The moving image is the most powerful communication medium yet invented and the internet is the most powerful distribution network yet invented. Together they're a pretty great combination. I'm constantly looking out for videos I like and am going to start sharing my favourite finds every couple of weeks, whether they are art, music, politics or marketing. The New Dork:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exmwSxv7XJI]
I always say that it's mostly random what goes viral and what doesn't online, but this video really does have the perfect set of elements to give it the best possible shot at stardom: satire, music, pop-cultural hooks and sub-culture-specific in-jokes. It's made by the pantless knights for Grasshopper.com, a company big on promoting entrepreneurship (and social entrepreneurship), and is a spoof of Empire State of Mind by Alicia Keys and Jay-Z. This was released three days ago and has racked up 269,000 views already.
NZ Book Council - Going West:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_jyXJTlrH0]
Here's a much less obvious viral success, an animated excerpt from a book to promote the New Zealand Book Council. Consider that New Zealand has a popular only a little over 4 million and 721,000 views since mid-November for a video from a local non-profit is pretty extraordinary. Amazingly it's the only video they've ever uploaded. They're going to have really unrealistic expectations from now on. But this video deserves it - it's beautiful, unique and, importantly, doesn't feel like marketing collateral. It promotes the organization by promoting something bigger than them: a love of reading.
The Sandpit:
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/9679622]
A really different perspective on New York City: familiar but strange; ordinary but beautiful; removed but somehow intimate. I love this.
Glen Beck Attacks Tom Dawkins
I don't seem to be able to embed this but check it out here. This is a brilliant and creative use of Facebook's API, creating an interactive video featuring... me! (Or you - create your own here). And of course I have shared this on Facebook and numerous people have reacted to it there. Because it's got an element of game and a strong dose of fun about it many probably made their own, and posted on on Facebook, and on it goes. This interactivity allows virality to be designed in, not just hoped-for. And once again it isn't a fundraising pitch or blatant advertisement, it's about the issue.