It’s the end of January, which means it is time for our first Viral Ad Videos review of 2015! This month, we have entries from Pepsi Max, Reebok and Microsoft.
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Chain Reaction; Pepsi Max (4,533,000+ views)
Pepsi Max is running a campaign of “unbelievable feats and experiences… Pepsi Max. Maximum taste. No sugar.” I think it is to promote that consumers can still have the unbelievable taste of Pepsi, without compromising on their low-sugar life style. At least that is what I think they are doing.
The video has a great visual element with the ping-pong balls floating through the air, bouncing off of mirrors and mixing with the smoke and lights. To me, there is something soothing and pleasant about all of it – which is funny, because when I watched the behind the scenes video it shows the ping-pong balls violently exploding past cameras and crew members dodging out of the way.
When I first watched this video, even though I enjoyed it, I didn’t think it was very effective. There isn’t a strong call to action, or even much of a connection between the content and Pepsi Max. However, I realized two things had happened to me since watching this video: one, I was reminded that Pepsi Max was still around (I honestly had no idea). Two, I went through and watched other Pepsi Max videos, which increases their online standing (slightly). To Pepsi Max’s credit, I think most of their videos had around 4 million views each, which is pretty good viewership.
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Live Free Range; Reebok (4,543,000+ views)
To start, I want everyone to see my favorite part of this ad: when the chicken and farmer are face-to-face, watch the chicken inch her foot toward the whole. I think that is a great little detail!
Do you think this concept started because they wanted to have an allusion to the old joke, “why did the chicken cross the road?,” or was it simply a fun visual gag they could use? I’m not sure, but I do know that I like it when the chicken gets to the other side of the road, and is staring at the ‘Global Fitness Barn’ billboard with a perplexed and unimpressed face (-_-).
In my opinion, this is a fun ad and it got me into a step of the buying funnel – it makes me want to go out and run. Maybe I’ll pick up some new Reeboks and find some trails to run down.
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HoloLens – Transform your world with holograms; Microsoft (12,073,000+ views)
This next ad makes me pessimistically optimistic. If the technology can be executed in the real world relatively similar to the way it is portrayed… it will be pretty amazing! Can you imagine having hologram technology to create virtual reality screens and objects in your life? If I mount a screen on my living room, but then decide I’d rather have it in the kitchen, I can just pinch and drag it over to a new space – easy-peasy!
Where I start to get confused/concerned is when the father was building a rocket for his son. I know he built it using virtual pieces, but a few seconds later when the kid runs in, is that a real space ship (perhaps 3D printed)? I think that the space ship is real, since neither the father nor son are wearing goggles, but it does bum me out thinking that in the future, kids will only have virtual toys. Which brings me to my second concern, if this becomes succesfull… as a society, will we start replacing all physical objects in our homes with virtual ones? Will be end up living inside white boxes with minimal features?
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