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DDB Hits Viral High Notes for Volkswagen

What People Watched the Week of Oct. 12, 2009

by Michael Learmonth
Published: October 22, 2009

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- A viral ad produced in Europe wasn't enough to win Volkswagen's business in the U.S., apparently.

Omnicom Group's DDB was just eliminated from the VW sweepstakes in the U.S., but DDB Stockholm and Tribal DDB's digital ad, part of its "The Fun Theory" campaign, debuted at No. 2 on Ad Age Viral Video Chart.

The ad has nothing to do with cars; instead, it shows what will happen if you convert a set of subway stairs into a larger-than-life piano, like the one Tom Hanks danced on in "Big." The result: Well, a lot more people chose fun over the escalator, which I guess is the point. It's a little more than your standard gimmick. It's a social experiment in the power of fun-to-drive behavior change. It's also only the second auto ad to make the chart, according to Matt Cutler, marketing VP at analytics firm Visible Measures. The other was for Kia Motors.

That video racked up more than 1.3 million views last week, just a hair behind Evian's dancing babies, which have spent 16 weeks in the No. 1 spot, an enduring testament to the power of cute and cuddly on the web. Other mainstays on the chart include Microsoft's "Project Natal" video, with 20 weeks on the chart, and T-Mobile's "Eyebrow Dance," which has spent 27 weeks (though not consecutive) on the chart.

The new breast cancer awareness spot, "Save The Boobs!," while incredibly unsubtle, debuted at No. 9 and seems destined to stay a while.

	Last Week	Brand	Campaign	Agency	Current Week Views*	% Change in Views**
1	1	Evian	Live Young	BETC Euro RSCG	1,346,480	+18%
2	New	Volkswagen	The Fun Theory	Tribal DDB	1,319,546	New
3	3	DC Shoes	Ken Block's Gymkhana Two Project	Mad Media	556,610	+6%
4	New	Shake Weight	Shake Weight For Men	N/A	468,136	New
5	Back on Chart	Shake Weight	Get a Shake Weight Now	N/A	423,168	Back on Chart
6	4	Microsoft Xbox	Project Natal	World Famous	405,334	-16%
7	7	Inspired Bicycles	Danny MacAskill Trials	N/A	317,884	+20%
8	8	T-Mobile	T-Mobile Dance	Saatchi & Saatchi, MediaCom	246,461	-1%
9	New	ReThink Breast Cancer	BoobyBall	RETHINK	241,109	New
10	New	Ray's Midbell Music	School Band Rap	Rhett & Link	197,281	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.

5 Comments

By Formula13 | Atlanta, GA October 22, 2009 12:04:19 pm:

I love the VW Piano Stairs. The correlation of "fun" and the VW brand transcends the stairs and shows that fun can be found anywhere in life. VW is just a piece of the "fun" puzzle. Now go make your own fun!

www.formula-13.com

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By rsegelbaum | Toronto, ON October 22, 2009 12:39:34 pm:

Great article and killer VW video. Very smart...sell without showing a product, but keep them entertained. Wise.

As for the breast cancer ad, what can be said. Honest and to the point, with tongue in cheek.

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By jackieprincey | toronto, ON October 22, 2009 01:21:49 pm:

I really like the idea of adding a bit of fun & play to the everyday journey. Nice campaign, not to mention a great throwback to the best scene in BIG!

I posted more on this a few weeks ago: http://bit.ly/8knY

Also recently came across this - Van ness muni station waterfall escalator in san francisco - seeing a pattern here?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ItlPmtkZZg&feature=player_embedded

Cheers,
Jackie

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By stingraysstudios | N. Lauderdale, FL October 22, 2009 03:04:17 pm:

Oh...Jeez. Well is this wonderful ?,...you just sold more copies of the Movie "Big" and NOT ONE VW....dumb.

Entertaining, yeah kinda, but hardly "original"...derivative ads like this really do not deliver for Brands. It may create a bit of buzz, & then it is over.

Thumbs Down on this one.

I can think of much better content in this media for VW than this...oh well.

Peter Archer
Stingraysstudios.com

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By BL | NEW YORK, NY October 22, 2009 03:21:57 pm:

I love the idea. but not letting viewers vote on the winners is old-school. Social media tools have been part of the lexicon for many years now. We should have a say. The brand will learn a lot more when people can offer their views. I give it an "A" for concept and a "C-" for execution.

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