Skittles “Skittles Boom Box” -
Nathan Barnatt is a comedian known for his character Trale Lewous, who he used to make a wildly popular viral video featuring some crazy dancing and fancy editing. Barnatt has made several spec ads featuring Skittles that have become very popular, however, there doesn’t seem to be anything in this viral that necessarily suggests Skittles paid for anything more than the boombox. Nevertheless, this video has an astounding 800,000 views in just over a week. The music video has a catchy musical track and editing that keeps viewers from getting bored. It features mediocre CGI Skittles spraying out of Trale’s pants and accumulating on the ground, but instead of being distracting it just adds to the charm of this video. The too-short running shorts and hilarious intro also give this viral character and a feeling of authenticity not always seen in branded ads.
Wal-Mart “Yodeling Cat” – This viral ad features the most creepy use of a cat in a YouTube advert…dare we say…ever? The mouth is reminiscent of Annoying Orange but the addition of yodeling makes the mouth extra weird. Wal-Mart sponsored this ad and did a good job of keeping the branding minimal. A quick search of the Wal-Mart YouTube channel reveals this is their third successful video, but their first viral in some time. By “successes” I mean they have two other videos that clear 100,000 views, but for a company as large as Wal-Mart that’s a disappointingly small number, especially considering that they have 116 uploaded videos. It’s possible they may change their mind regarding viral advertising with this yodeling cat video going viral, but the majority of their ads are served on television. One redeeming quality about this ad is that they uploaded this video in 1080p, something other companies with more impressive ads have not done.
Harvey Nichols “Walk of Shame” – Ah, the “walk of shame”, it’s a delicate subject, but one Harvey Nichols takes a bold approach at combating. This viral doesn’t take a stance on the walk of shame, in fact, by the end of the ad they seem to promote it. But what they are suggesting in this ad is that the walk of shame can still be classy, so buy clothes that fit! European brands seem consistently less concerned with the political correctness of their ads than their American counterparts. This ad isn’t even particularly risqué in content, only in subject matter. With nearly 300,000 views the humor of this ad is ringing true with many viewers and according to YouTube commenters, many people are in support of the message of this ad that the walk of shame doesn’t have to be shameful. The music track playing underneath the entire spot is ironically funny as well: the holiday themed music juxtaposed against the adult subject matter is hilarious as are the shots of the ladies stumbling around and the reactions of bystanders.
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You might recognize our friend Ned Hosford in this funny Orbitz commercial. He stars in this ad as a guilty boyfriend standing accused of having a dirty mouth by his girlfriend. What she doesn’t know is that the party he is at got really hot thanks to a game of spin the bottle and an old woman and her donkey. We give Ned two thumbs Up.