NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Sayonara, Old Spice. Welcome to the first Viral Chart in months without Isaiah Mustafa's superior intelligence and physique. Who's replacing him? A host of new campaigns from Armani, Samsung, Ikea and, well, Twitter!
As predicted, DC Shoes' highly stylized "Gymkhana Three" video tops the chart this week. The shoemaker's chief brand officer, Ken Block, tests the Newtonian limits of his rally-bred Ford. The video was enough to allow its predecessor, "Gymkhana Two," to draft off its success to return to the list in the number nine spot.
The other newcomers break up the men's care dominance of weeks past. They include a diverse array of brands, From Armani and Amazon to Ikea and Samsung. Amazon offers its snarky best to critique the iPad with a fairly straightforward snipe at the iPad's one glaring weakness. Armani's success has more to do with the teasing appearance of actress Megan Fox appearing in an open robe and lingerie, reinforcing perhaps the idea that it is the preponderance of the weak-willed who dominate online viewers -- a fact that is starkly evident in the chart's No. 6 slot: Twitter.
Yes, the arbiter of the avian hits the chart for the first time this week, but the only question we can ask is: why? The incongruous spot does its best to push the new Twitter.com with an elliptical storyline featuring a faceless protagonist embarking on a date. The company's Romper Room logo dominates, appearing in various forms from paper cut-outs to pancakes, which is altogether brazen and a little silly. The clip's conceit is to humanize the ephemeral service. It's appearance on the chart with over 1.3 million views shows that Twitter itself remains one of Twitter's favorite topics. The video was created in-house for a reported $3,000. Why does it win? Ask 160 million Twitter users.
Which brings us the the list's real surprise: Samsung's "Use Your Influence" video, which comes in at No. 2. Beginning with a young girl flailing her arms about in elementary bliss, a group of adults soon join in her play by amazingly following her movements. Quickly, a "flash mob" emerges in a feat of synchronicity. Of course, it's green-screen induced, but the nonsensical movements of a five-year-old become comprehensible as the adults begin to tap into their inner ... you know.
First-time chart entrant Ikea tapped the one YouTube meme even more powerfully than synchronized dance and cute kids. Yes, Ikea made a cat video.
Last Week | Brand | Campaign | Agency | Current Week Views* | % Change in Views** | Watch the Spot | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | New | DC Shoes | Gymkhana Three | In-house | 6,449,827 | New |