Online+Advertisement+Critique

__Online Advertising Campaign Critique__
//Volkswagen: Fun Theory & Diet Coke/Mentos via Eepybird.com//

//By: Gursimran Ghai//
__**Volkswagen: Fun Theory**__

Fun Theory is an online ad campaign that Volkswagen ran on YouTube and went viral with over a million views archived online //(Cashmore, 2009)//. This is one campaign where Volkswagen decided to support a more fun way to make society better. Volkswagen states that this theory is “//dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behavior for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better" (////Volkswagen, 2009).// Whether its individuals throwing out trash, recycling, slowing down on the roads or even just using stairs instead of escalators, VW’s Fun theory is a way for people to do well for society and at the same time promote a brand that will go viral with the video. For a video that is receiving lots of attention, this advertising campaign was one that played with the initiative of the word fun. Using fun to change the behavior of individuals is seen to be the way that people are able to accomplish things to make them better. For instance, the never ending garbage can, if individuals find it fun to throw garbage in the garbage can, they will keep doing it and utilize it to keep having fun. The fun theory promotes a way of advertising how important it is to keep society clean and have fun while doing it. By attaching Volkswagen to the advertisement, two things are being implied. One being that Volkswagen is a proud supporter of making the environment cleaner and society better and that driving a Volkswagen is also good for the environment. This advertising campaign utilizes viral advertising, as well as subtle advertising and a unique style of Eco-friendliness.

media type="youtube" key="cbEKAwCoCKw?fs=1" height="244" width="392"media type="youtube" key="2lXh2n0aPyw?fs=1" height="244" width="392"

By promoting a type of lifestyle with the advertisement, it will appeal to a lot more people than those that are just eco-friendly but also those individuals that like to have fun will also become targets of this advertising campaign. With the garbage bin advertisement, the deep bin attracts almost everyone especially since they realize that throwing out garbage while having fun is much more fun than just throwing garbage away, so that encourages people to help clean up the streets. After throwing away everything a person has in their hand, throwing away whatever else is lying around helps in this scenario.

Not only the garbage can ad but also the piano also promotes a healthy lifestyle where people climbing stairs can become a part of the advertisement through healthy lifestyles and making music while making their way up.

Subtle marketing does not necessarily mean that the advertisements are not going to be impactful, but this is also a form of brand building. Associating the brand of VW with something economical implies that the company thinks that way too. Furthermore, the subtle logo of VW what appears at the end of each advertisement has a larger effect in an advertisement such as this where Volkswagen’s logo also goes viral with the videos. With the appearance of the VW logo in a million places, it has done more marketing and brand advertising than it may have on television, unless on the super bowl which costs a lot more. Essentially, the VW campaign with the Fun Theory was able to reach masses by probably spending a lot less than they do on super bowl advertisements.

The Fun Theory had not only promoted a method of bettering society but had offered a contest to individuals which made the public become more interactive. Creating a contest to go along this advertising method also allowed other individuals to develop a method of winning money and offering another theory to the public. Above all, get more people involved by allowing them to create a campaign similar to the ones that Volkswagen created and then offer a contest and prize for the best one. The award winning theory was the speed cameras that worked like a lottery making people slow down by 22% (as seen in the advertisement below).

media type="youtube" key="iynzHWwJXaA?fs=1" height="244" width="392" align="center"

People that slowed down got their picture taken and added to a lottery for those that were speeding and got fined where the funds went into a pool for the lottery. Although each advertisement is fun, they all present factual information showing that indeed their marketing efforts played an important role in society. They promote positive psychology and show that people are having fun while taking care of the Earth will have a larger effect than just a few people just protesting and preaching to keep the Earth clean. Ultimately, this is a successful campaign especially since it was able to get a lot of people involved in making society better around them and encouraging public to help make this world a better place by having fun at the same time.

For The Complete Volkswagen Fun Theory Advertising Campaign, please visit the following link: @http://www.thefuntheory.com/

__**Coca-Cola and Mentos Via Eepybird.com**__

Eepybird.com is a site that had videos that went viral. they days when lego used to keep people entertained for hours has been pushed aside with this website is known to be ‘entertainment for the curious mind’ //(Grobe & Voltz, 2007)//. The one video in particular is their video is known to be the ‘Coke Zero and Mentos experiment’. The creators of this website and video have been seen on many late night television shows and have won numerous awards for their work including three Guinness world records. Not only are their videos known to go viral but also become quite hilarious for the kinds of things they do in their videos, including the one below:

media type="youtube" key="i-hXcRtbj1Y?fs=1" height="314" width="504" align="center"

The campaign here was not planned to be done by Coke or Mentos but was just an experiment that the guys from Eepybird.com wanted to do showing the reaction of Mentos mixing with coke. This is the kind of experiment that is similar to what is seen on Discovery channel’s Mythbusters. Interestingly enough, when they experiment with the coke and Mentos there’s always another way to make it funny by adding a twist to their experiment. Above all this advertising campaign was able to completely viral with about 50 million hits including videos that users generated from this campaign. Although this campaign was unofficial, it leads to a lot of PR //(Times Online, 2007)//. It’s interesting to see a website that has been getting so many hits is for something they should be encouraging people not to try out at home is offering a kit for people to buy and take with them. Through this advertising campaign, not only has the website gained popularity, but Mentos and Coca-Cola must be gaining popularity. With the race Pepsi and Coca-Cola have together, this is the kind of program that would put coke ahead of Pepsi products.

Such popularity of this advertisement had caused a stir in public about coke and Mentos especially with cases of people trying it at home and creating their own videos. However, eepybird.com is not at all a bad website but it explains the Scientifics of how this happens. Known for getting a webby award, this website is gaining popularity on social networking websites as well as having their appearances on places like concerts and prominent award ceremonies. They take normal everyday products and make them into something unusual and other companies are using this as a way to use subtle advertising. Indirectly the original advertisement is gaining popularity to the coca-cola and Mentos brand, but other videos like the sticky note experiment are making places like office max more popular in the United States. For someone looking for an everyday product, it is interesting to see that people are able to take something that everyone looks at as boring into something very colourful and fun. Ultimately, the most fun product will always take the cake in an advertising campaign, but in this case, eepybird.com was able to take simple things around a house and make it more exciting for people around the world.

media type="youtube" key="Y1rZqw5bXb4?fs=1" height="349" width="425" align="center"

For more details please visit the following link:

http://www.eepybird.com

**__Works Cited__**

Cashmore, Pete. "Volkswagen Masters the Viral Video." //Mashable - The Social Media Guide//. 11 Oct. 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2011. .

Grobe, Fritz, and Stephen Voltz. "We Mixed Coke and Mentos." //EepyBird//. 2007. Web. 20 Mar. 2011. .

Times Online. "The Top Ten Viral Ad Campaigns - Times Online." //The Times//. The Sunday Times, 7 July 2007. Web. 20 Mar. 2011. .

Volkswagen. "The Fun Theory." //The Fun Theory//. Wolkswagen, 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2011. .