Traditional marketing has become a thing of the past as it simply does not get noticed by the intended market. Many of the majors companies are now putting much of their effort on releasing so called viral videos. These videos do not have to be especially related with the company and their products. Their main purpose is to create a buzz among a community of people and there are quite a few videos that have managed in doing so. Being a sucker for top lists myself I had to create a list with, what I believe to be, the eleven best viral videos of all time.
11. Sheep creating beautiful art
One of the most recent examples of a great viral video comes from Samsung. Instead of showing their products, in this case LED TVs, the traditional way they decided to make some sheep do the work for them. The result is mind-blowing and I do not care whether it is true or fake. I simply get amazed each and every time I see this ingenious video and I am not the only one since it already has millions of views.
10. Hypnotizing bouncing balls
This commercial for Sony Bravia has to be accounted as one of the most successful viral videos of all time. Releasing thousands of bouncing balls down the streets of San Francisco might sound like a terrible idea but it proved to be exactly the opposite. It was almost difficult to understand whether it was a commercial or a music video for Jose Gonzales, who is singing, and the song Crosses. Never before has color been portrayed in a more beautiful way and the video takes full advantage of the oh so important combination - visual and audio.
9. The egg hatching man
This is perhaps not a viral video in its true sense but it still needs to be mentioned in this top list since it was a way of thinking viral. The Swedish clothing store Playground did not want to things the usual way so they decided to see if it was possible to hatch an egg with the help of one of their down jackets. The result was a small chicken and coverage in magazines and TV news all over Sweden. Commercial at its best!
8. Mac doing it the drunken way
Mac has always been cutting-edge when it comes to their design but with Ellen Feis they also managed to create an ad that blogs all over the world was buzzing about. No computers are shown in the ad – there is just Ellen Feis talking drunkenly about how a PC messed up her paper. Simple and sweet in its own way…
7. Wassup
The Budweiser ad “Wassup” has to be counted as one of the first examples of a successful “modern” viral video. Never before had a commercial caused such a stir as this did. There are no facts about how good their beer is – instead we see a couple of friends screaming Wassup!!! to each other. This is somewhat of a milestone among commercials.
6. A very big ad
The beer company Carlton Draught always likes to go over the top with their commercials and this one good example of that. The fact that it is so very strange makes it stand out and become perfect material for a viral video. I have never drunk the beer but still I can not get it out of my head – that must be accounted as a good viral video.
5. Macintosh 1984
The Budweiser ad is one of the great modern viral commercials but Apple’s Macintosh 1984 ad is one of the very first examples ever. It is a rather creepy commercial but nevertheless was it the most talked about ad at its time and it is still one those videos that people can not resist to mention when discussing viral videos.
4. The T-Mobile dance
The T-Mobile commercial is one of the most impressive and astonishing viral videos I have ever seen. For two and half minutes the Liverpool train station is turned into one of the biggest dance floors the world has ever seen. With over 11 million views on Youtube T-Mobile has to be more than pleased with the outcome of this video.
3. The german coast guard
Germans are not the easiest people to joke about but Berlitz managed to come up with a seriously funny commercial known as the “German Coast Guard”. The mispronunciation, and interpretation, of “sinking” and “thinking” is hilarious and got millions of people searching and talking about this video making it as viral as it possibly can be.
2. Touch of gold
Over 50 million views globally make this one of the greatest viral videos ever made. Soccer star extraordinaire Ronaldinho gets a pair of Golden Legend Nike shoes and hits the crossbar four times, without the ball ever touching the ground. This is impressive in so many ways that I do not know where to begin – both his performance and the number of views make me go, huh?! How is this possible?!
1. Dove evolution
This commercial has already become an instant classic. In only 1:14 you will get to see how easy it is to fix up and do a complete makeover. The girl in this commercial goes from a pretty girl to being photoshopped into looking like a supermodel with the text “No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted” showing up. Publicity stunt or not – it proved to be the right way to go since millions of people have seen the ad on Youtube. There have also been parodies made which must be the ultimate proof of it being a successful viral video.
Commented by: Urban, 7 April, 2009
Haha, what are you sinking about!
I agree with you about the Dove commercial as #1, they did something really good there!
Commented by: Jeff, 8 April, 2009
#1 is not #1. That chick is just okay, she really isn't a supermodel. Rather creepy actually.
Commented by: Stu, 10 April, 2009
Solid List.
I think you need the word "commercial" in your title though. If we're talking all time all virals I don't think you can leave out Evolution of Dance. Unless you date it 2009 but then many of these commercials would not qualify...
That being said, Id still get ride of Sheep LED (11, or move it higher) and MAC(8). Sheep LED is too new and can still be found on some viral charts...it will climb higher. And the I'm a Mac Im a PC commercials stick way better then this girl....
All of these are up there too.
Commented by: webhosting pk, 11 April, 2009
Yap I like Dove evolution, excellent work.
Commented by: David, 20 April, 2009
Stu: You are right. The title should definatively be Top 11 Commercial Viral Videos... That's what happens when you're in a rush.
Commented by: Sandy, 9 May, 2009
Very Nice post.
Cheers,
Sandy
Commented by: Jay's MasterMind, 3 June, 2009
These are great! Thanks for the post!
Jason Benfield
Commented by: Lenard Mccanse, 2 February, 2010
Marvelous article.
Commented by: mike, 30 August, 2010
lol I love the wasssup commercials