Branded Viral Videos: The Secret Marketing Sauce

I was inspired today by this article on Mashable.

I don't know about you all, but I absolutely LOVE when companies release videos to advertise some new service or to make fun of their own brand. Brands are now able to post videos on Snapchat, Instagram, and Vine. They previously used YouTube, and videos were never really sent directly to customers' mobile devices like they are now.

The perfect way to cover a boring subject!

I remember fondly when Kathie Lee and Hoda brought up the "Ship My Pants" video on the Today show. I about died! Those two are already hilarious, but when they start talking about shipping pants, Kathie Lee and Hoda are even better.

To this day, "Ship My Pants" by Kmart makes me laugh hysterically. It probably isn't that funny to other people, but I love it.

Shortly after, Kmart came out with "Big Gas Savings."

AMAZING! I love the play on words. I can't stop laughing, and I've seen these Kmart videos probably 13 times each. No shame. It's like Mean Girls. I've definitely seen that video over 13 times.

Then there are other companies who do not do as well with their videos.

I don't know about you, but I'm not very impressed by this video created by Chipotle. They do set themselves apart from the other Mexican grills, but I don't think that this 3 minute video is worth my time...

There are a bunch of other funny videos out there, but I only wanted to share a few.

Well, let me know if you know of any other funny viral videos by brands that are worth a view! I would love a good laugh.

Private Messaging Apps

There have been quite a few messaging apps already in the social field, but there is now a new player, Vine.

(Source)

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat now have to compete with Vine in the private messaging playing field. Vine will allow users to send short videos to their friends. These videos are saved, so it is not quite like Snapchat. With Snapchat, users can take pictures and videos that will be deleted after the receiver views them for a specific number of seconds.

The pros to Vine Messages:

• Include Vine video production features 
• Send text and video messages
• Send messages to people who are not on Vine

The cons to Vine Messages:

• No group messages
• Cannot send still pictures
• Cannot send videos from camera roll

Vine has amazing video making capabilities, and I am excited to see how this private messaging works. Will many people catch on? We will just have to see within the next few months how users and the competition react.