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Thursday, August 21

Gatorade Ball Girl Viral

Unbelievable!! Isn't it?

Well, it is indeed unbelievable: The clip is a masterwork of "viral" marketing, essentially an ad aimed at touting Gatorade, but without actually mentioning the company.

This video has had 1.5 to 2 million views on YouTube!! The ball girl video was posted on June 3, and Advertising Age published a glowing review of it a few days later.

"Ball Girl" was posted on YouTube by a filmmaker affiliated with Element 79 Partners, the Chicago ad agency that created the spot.

The original Ball Girl post had a clear reference to Gatorade in the text describing the video. But the video was copied and shared several times over without mentioning the Gatorade connection.

The video gives only the slightest nod to the beverage. When the ball girl sits down after the amazing catch, there's a bottle of Gatorade near her feet.

It's subtle!! But the real payoff is the buzz generated by the video. Including this post:-)

The lesson for marketers - Anytime their brand enters into popular culture discussions, it's going to benefit.

Even though many viewers thought the outlandish catch was somehow a fake—which, indeed, was the result of special effects—they were still entertained by it.

1 comment:

Pooja Nair said...

I had to see the video thrice (!) to finally see the bottle. This is after knowing that it is an ad for Getorade.
(i watched it before i read your write-up)

i guess that's how they got that many number of 'views' heh

However it's creating a buzz. So in that respect it works...

I like the way it ends mid-sentence giving it that clip effect.