Viral videos on their own, be they big or small budget, have a huge impact on what the consumer will decide when it comes to buying a product. A recent trend in viral video marketing has seen a shift from well made sleek looking online commercials, to low fi and low budget “high school film class” shorts, where characters partake in irregular activities reminiscent of “hanging out with the boys”. At a cost of almost nothing, these user generated videos have caught the eye of many an advertising firm, making it seem like your average joe is simply showing something off with no purpose of blatantly shoving a brand down your throat.

For example, basketball star Kobe Bryant decided to take a video camera and tape himself jumping over an Aston Martin driving at full speed in a parking lot. The initial video shows no sign of any real product placement, yet the sole act of Kobe leaping over the sports car while in motion gives off great subliminal advertising for the shoes he his wearing. If you wear the shoes that Kobe wears, then you can effectively jump over a moving Aston Martin. The popularity of the video is obvious because of its low budget nature and the fact that it seems like Kobe was simply goofing around.

This movement of viral marketing is exploding mainly because of the youtube generation. Anyone can post anything at anytime with little to no effort, allowing them to reach an audience that wants to see random stuff going on. I recently ran across a video (see below), where a group of friends decide to fill up their pants with helium and float around. An obvious Levis commercial that meets the immature “hurt yourself” culture of “Jackass”. Again it is shot to look like some high school short, or just a bunch of kids goofing off with nothing better to do on a Saturday afternoon.

People love it because it does look pretty cool to float around in an almost no gravity state when all it takes is some duct tape and helium. The guys seem to be having a lot of fun, and people can relate because they think about doing things like this (and probably do) with their own friends. Plus, the jeans he is wearing look pretty nice.