Mel Peck from the Viral Ad Network picks out the highlights from The Drum's Viral Video Chart and looks at which brands have trended online this week.
Google has topped the Viral Brand Chart this week, with a marketing push for Glass, the latest gadget to whip interweb tech lovers into a frenzy.
Rumours about the device have been kicking around online for a while now - we’ve seen a couple of sneaky preview videos already - but last week the internet search giant released an official promo video to show the world exactly what it can do. It looks a bit like something you might see in a futuristic sci-fi film, but don’t get too excited, it’s not going to be commercially available until 2014 and is likely to come with a pretty hefty price tag!
Entering the listings at number two is Heineken, with an amusing viral video documenting the brand’s somewhat unorthodox process of finding the next Heineken sports intern. [Ed: You'll have to sign-in on YouTube to watch it for age verification reasons.]We all know that job interviews can be a bit formulaic. Some companies might try and spice things up a bit, but Heineken took things a step further with an elaborate marketing stunt to put unsuspecting candidates to the test. Hidden cameras captured a series of comedy moments, from awkward hand holding, to medical emergencies, and people escaping from ‘burning buildings’. The campaign also included a big social media push lobbying the public to vote for their favourite candidate, followed by an elaborate welcoming ceremony for the successful applicant. Crowdsourced marketing is becoming increasingly popular; it’s a great way to encourage engagement and sharing and boost the virality of content. Plus, getting the public involved adds a more personal dimension to campaigns. Despite missing out on the top spot in the chart this week, The Candidate has an impressive share to view ratio of over 10 per cent, (compared to the 1.4 per cent share ratio of Google Glass), showing that despite probably having a lower media spend, it’s proving highly popular with online audiences. Moving over to the UGC Chart, and top of the list is a lesson on how NOT to style your hair, from YouTube vlogger, Tori Locklear. After an attempt to show the world how to use a curling iron resulted in her burning off a big chunk of hair, she uploaded the clip to YouTube and it instantly went viral, clocking up over 16 million views and making the teenager an over-night viral sensation.
Elsewhere in the listings, the Harlem Shake dance craze is still going strong with more new videos popping up every day, but this week it looks like a new meme is sweeping the web… remember ‘Goats Yelling Like Humans’? Well, apparently they also like a good old sing song and t’interbebs' new favourite thing is splicing clips of ‘shouting’ goats into pop song choruses! Music videos of Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and Usher are just a couple of the trending virals to get the ‘goating’ treatment this week.
For all of the chart news and the full run down of top videos on the internet this week, check out The Drum Viral Video Chart, powered by VAN, or follow @JoinVan to stay up to date with the latest industry news and YouTube gossip.
