A 1 year old’s first trip to the petting zoo. He does love those goats.

In which I reveal why I can now use the letters M.M.Inst.V. after my name.

Traditional flash mobs can simply be gatherings of large numbers of people, brought together in one place through social networks, often for no other reason than a bit of fun. When a flash mob is employed as a commercial stunt, it usually takes a lot of organisation, and can result, if done correctly, in viral advertising. Such is the case for Radio Klassisk in Denmark, who provided commuters on the Copenhagen Metro with an enjoyable journey to work one morning last month and in the process have gained almost 2.5 million hits on YouTube…

Flash mobs have been around since 2003 and can be seen as a little passe, but for a video to work effectively, all that is needed is to do things a bit differently and put a smile on people’s faces. Having the help of the Copenhagen Philharmonic (who have done this kind of thing successfully before) can’t have hurt, either.

So, what can we learn from this? If you’re a good event organiser and have a wide network of friends who would be up for getting involved in something like this, may be a flash mob would be an effective way of getting the message out about your business – but make sure it’s all well rehearsed and planned out, make sure it’s different and interesting, and make sure you half plenty of people ready with cameras to document the event. Then, if you need any help with the editing, let me know!

What I like most about this video, which has had nearly 600,000 views in four days, is how much the ‘victims’ seem to enjoy the prank.

In which I explain why there has never been a better time to be using YouTube videos on your website.

Ok, so Daniel Hooper isn’t technically a brand, yet. Still, companies could learn from the way this Georgia Tech student who wants to work for Apple captured the attention of the tech community and, very likely, Apple themselves. In its first week online, his very simple video is rapidly approaching half a million views.

By showing his idea, instead of explaining it, and telling his audience what he wanted them to do after watching the video, he inspired action. People alerted Apple to the ‘bug’ to the extent that anyone doing the same now gets a notification that this is a ‘known issue’ – meaning Apple are aware. Will they implement Hooper’s idea in a future update? Who knows? An iOS developer named Kyle Howells has already created an app called SwipeSelection, inspired by Hooper’s video, which is available as a free download on the Cydia store for jailbroken iPads.

So, what can we learn from this? Firstly, we can learn the power of a strong call to action. Hooper tells his viewers exactly what he wants them to do after watching the video, and the viewers responded.

Furthermore, if you (or your company) comes up with an innovation, there might be multiple routes to market. Depending on your business, some of these might involve getting the attention of a large (or massive!) company that you hope to partner with. Traditionally, just getting a meeting with such a company could be the stumbling block, but video can be a great way to gain the support of potential customers (who will contact the company on your behalf to tell them they want what you’ve got) and the attention of Senior Executives in the company. Be sure to catch my video blog next Wednesday (the 16th) for more on the effectiveness of video for getting to the decision makers in a large company.

If only this was real…

In which I clumsily explain my absence over the last few months and promise to try harder.

A smart kid + some cardboard + a kind hearted filmmaker = an emotional 2 and a half million views

When I keep an eye out for videos to feature here each week there are a couple of things I mainly look for – a video I enjoy (or at least one that provokes an emotional response – good or bad) and a video which has had a significant number of views in a relatively short time. How does 23 million hits sound? In a week.

I imagine that before YouTube, some companies created elaborate publicity stunts to get some press exposure. Since YouTube, and especially I think in the last couple of years, there has been a trend to create such events primarily for an online video. By creating the event, companies get the local exposure – the people in this quiet Belgian square will be telling their friends about it for weeks. By filming it and putting it on YouTube, you get national and potentially global exposure. By creating a video that goes viral like this one has, you also get massive coverage by global media and blogs (well over a thousand blog posts so far according to unrulymedia.com)

I love this video. It’s surprising and funny and, importantly, it’s relevant – it makes a point about the product that it is advertising, while being awesome all at the same time.

So, what can we learn from this? If the stunt had ended with the ambulance driving off and the patient falling out of the back, the brief would have been met – drama would have been added, and it would have been quite funny. But I don’t think it would have seen 1% of the number of views it has had this week. The fact that the little play goes on and on, adding more and more elements is what lifts it to the status of a video you just have to share. If you have an idea for a video – or any piece of marketing – that you think has the potential to go viral, don’t hold back. Don’t do ‘just enough’ to get people to pass it around, go crazy and turn it into something that people will definitely talk about.