Born Again Advertisements Create Viral Marketing Boom

A search on YouTube for popular products turns up a treasure of advertisements from years ago.

I believe that the ads are popular because they give listeners/viewers a link with their past – a touch of nostalgia…

I can identify each following four advertisements with a distinct phase of my life

I did a search for Coca Cola, and came up with a whole range of ads, and have picked out four from the past 40 plus years.

The first is from The Seekers, and was released in the 1960s.

The Seekers is an Australian group that was very popular during that decade, both in Australia and Britain, and later in the US after the release of their song ‘Georgie Girl’. More about the Seekers

The second clip was performed by the ‘New Seekers’, and was released by both them and the ‘Hilltop Singers’.

Both versions reached the Billboard Top 20 in 1971

More about the making of this advertisment here!

The third advertisement is from Australia in 1990, and features surf songs from the sixties.

Black and white footage is cleverly mixed with color.

I haven’t been able to find much information or links for this one as yet.

The fourth clip comes from 1992, and features Joey Diggs.

I searched for information about Joey Diggs, but couldn’t find much apart from sites featuring lyrics and adsense advertisements.

All four of the Coke ads have to do with fun, lifestyle and the ‘quality’ that the drink ads to that lifestyle.

While these ads were made for television and/or cinema release, they have found their way on to the Internet, and have spread via YouTube.com, and email or downloads.

While viral advertising in the first four advertisements was accidental, the next two were made for distribution via the Internet.

Publicizing Victoria Bitter, a brand of the Fosters Group, the first video features the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra playing some very unique musical instruments.

The last video featured here shows how the VB advertisement was made.

Created for the Internet, both these videos create brand awareness.

I’m gob smacked at the creativity shown here.

Fosters very cleverly carries the Viral Marketing aspect even further by making the ‘symphony’ available for download as a ringtone as well!

All of the advertisements have the following in common:

• They are entertaining.
• They increase brand awareness
• They include the viewer to a degree in whatever is going on, or
• They make it desirable to be included in the fun.

In effect, they present the audience with something useful, entertainment, memories and so on.

You may ask, How can I build brand awareness on a limited budget?

More on that next time…

Please note: I have no connection with Coca Cola, The Fosters or any other person, group or company mentioned here.

All brand names are the property of the registered owners.

This material is presented as an introduction to viral marketing, and is not intended to be an exhaustive study on the topic.