[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkwh4ZaxHIA]
Advertising Age asks: “What’s more popular than ‘Roller Babies’. The world’s largest Slip ‘n Slide. Microsoft’s ‘Megawoosh’ campaign has successfully displaced Evian at the top of the Viral Video Chart, with almost 2.3 million views”.
Today’s AdAge reports on the most popular viral videos for the week of August 10. Microsoft Germany produced the video to promote Office 2007. A few minutes ago, I showed the video to my wife. “Nah. That can’t be real”. She’s right. NewTeeVee explains “How it was really done”, in a nine-days-ago post.
The most successful viral videos often aren’t real—they are glorified commercials, after all. Microsoft and the viral video go oddly together, or perhaps not. Microsoft corporate would probably never produce something like this. But Microsoft UK and its counterparts on the Continent have challenged convention before, and often successfully.