Branded Video Review with RedPill: Featuring Chipotle, Cricket Wireless and The Woolshed Company

Rating: 80 per cent

Chipotle continues its streak of hot online content by always focusing on the narrative and empathy. In this new installment, they are trying to harness Pixar-style emotional resonance through wordless visual storytelling, and mostly succeed. The animation is beautiful, and Faustian bargain at the heart of it is unusually powerful and accurate for a branded video. A classic rise-and-fall story, with mandatory happy ending it does a very good job of positioning Chipotle as the fresh alternative to other large fast food chains.

Cricket Wireless - The Unexpected John Cena Prank | Hidden Camera

Rating: 60 per cent

Cricket Wireless’ latest effort is a standard prank video, all built around waiting to see people’s reactions when confronted by celebrity flesh. It is undoubtedly well done, building anticipation nicely to the reveal, cross-cutting between the actors auditioning and Cena’s appraisals. The wrestler’s charisma carries the video. He doesn’t feel like a natural match for the brand - he’s definitely not a cricket. However, he clearly loves his fans, and is having as much fun as they are busting through the paper to their shocked expressions. And his popularity has ensured the ad’s impact.

The Woolshed Company - The Viral Experiment

Rating: 55 per cent

This is an interesting one - The Woolshed Company has been faking some of the biggest virals of the last two years, and they’ve now decided to come clean. Content-wise, they’ve performed exceptionally well, creating videos that have exploded online and into the cultural consciousness. However, their reveal feels poorly timed and poorly explained. If they’d revealed themselves at peak popularity of one of the videos, the reveal would have had a much greater impact.

Matthew Davies is a director at RedPill, a specialist branded video agency.