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Apple Takes Hits From Windows 7, Droid but Prevails

What People Watched the Week of Oct. 19, 2009

by Michael Learmonth
Published: October 29, 2009

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Microsoft launched its much-ballyhooed OS Windows 7 last week, but it was Apple's counterpunch that drew the web views.

The latest installment in Apple's "Get a Mac" series, "Broken Promises," made its debut at No. 2 on the Ad Age Viral Video Chart with nearly 1.7 million views last week, pretty much blowing away Microsoft's "Windows 7 Was My Idea," which premiered at No. 7 on the list but drew nearly 1.2 million viewer views. Microsoft can take solace that it actually had two videos in the top 10, including list mainstay "Xbox Project Natal," which has spent 21 weeks in the top 10.

Turns out Apple took hits from two sides last week. Verizon's anti-iPhone spot promoting Motorola's new Google-powered phone, "Droid Does," came in at No. 4 in its first week on the list with nearly 1 million views. This has the makings of a true creative showdown, and we can all sit back and watch the fireworks from TBWA/Media Arts Lab (Apple), Crispin Porter & Bogusky/Universal McCann (Microsoft) and McGarryBowen (Verizon).

Volkswagen's "The Fun Theory," a spot from DDB Sweden that joined the list for the first time last week, continues to resonate with viewers, unseating Evian's roller-skating babies from the No. 1 spot. An ongoing testament to a feel-good stunt-slash-social experiment, the spot raked in 2.4 million views last week, an 83% increase from its debut week on the list. We'll leave the theories for how this actually sells cars to the brighter minds in comments.

	Last Week	Brand	Campaign	Agency	Current Week Views*	% Change in Views**
1	2	Volkswagen	The Fun Theory	Tribal DDB	2,415,469	+83%
2	New	Apple	Get a Mac	TBWAMedia Arts Lab	1,684,955	New
3	1	Evian	Live Young	BETC Euro RSCG	1,233,204	-8%
4	New	Verizon	Droid Does	McGarryBowen	960,505	New
5	3	DC Shoes	Ken Block's Gymkhana Two Project	Mad Media	560,864	+1%
6	6	Microsoft Xbox	Project Natal	World Famous	407,637	+1%
7	New	Microsoft	Windows 7 Was My Idea	Crispin, Porter & Bogusky; Universal McCann	363,198	New
8	Back on Chart	Durex	Get It On	Fitzgerald+CO; SuperFad	306,300	Back on Chart
9	8	T-Mobile	T-Mobile Dance	Saatchi & Saatchi, MediaCom	295,589	+20%
10	New	Vodafone	Symphonia	Swordfish Media	288,167	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.

6 Comments

By mdonovin | wilmington, NC October 29, 2009 01:05:20 pm:

Apple will prevail in the long run as it has for so long....its tech team is delivering higher qulaity for a long time....and Google will fall on its own face with a clunker some day...go to
www.hirepowers.com to check out my iTunes app that is in review with Apple

(I wish I had bought an Apple as my first computer instead of a PC...LOL...things might have been different)

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By BrooklynTX | nashville, TN October 30, 2009 03:25:14 pm:

The Fun Theory is a "fun" campaign to talk about with people. After viewing the ad a couple weeks back, I was compelled to start my first career-focused blog (beware the plug: socialdeviants.blogspot.com). On Oct. 12 I posed the question "Is Doing Good The New Black?" to discuss what you ask above - how does this sell cars? What I wrote was: "Anyone can make a clever car ad that says "Hey, look how fuel efficient and eco-friendly we are as a company!" But few can get you to change your behavior toward your health, the environment and social responsibility without having the brand shoved down your throat, much less by making it FUN." Volkswagen is able to get you to associate their brand with these ideals in a uniqueand FUN way. GOOD for them.

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By BrooklynTX | nashville, TN October 30, 2009 03:25:15 pm:

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By BrooklynTX | nashville, TN October 30, 2009 03:25:56 pm:

not sure why that posted twice. apologies.

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By GFytros | Paris October 30, 2009 06:09:22 pm:

Adage asks these kinds of questions?

It's about positioning your brand, building your image. It is a very successful way in diffusing the message and having an impact in order to establish the values of the brand in people's minds. In that case, desired values: the fun-attitude, fun-to-drive, witty, social responsibility

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By brandgineering | Loveland, CO November 2, 2009 12:29:58 pm:

Why are we not discussing what is important? Who cares how many times a video was viewed virally? Did it sell any product? What about a chart that shows the number of views versus the number of sales generated by the viral video?

Sometimes, I think we are forgetting our goal here. Our job is to sell products for our clients not get the highest number of views on YouTube.

Carl Hartman | www.brandgineering.biz | Denver

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