We can't even count how many times somebody walked past our cubicle, leaned over really close and whispered "One - cut a hole in a box." This was only one travail we suffered resulting from the mind-boggling circulation of the Timberlake SNL spoof Dick in a Box, which came out around the holiday season.
It's since been spoofed by a girl who clearly wants Justin to know about her box in a box - and impressively, her version is more embarrassing to watch than the original, which at least limits its embarrassment factor to lovers of '80's teen idols and women with teased hair.
We hope the wrapped-and-ready brunette gets her wish: namely that Justin scopes Youtube for Dick in the Box spoofs, where he'll doubtless find her and fall in love with the one person who really understands him.
Update: Ivy Gate unveils the girl behind Box in a Box. Apparently she's a little high off her awesomeness right now, having opened a CafePress store for Box in a Box boxes on CafePress. We only wish we were kidding about that.
Kevin Nalty from Will Video for Food has created two fantastic lists. The first, Top 10 Viral Video Moments of 2006 gathers together 2006's shining moments in viral video from Google's purchase of YouTube to the LonelyGirl 15 sensation to the Diet Coke Mentos craze. The second, Top 10 Online Video Predictions for 2007 offers up some insightful crystal balling about what's in store for video in 2007. From the convergence of online video and television to YouTube killers to six-figure amateur online videographers to citizens reporting news live via video, the year is sure to be an exciting one.
Remember, hardly anyone had heard of YouTube this time last year. For those hopelessly out of the loop, that's former Rocketboomer and current ABC'er Amanda Congdon in the picture.
Remember Alan Becker's neat video about creative gone awry? Atom Films just published the sequel: Animator v. Animation II. It's arguably better than the first as the stick actually escapes his template, wreaks havoc on the desktop, breathes fire and duke sit out with AIM and the Firefox logo.
The ending may either disappoint or grant closure, but there's definitely room for a bad-ass third installment. Unleashed on the world at large? Can't wait.
Alphamonkey, editor of Transbuddha, has some strong words for marketers who think they need to throw a veil over their lame "check out this cool site" emails that flood the email boxes of those of us on the editorial side of things. We couldn't agree more. Alphmonkey writes, in part, "Don't treat site editors and bloggers like they're dumb, and we won't immediately consign your e-mails to our ever increasingly vigilant spam filters. If you (and your client) think your site is mierda caliente, then have enough faith in it to provide us the details we want. Who built the site? Who is running the campaign? What other campaigns go with it? That information won't tank a campaign, I promise." Marketers, please heed that advice. Work with us. Don't treat us like idiots.
We need a term for yuppie hipsters. Yipsters? Hipstuppies? Yupsters? Be-suited Self-Entitled Echo Boomers?
Whoever they are, Microsoft is groping desperately for their attention in this virally-intended video for Office 2007. It does a good job of demonstrating '07's various functions for the "technical types" of the world but doesn't change the fact that they're still the stodgy awkward behemoths just left of savvy. - Contributed by Angela Natividad
Starbucks kicks off the holidays Pay it Forward-style by disseminating cheer on chilly city streets. Baristas hand out movie tickets and other small gifts on the condition that the recipient has to do something nice for someone else.
The campaign includes a "cheer pass" that tracks how far the "chain of cheer" has gone. Participants are encouraged to visit It's Red Again to share holiday stories and create greetings. The site is hosted by an awkward-looking man who personifies Starbucks' quirky intellectual vibe. It's also ridden with clever recommendations about holiday coffee blends and seasonal cakes.
CEO Jim Donald says they're interested in the qualitative results of the campaign and admits there aren't any of the usual tracking methods attached to it. (It begs the question - how often does anybody really track anything?) We look forward to seeing how many chains get generated. - Contributed by Angela Natividad
Here's an interesting little piece about the meteoric struggle between the animator and the animated. Apparently it's #4 among the most viral videos du jour so there must be a lot of creative tension in the air.
Aw, hurting for inspiration that doesn't put up a fight? That's what conferences like ad:tech are for. You can't very well hallucinate alone. - Contributed by Angela Natividad
Coffee and Manipulation points us to some virals for Blendtec, a company that hawks ordinary-looking blenders that are apparently not so ordinary. We were mesmerized in a pathetic sort of way when the man in the white coat fed a rake to his blender on the :90 second soup cycle.
We suspect these virals strike a chord because they speak to a desire to put things that will create fatal shrapnel in contact with swirling kitchen blades. But hey. It's not like videos go viral because they're deeply profound. - Contributed by Angela Natividad
In what could be a masterful viral approach to growing a business that goes far beyond viral marketing, Microsoft is embedding viral expansion into its new iPod competitor, Zune. Users of the Zune MP3 player can send songs to friends over the devices Wifi who have three days to listen to them before they disable. If the recipient of the song decides to buy the song within the three day period, the sender of the song will receive a portion of the song's purchase price in the form of credits to be used towards purchasing music and other items from the Zune Marketplace.
Currently, it's a rumor and it would certainly be difficult to topple iPod from its reigning position but the approach is indicative of what many brands should be doing to grow their business beyond just traditional advertising tonnage. And yea, yea, yea, the whole referral thing has been done since cavemen traded rocks but this is high profile and it will be intresting to see if it works.
- If you travel a lot and you're bored with your bland luggage tags or you don't have any at all, you might want to check out some new tags that are decidedly more colorful than your standard, bland tags.
- Mango Moose Media in Mississauga Ontario has launched StreetTeams, a service that makes it easy for media buyers to "buy" street teams just like they buy other media.
- As if Coke wasn't already unhealthy enough, it's now a frying agent for any thing from bananas, to twinkies to cookies to pickles.
- RSS reader Newsgator has added Google AdWords to it's pages. Launched Friday, it's in test phase which will continue into next week.
- Not that this is is indicative of any role they may have played in their clients' successes but BBDO's work was the most viewed work on AdForum in the third quarter.
- Here's a collection of videos Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam worked on as part of their work for the Electronic Artists' game FIFA 07.
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