Best Viral Commercial of the Year

If I had the time, I could watch this commercial all day.

I love the song. The graphics are amazing. This is an example of some of the best viral marketing on the planet. The producers / advertisers say…

First they drove. Then they rapped. Now they're
 dancing (to LMFAO's Party Rock Anthem). But they're
 not doing any old dance. They're shuffling. And
 they're doing it harder, faster and better than any
 hamster has ever shuffled before. Did you see their
 performance during the MTV VMA's? If not, here is
 the encore presentation.

Not only are the hamsters making a comeback; the
Kia Soul, the urban crossover vehicle that started a
craze is back and better than ever delivering more
power and better fuel efficiency than ever before,
the 2012 Kia Soul, "a new way to roll".

I know that many small businesses don’t have the resources to come up with creative like this, but with some time, you can certainly come up with great ideas. I think the lessons in this video are:

* Use curiosity and set the stage
* Create a high contrast or irony to set your product out from the background
* Use great music to draw your viewer into the action and message
* Make your customer feel great while learning about your product
* If you can afford it, don’t be afraid of some cost for your creative

Think of the story you are telling and make sure your product is highly visible in your message. There is an art to making sure that viewers know what a commercial is about. Have you ever watched a commercial and, at the end, wondered what the product was. This one is entertaining and for some reason, you never forget that it is about a Kia Soul.

I think that the success has to do with human nature.  The commercial begins with the dark, fiery, destruction of robotic warfare.  Everything is grey or on fire.  Then out of nowhere, a silent, very clean, bright neon green Kia Soul pulls up.  The contrast is highly apparent and sets the product visibly in our conciousness as the commercial progresses.  The car not only piques the curiosity of the robots, but it piques the curiosity of the viewer.  Of course, hamsters dressed as rappers only pushes our curiosity further.

Then the music… As the awsome beat visibly grasps all robots’ attention and interest, it also pulls the viewer further into the video and entertains us all.  Then of course, in the midst of the excitement, we see a clearly contrasted logo of the Kia Soul driving into a peaceful sunset.  What a great feeling we now have about that car.  I know that if I ever see one, I’ll remember that feeling.  I have a feeling that this car company will do just fine.

This video has generated two million views since August 25th, not counting it’s television and cable audience. The bottom line is I just love watching it.