Putting the 'I' in viral makes web ads infectious
By Kenneth Hein
Brandweek
December 3, 2007
Go munk, elf
or scrooge yourself; everyone else is. Viral campaigns
that ask consumers to add their own picture or voice to
a person or animal have yielded substantial results for
brands like OfficeMax, Purina and Careerbuilder.
One of the latest viral efforts, “Munk yourself,”
supports the Dec. 14 premiere of the Alvin and the
Chipmunks movie. Visitors to Munkyourself.com can record
a message in a chipmunk voice, via mic, phone or
text-to-speech, and send it to their friends.
“When it comes to the chipmunks, you think of that
Christmas song, that voice. Kids freak out over it,”
said Hilary Hattenbach, vp-digital marketing at 20th
Century Fox. The only other way to get it “is through
helium balloons, but I’m not sure that’s PC anymore.”
Fox scored an earlier viral hit with The Simpsons Movie.
More than 5.1 million Simpsons avatars have been created
at Simpsonsmovie.com. Burger King’sSimpsonizeme.com has
outpaced the Subservient Chicken in terms of page views.
It had 77 million views between July 16 and Aug. 31.
More than 40 million photos have been “Simpsonized.”
“It is basically the modern version of playing
dress-up,” said Rob Reilly, creative director on the BK
account at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Miami. “Now instead
of putting on elaborate costumes and makeup, all you
need to do is upload a picture and let the computer do
the rest.”
One early such success story was New Line Cinema’s 2005
Wedding Crashers Trailer crasher videos. More than
300,000 fans created videos that placed their faces over
the characters in the movie trailer.
Other current efforts include Cokezero.com, where fans
can upload their picture and become an end zone dancing
football player.
OfficeMax has relaunched “Elf yourself” at
Elfyourself.com. Between this holiday season and last,
consumers have created more than 9.5 million elves
bearing faces from uploaded photos. The chain also has
added Scroogeyourself.com this year. “It gives OfficeMax
a heart and a personality,” said Bob Thacker, svp-marketing
at OfficeMax, Naperville, Ill.
Best of all, “It’s inexpensive. The cost per click is so
small there isn’t a denomination I can give you,” said
Thacker. When asked why all companies don’t try it, he
said, “Maybe they don’t have a small budget like we do.”
Careerbuilder.com’s Monk-e-mail, where consumers can
record their voices over a short monkey clip, has seen
more than 100 million Monk-e-mails sent since January
2006.
Purina followed suit with Doggie-mail (now one million
users strong) and Kittie-mail launched in October at
Petcentric.com. Oddcast, New York, handles. “The
combination of customization and fun is just a winner,”
said Kerry Lyman, rep at Purina, St. Louis.
B.J. Bueno, author of Cult Branding, said the attraction
of these campaigns runs far deeper: “It appeals to the
narcissistic nature of the mind. [Consumers] are in love
with their own reflection and voice.”