LG “Smart Thief” – LG, a brand that hasn’t ever been featured in our round up before, is suddenly the primary contributor this week. This ad begins peculiar, to say the least, with the viewer watching a man from a security camera point-of-view. The man is staring directly into the camera as he is walking backwards through a store. The whole process of the man leaving the store takes a long time, and while watching this guerrilla-style video, I wondered what the point of it was. There is no indication in the video title, YouTube description, or branding during the video that suggests for whom this product is for. After forty or so seconds of wondering what the point is there is a fantastic payoff as the thief leaves the store holding a new flat screen tv, which we can now see because the security camera is looking at the man from the side, not straight on. The slow walk the man had throughout the entire video suddenly changes from annoying and strange to hilarious as the reason becomes clear. In just under two weeks this video has over 1.4 million views, illustrating the strength of the payoff at the end. Another reason for the success of this video could be in how it is shot and labeled. Curious YouTube viewers, such as myself, are lured in by unassuming titles, such as “smart thief caught on cam” and become curious. When there is no obvious branding anywhere the viewer starts to consider if this video is real or not, and they want to see what this “smart guy” is going to do. At the conclusion of the video it is clear (to those looking for it) that this video was made by LG, as the only branding in the entire video is seen in the form of an ad in the window at the end. Overall, both LG ads in this round up have a level of guerrilla-style marketing, but this one is far more successful.

Brisk “Star Wars” – Star Wars themed viral videos are so common that it’s easy to become skeptical over their quality. A previous review of an Adidas Star Wars ad is one such example of a video that attempted to use the Star Wars name to gain views, but the lack of quality left it unable to gain much notoriety. This Brisk ad is not like the Adidas commercial, thankfully, and uses Brisk’s tried and true format of stop motion movie references with humorous writing and actions to create viral gold. As of this writing the video has accumulated 40k views, which isn’t bad for only a few days. The addition of some viral video references in this video, including the infamous Afro Ninja and Star Wars Kid, create ample opportunity for this video to explode in smaller internet circles. The stop motion videos Brisk is known for doing interested me so much I did some additional research and found this video showing some behind-the-scenes work on their video with Eminem (well, in puppet form). Brisk looks to have created this video specifically for the YouTube space, even if it still runs on television. It’s good to see brands continuing to branch out into the viral space but it’s also good to see them take into account what seasoned YouTubers will respond well to.

LG “Fashion Industry Exposed” – LG is taking a stab at the competition in this video which highlights the LG Kompressor Plus’ tremendous suction ability. They directly go after Dyson, a high-end vacuum maker, by making fun of the fashion industry and its unrealistic representation of beauty. The content of this viral is, however, quite sensitive, and has the ability to anger many. Some of the YouTube comments highlight this sensitive subject, but overall the likes to dislikes ratio still suggests this video is being viewed in a positive light. With nearly 600,000 views it’s not nearly as popular as any of the videos from last week’s round up, but it’s still very viral. LG isn’t a regular in the viral video market (and this was likely a television commercial which was uploaded to YouTube as well) but with a massive tech arm of their business they have potential to create numerous viral videos based on their more computer-based components.

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