Harry Taylor

Seven Popular Viral Ads

Kia soul hamsters 2011 -

This is one of my favourite adverts of this year, its hamsters, robots and ridiculous dance moves really does separate it from the bland genre of, generic pan and close shot car adverts. Apart from the post apocalyptic world and explosions, this ad was extremely well designed, and it is clear to see some serious research and thinking has gone into this. By opening with an intense and exciting battle field, the viewer’s attention is immediately drawn in and before the fighting and explosions get tedious, three hamsters arrive in a KIA and begin a dance off to “Party rock anthem” by “LMFAO”, leaving a more comedic and light hearted tone to finish on. The soundtrack was an important aspect of this viral’s climb to internet fame, as not too long before “party rock anthem” made it viral

too, so it was a recognisable soundtrack which fit perfectly. The effects, CGI and overall animation was superb (especially for an advert), so it’s not too difficult to understand why this is such a great ad.

Cadburys Gorilla –

Although there is no blatant meaning to this ad (which there never normally is), it is still another one of my favourites. Like most of my preferred ads, “the Cadburys gorilla” concept is pretty surreal and simple (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing), carrying an edgy dramatic tone throughout. All the video’s concepts blend together nicely, with “in the air tonight” making possibly one of the best ad

soundtracks in advertising history. The close shots and different camera angles taken drastically increase the immersive power of the ad, and the same goes for the visuals; the gorilla looks and behaves exactly like a real one.

Stop looking at me –

An extremely well known American anti – cannabis commercial, parodied a countless amount of times, including in the award winning cartoon “Family Guy”, so in order to be referenced so often the ad has to be pretty popular. This ad is almost terrifying with an extremely disturbing soundtrack (but it seems this is the feel they were going with, and it reflected really well), it carries a pretty surreal tone , with crudely drawn characters and stiff animations, but

it’s simplification is its strongest aspect. But if you can get past the creepiness you can find a hint of comedic value, from the whole irony of the dog being disappointed in its owner and almost seeming to take the dominant figure.

Evian Roller Babies –

Evian roller babies would be an obvious hit, as the developers mixed two of the most popular viral concepts: Cute and Comedy, almost gaining instant internet fame. The video its self was aesthetically

pleasing, due to the soft colour overlay placed in order to brighten the film up and the CGI babies were surprisingly detailed, considering that most were only in shot for a few seconds tops. The film was well choreographed, and the camera shots were placed in interesting angles.

Wassup –

An instantly recognisable advert and one of my childhood favourites. Most famously recognised by its parody in “scary movie”, “wassup” Contained the perfect amount of comedy and was accompanied by a simple catchphrase which could be easily

mimicked; this ad became viral in a matter of days. I could complain about the quality of the video itself, but I need to take into account the age of this viral relic, but I can mention that the shots weren’t too complicated or interesting, and watching it back I could easily recognise this floor.

Jennifer Aniston goes viral –

A recent video to go viral is “Jennifer Aniston goes viral”, it contains a few YouTube celebrities, and references viral themes which is a smart and easy way of stacking up the views. Also it was a good move to use Jennifer Aniston as she is both comedic and attractive,

and the terrible truth is that most internet users are perverts, so just by the video containing an attractive woman such as her, is just another really simple way of getting views. The overall style of the video is pretty plain, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing as I’m pretty sure that what the developers intended, it just feels a little bland, a smudge of colour wouldn’t hurt. But the shots were pretty well laid out and the smooth camera tone and lighting worked well with the general theme.

Sony Bravia LCD T.V –

An extremely feel good advert and another of my childhood favourites. The soundtrack (Jose Gonzalez – Heartbeats) is amazing and fits the general tone perfectly. The sea of colourful bouncy

balls mixed with the soundtrack, is just completely aesthetically pleasing. The camera techniques are immense with not one plain boring shot, due to camera angles and the simple things such as lens flares, put there to complicate and transform what are pretty much plain shots. The general concept is pretty awesome.