I came across this little number on Logic + Emotion. It’s a commercial for Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions. It was produced by a guy named Geert, and judging by the blog he set up to promote it, I’m really behind the curve on picking up on it.
Anyway, he wants to know whether he should make a sequel. I think that he should, but I think he needs to take a different approach if he is going to bother.
First of all, I don’t think that the sequel should follow these characters. He should engage new story lines — many of them. This would make the message seem that much more ubiquitous.
Secondly, he needs to learn from his own message that consumer just isn’t a sounding board and bear in mind that users are some of the most creative content producers around. Each sequel should have a distinctive feel.
Finally, he needs to really take that last point into consideration and see what he can do about engaging actual users. He needs to get them producing sequels. That’s what viral video is all about. It’s like Mitch Joel pointed out:
Marketers [will] best be able to gauge success not by how widely spread their creation was, but rather how many new iterations were created out of it and how extensively those spread.
Geert needs to really put his viral video to the test by seeing just how infectious it can be.
And oh yeah, he needs to stop posting the video in every single post of his blog. I get the whole SEO thing. I get the whole exposure thing. I get it, I really do. But it looks cheap and shameless.
Point taken on posting the movie in every post! And some very valuable remarks on the follow up campaign. I’ll need a little time to see what our nex steps will be!
Geert,
On a much grittier, viral note, you might consider having a hippy/drop-out like character talking about his own disenchantment. Maybe he could’ve been a CEO or banker before hand. Now he can be an anti-globalization protestor. Just a thought… Maybe he could be talking to his own webcam.
Sounds a lot like you. :)