How to “Un-Pimp” your Volkswagen

Good morning:

VOLKSWAGEN “UN-PIMP YOUR RIDE” Viral video, done right by the wacky folks at Volkswagen. Here's three of them, and I like the second one best: A skinny kid and a daft German engineer do a hip-hop rap. The marketing lesson in this ad? The best viral stuff is edgy & very funny--otherwise why pass it along to your pals? Here’s your big laugh for the morning: Un-Pimp Commercial

118 118 “PIGGYBACK LOCAL SEARCH ADS” The Brand Republic blog reports that UK cell phone directory/search service 118 118 is offering a new form of advertising on its local search service, called “piggyback” ads.

Here’s how it works: people dial 118 118 on their cell phone and they’re connected to the main search and directory offerings of 118 118. If someone asks where the nearest Target store is, 118 118 will provide that information by text message, and then follow that message up with a second “piggyback” text ad for say, Wal-Mart.

The advertising helps subsidize the search service, so consumers don’t mind getting an ad. (Think of when you call MoviePhone and you get a 15 second promo for some new movie before you get your free search for local movie times.) Hertz is an early advertiser on this service. Expect AT&T or Verizon (or Google) to develop local sms text search in the US very soon: Brand Republic Article on 118 118

THE APPRENTICE “GILLETTE FUSION SMS CAMPAIGN” Elsewhere in the world of mobile marketing, episode 2 of Donald Trump’s “The Apprentice,” this week will feature a challenge where the teams try to come up with a SMS text messaging campaign for the ill-fated Gilllette Fusion (this is the ground-breaking “five blade” razor that is supposed to shave you really, really, really close) I’m not sure if it’s the Fusion or the mobile campaigns the teams came up with for the Fusion, but this show won’t move the frontier of strategic thinking in mobile marketing much. On the other hand, if “the Donald” is getting into mobile marketing, can the rest of us be far behind? Tune in: The Apprentice - Episode 2

ARTFIELD “LAND ART ADVERTISING” More German funny business! A German marketing firm is selling ads that are cut into fields near major European cities so that they appear in Google Maps when people are searching through the satillite maps. I've heard that Target considered doing this on the roofs of their stores in LA.

My German isn’t very good (their marketing Web site is in German) but I think they also tout the value of airplane passengers seeing the ads. My question is: if you saw one of these ads from your airplane window would you like the product or get cranky about the advertiser be-spoiling the countryside with a gigantic outdoor ad? Anyway, it’s fun stuff to look at: Das Landart

YOUTUBE “WHITEOUT” YouTube is a new competitor to Google Video—it’s a big community space online where people can post videos. A lot of the videos are dumb and boring, some are ripped off from television shows, and a few are quite original. The best include “mash ups” of hip-hop songs or phony movie trailers. Quite a few viral commercials get wide distribution this way.

Here’s a clip which isn’t an ad, but will give you a flavor of why people come to this site. YouTube is all about regular people creating and contributing. This short piece is just trippy. It’s video of one guy’s ride on a wave during a surfing contest in Santa Cruz, CA. You start out thinking he’s riding oh, maybe a ten foot wave---but slowly you discover he’s actually riding a one hundred foot wave. Far out, man: Whiteout

UPDATE: HONDA “CHOIR” Remember the brilliant, amazing “choir” commercial from Honda, where 40 human voices imitate the sounds of a car driving? (If not, here’s the link again: Honda Choir Commercial) Now here’s the results: New Media magazine reports this week that the viral e-mail of this commercial drove 3 million people to the Honda UK website.

Drive on!--RJ