Created by Saatchi and Saatchi in Argentina for gum maker Beldent, the "Almost Identical" campaign is framed as a real social experiment - a 'branded art installation' - which aims to prove that chewing gum makes you cool, or at least gives you a more desirable impression. How did it work? Quite simply, Beldent took 5 sets of twins, 1 chewed gum, the other didn't. People were then asked a series of questions to gauge their impression of the twins. 74% of the people that voted favored the twin chewing the gum, and it was proved that chewing gum does not in fact, give off a bad impression.
As explained by Aden Hepburn from digitalbuzzblog.com: "This might be the most indepth piece of creative I've ever seen that was solely aimed at getting people to chew, chewing gum." But not only that, Beldent actually shows you that chewing gum makes you cool, without trying to be cool."
This ad comes as a sequel to Turkish Airlines' "Legends on Board" spot released last December, in which Kobe Bryant and Lionel Messi performed a succession of tricks while competing for the attention of a young fan. The spot became an unexpected hit on YouTube, with more than 21 million views on its first four days online. The ad has now been viewed a total of 106 million times.
Now the sporting idols star in what is called, appropriately enough, "The Selfie Shootout"; yet another great example of the power of the digital generation's favorite mode of photo - the "selfie" - which I commented on in an earlier post. The selfie has actually become so big in 2013, it was named Oxford Dictionaries' Official Word of the Year.
The original hit was created by a local Turkish agency, Alametifarika, but this new ad is part of a campaign created by the Turkish's brand new agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky. Whether it all adds up to a repeat of last December's viral smash hit for Turkish Airlines remains to be seen. So far it has almost 85 million views.
Virgin Atlantic's new #VXsafetydance video is tearing up the internet, with over 6,5 million views just a few days after its release. "It is interesting. Addictive. Highschool-Musical-ish" describes Aden Hepburn, one of the guest writers of Digital Buzz. Taking the form of a musical, the safety video celebrates the experience of flying, with a focus on the fundamentals of safety that only a company like Virgin can pull off.
Few companies have the musical roots that Virgin has. It's that background which gave the company its hook for the video. But it's also the company's focus on the customer that gives Virgin an edge. They want the experience to be different for Virgin customers than it is on other airlines. Virgin is a company with a culture that invents new ways of connecting with people; they are first and foremost appealing to customers more than anything else.
And whilst Virgin (by law) has to show its passengers safe practices for flying, there is no Federal Aviation (FAA) rule that says the damn things have to be something that reminds us of some soulless bureaucracy. As explained by Alex Williams of TechCrunch:
"Consider the world we live in and it's sometimes astounding how little fun there is in the way the enterprise treats its customers. 'Big data' helps feed 'human capital management solutions'. 'Social media' is a cure all and 'private clouds' help technology companies sell hardware for what amounts to glorified data centers. The terms are just meaningless. Maybe it's time to ditch the mumbo jumbo double speak and just get up and dance."
I think it is a big, big win!
Have a look at the behind the scenes. It gives some incredibly interesting insight into the motivation behind the video and the complexities of how it was produced.
