Consumers Flock To Viral Advertising

Posted Tuesday 31st March 2009 by Kerry in Social Media.

If you were amazed by the choreography behind the Sony Bravia adverts which featured a mass of bouncing balls, exploding paint or plasticine rabbits, you probably experienced a moment where you were unsure whether it was clever digital animation or the real deal.  The trend towards using real content for advertising purposes continues in viral marketing to create content that people really want to watch and share.  Extreme shepherding is the latest instalment that is causing a stir, boosting the popularity of viral advertising.

Viral advertising bases its ethos on creating a video clip that is fun and therefore shared through social networking sites and office emails.  Unlike traditional advertising, there is very little product information, if any at all, and instead the marketing ploy relies on subtle brand advertising.  By creating exciting and unusual content, companies influence consumer buying worldwide through subversive brand awareness. The extreme shepherding clip is revolutionary in that it takes advantage of the current trends in advertising and uses it to create a scene associated with arcade style imagery.

Using sheep wearing LED coats which stand out in the dark, and clever herding techniques of sheep dogs, a larger than life, but real scenario is played out on a Welsh hillside that depicts a game of the arcade classic Pong.  It could be argued that the ad would have been easier to create using digital animation, but by using real subjects, the advert has created something that rests on the precipice of video art and admirable advertising and at the same time captures the attention of target market.

The contextualisation of the advert is worthy of a university lecture, and is certainly marks a historical moment in advertising.  The future of viral advertising relies on keeping the content clever, and the more sophisticated technology gets, returning to imaginative choreographed stunts will capture the viewer’s attention far more than computer generated images; something the software savvy youth of today are becoming more desensitised to.

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