The build up has been a long time coming, but with the latest addition to The Royal Family popping out on Monday, baby-mania has swept across the internet this week as brands raced to be the first to welcome the new prince into the world.
At its peak, the #RoyalBaby hashtag was being tweeted at a rate of 25,300 times per minute and as expected, marketers were quick to ride the social media wave with their own branded messages of congratulations.
Within hours of the announcement we saw a barrage of ads from the likes of The Sun, Coca-Cola, Oreo and Warburtons (to name just a few), you can check out The Drum's round up of some of the top trending campaigns here.
Interestingly enough though, amongst all the front page stories, outdoor ads and print campaigns offering tributes to the royal bundle of joy, there’s actually been a surprising lack of activity in the viral video world so far, with Carling being the only brand to have a royal baby related campaign in the Viral Chart this week.Carling: Exclusive 'Decorators' Ad - It's a Boy: Created by Creature of London, the ad features an over-zealous decorator charged with painting the regal nursery. The problem is that somehow he missed the news that it’s a boy, resulting in a room that's ‘not quite Carling’.Granted, the lager brand probably isn’t the first thing you’d associate with a royal baby, but it’s good to see a bit of planned spontaneity from advertisers at times like this. Of course, the agency didn’t have some kind of secret insider knowledge about the sex of the baby that the rest of the world wasn’t privy to. The creative team behind the ad actually produced two videos ready to launch weeks before the baby was born; one for a girl and one for a boy - it was just a matter of waiting for the news to break before they set one live.
Honda's Mean Mower: Also trending in the Viral Chart this week is a fun little video for Honda featuring Scottish race-car driver, “Flash” Shedden, tearing through the English countryside on a souped up lawn mover.If you find the regular chore of keeping your grass nice and trim a bit boring, why not try doing it on a 1000cc chopping machine capable of speeding around your garden at a rate of 130mph!The aptly named ‘Mean Mower’ was created by Honda in response to a Top Gear magazine challenge. According to an interview with the BBC, the stunt is part of the car manufacturer's efforts to increase its “sporty” credentials. It’s always nice to see brands getting a bit playful, and with the video clocking up nearly 800,000 views and counting, it’s a nice bit of PR that shows off what the Honda design team can do. Sadly it’s not something that’s ever going to be commercially available, but you can check out a video of The Stig taking the machine out for a spin if you want to see more of the Mean Mower in action.
Topping the UGC Chart this week - the team behind How It Should Have Ended is back with another humourous parody classic. This time the controversy over Superman’s uncharacteristic disregard for human life in the recent summer block buster, Man Of Steal, has lead to some amusing speculation about how the final battle should have played out.
