Christian the Lion... A Subliminal Ad??

In today’s computer age videos are an essential and powerful tool for brand marketing. They are often easy to create and have the potential to be seen by millions of people. As you can tell by my other post in may I take an avid interest in the production of videos and the mix of obvious product placement, subliminal messaging and brand message.

A more recent viral video for the Botox alternative Restylane features a handheld shot video of a woman’s 50th birthday party filmed by her son. The video begins with shaky pannings of food and guest comments about how good the birthday girl looks until coming across a 20 something guy making out with a woman on a couch. Hilarity ensues when the cameraman realizes that the young, sultry woman is his 50 year old mother as he spouts out a series of bleeped out expletives while the Restylane logo appears with the line ‘Age Gracefully,’ which turns into ‘Age Dis-Gracefully.” This type of humor goes a long way with the online community while the branding does not interfier with the video and the product is not "in your face".

Some companies skip the production side of viral video marketing and take already popular videos and turn them into ads. AIG did this with a very widespread video (over 17 million views) of a baby who laughs hysterically every time a piece of paper is ripped. AIG simply edited the video down to commercial length and included the words ‘Laughter can add 8 years to your life…live longer, retire stronger, never outlive your money; AIG…’ BMW also used footage of two children on Christmas morning, freaking out after opening a Nintendo 64. The voice over states “remember when dreams came true? They still can; introducing the BMW holiday wish event…”

Some companies will even create a video without any branding at all, simply to generate buzz. Sunsilk did just this with its classic Bride has Massive Hair Wigout video. The video features another hand held shot video of a group of bridesmaids in a hotel room attempting to console the bride to be as she freaks out over her bad hairstyle before maniacally cutting it off in big chunks while screaming for the camera to be turned off. After its production was completed, Sunsilk detached its name from the video until it received 9 million hits on Youtube after which Sunsilk claimed it.



One extremely popular video, featured on countless talk and news shows, chronicles the true story of Christian the lion who was purchased as a cub by two men who raised him and later released him into the Kenyan wild. The video focuses on the reunion of the two men with Christian after a year in the wild, during which the lion heartwarmingly hugs and nestles the two men who were initially told that they would not be remembered. The video, sound tracked with Whitney Houston’s "I Will Always Love you", concludes with the following words: "Love knows no limits and true friendships last a lifetime. Get back in touch with someone today, you’ll be glad you did.” The video itself is not branded, nor does it have any known affiliation with any companies. Though I have to believe we will find out this video has a brand connection. Doesn't it scream of something like ClassMates.com and Reunion.com. The notion of getting back in touch with old friends is glorified with these sites that make doing so especially simple. If this is the case the video acts as a silent brander and in turn an effective "viral video".