Can YouTube Help Make Nokia's Smartphone Cool?

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Nokia's N8, the manufacturer's ploy to crack the U.S. smartphone market, is seeing early signs that it can grab some attention from Apple, Google and RIM's Blackberry. Well, on YouTube at least. A video for the new smartphone, set to launch in late October after delays, debuts on the Viral Video Chart at number four.

The video comes from viral heavyweight Wieden & Kennedy, easily the chart's most dominant agency, with hits like Old Spice's Isaiah Mustafa and Nike's "Write the Future" under its belt. And it looks like Nokia will need every ounce of Wieden's magic. Despite its position as global smartphone leader, Nokia isn't even a part of the smartphone conversation in the U.S., which is dominated by early entrants iPhone, Blackberry and Android.

But internet success alone might not be enough to tip the scales -- the market leaders not only enjoy a head start, but the backing of mobile service carriers with notoriously deep pockets. Verizon and AT&T are the Nos. 2 and 3 U.S. advertisers, according to Ad Age DataCenter, and back Google's Android and RIM's BlackBerry respectively. Meanwhile N8 has no carrier partner to back its marketing efforts. Microsoft, too, is readying one of its biggest budget campaigns this holiday season for its newest smartphone operating system, Windows Mobile 7.

Another mobile manufacturer, Sony Ericsson, also made its first appearance this week, a sure sign mobile marketers are starting to vie for coveted spots on wish lists this upcoming holiday season. This phone, Xperia X10, runs Android and is available on AT&T. While Wieden opted for robots and hamster-powered cell chargers in a frenetic montage for Nokia showing off what people all over the world have rigged up with its phones, digital agency Dare forgoes the tech wizardry we so often see in smartphone ads (see: Verizon Droid spots) and goes for easy laughs at the expense of dumb blonds. This installment in the "Product Testing Institute" campaign brings up the rear at number ten.

Meanwhile, tricked-out sneakers, half-dressed women and balls jokes continue to capture the largest share of the internet's attention. Topping the chart for the second week running, DC Shoes' "Gymkhana Three," while maintaining a healthy lead, is losing some momentum, dropping 30% to 4.4 million weekly views. Though its predecessor "Gymkhana Two" has been granted a second wind, gaining a couple spots to number six, most likely thanks to the success of the most recent effort. With Megan Fox in her skivvies, Armani crept up toNo. 2 this week, while Axe's "Clean Your Balls" fake infomercial on cleaning pairs of sports equipment surged to the third spot. Thanks BBH for that too-long shot of the tight-shirted host fondling a pair of golf balls.

	Last Week	Brand	Campaign	Agency	Current Week Views*	% Change in Views**	Watch the Spot
1	1	DC Shoes	Gymkhana Three	In-house	4,401,704	-32%
2	3	Emporio Armani	Hotel Service	In-house	1,832,917	-26%
3	7	Axe	Clean Your Balls	BBH	1,222,134	-8%
4	New	Nokia	It's What You Do With It	Wieden & Kennedy	1,089,263	New
5	2	Samsung	Use Your Influence	The Viral Factory	1,080,630	-62%
6	9	DC Shoes	Gymkhana Two	In-house	1,055,571	5%
7	5	Tipp-Ex	Hunter Shoots a Bear	Buzzman	924,654	-46%
8	Back on Chart	Evian	Live Young	BETC Euro RSCG	844,511	Back on Chart
9	8	Geico	Really Save	The Martin Agency	758,919	-36%
10	New	Sony Ericsson	Product Testing Institute	Dare	751,274	New
Source: Visible Measures *The Visible Measures Top 10 Viral Video Ad Campaigns Chart focuses on brand-driven viral video ads that appear on online-video-sharing destinations. Each campaign is measured on a True Reach basis, which includes viewership of both brand-syndicated video clips and viewer-driven social video placements. The data are compiled using the Visible Measures Viral Reach Database, a constantly growing repository of analytic data on more than 100 million internet videos across more than 150 video-sharing destinations. Note: This analysis does not include Visible Measures' paid-placement (i.e., overlays, pre-/mid-/post-roll) performance data or video views on private sites. This chart does not include movie trailers, video-game campaigns, TV show or media network promotions, or public service announcements. View-count results are incremental by week. **Indicates percent change in views compared with the same period the week before. To notify Visible Measures of an upcoming video ad campaign, or for an end-to-end assessment of your campaign's overall performance, please contact Visible Measures directly.