I [try to] forget how many times I've pointed out over the last few years that viral is something that happens, not something that is. Marketers and agencies can make stuff that is interesting, but they can't naturally select the interestingness
Then something like extreme shepherding comes along.
'Inspired by' Samsung LED TVs to play with LEDs, retro arcade games, art gags, etc. 750k views and counting on YouTube in a couple of days. Genius. And probably predictable by anyone who saw the storyboard.
Not really sure what how it contributes to selling TVs, but I'm sure someone's thought of that. I'd hazard a guess that it is about TV sets = dull commodities/this = fun.
Don't know if i missed this last week then it launched, or if the content is more interesting than the idea, but i really like it.
Samsung have given a new Pixon mobile phone to pro photographer Nick Turpin, who is more used to shooting ads for glossy mags, and sent away for a month to post a photo per day. People can then click on any object in the photo, and the most clicked becomes the subject of his next photo - so for example the subject 'spraycan' resulted in a pic of a graffitied skatepark in Marseille including an image of Homer Simpson's face - 'Homer' won the vote, which sent Turpin to Athens looking for Homeric scenes for the next one.
(my inner geek loves the fact that his blog actually shows the click maps from each photo). The full shoot from each location is up on Flickr
The concept behind the campaign is pretty strong - it is the first 8mb cameraphone in the UK, so showcasing its versatility for photography makes sense. Turpin is also publishing video diaries to a YouTube channel, and the GPS tagging function is mapping him across Europe photo by photo.
It's not really the strategy that appeals though - every camera phone has something around versatile photography since the first megapixel model. This campaign feels like it is doing something different, and I think it is the slightly Dice Man vibe that gives it that sense of adventure and interest. It's essentially crowdsourcing a creative brief, and relying on Turpin's eye for a lateral interpretation of his brief as an in-the-field creative.
And is it working? Well the first week's videos have all had over 250,000 views on YouTube, and there are 133 people following Nick so far on Twitter. Including me, so I'll follow the rest of the campaign with interest.
