things :)

Mr. BabyMan, August 21, 2007

I LOVE that video!

Auto Parts for Brains, August 23, 2007

If you did not tell me about Adidas, I wouldn't have figured it was an ad for a shoe. I think they had a great idea, but it was not executed as well as it should have been. I agree that viral videos are a great way to do marketing, but that it is very risky too. I don't remember, but there was an SUV ( I think it was a Chevy) "make a video" campaign before that just destroyed their brand.

There should have been more of the shoe in that film. Here's a free idea for Adidas:

Imagine a muscled man in his room. The camera pans and all around him are stuff that shouts "Macho". Exercise equipment, rock and roll posters, ladies in bikinis.... the works... Camera shot is quite dark and lighting is lonesome.

Now next shot show him preparing to go out for a jog, or a walk or what ever. Then, guess what he wears. Yup, pink Adidas trainers. And as he walks down the street crazy things happen. The world lights up or something.

Better yet, after he puts on his shoes the ad ends. The subtitle then says "Think you're man enough? Try pink."

hahaha, that would have been funny.

Hawaii Vacations, January 29, 2008

I've noticed a lot of companies have been getting a big bump in marketing by creating viral videos. People are spending big bucks to come up with the next Internet video sensation

Alimuddin @ Internet Viral Marketing, October 14, 2008