viral

'The Onion' offers lesson in Viral Video 101

With advertisers and marketers polluting the Web with scads of pseudo "viral videos" it's nice to see a legitimate one crop up.

In a lampoon of CNN and mainstream media, alternative news source The Onion informs us of an approaching disaster: "Entertainment Scientists Warn Miley Cyrus Will Be Depleted by 2013."

The Onion News Network reports that we're burning through the entertainment value of the teen-pop sensation "at far more aggressive rates" than we did of Lindsay Lohan or the Olsen twins. The latter women were "bountiful entertainment resources that our … Read more

The 404 127: Where Justin gets his wardrobe off eBay

All the bizarre stories on today's show throw us into a rollercoaster of emotions. We start off innocent enough, begging Rick Moranis to do more movies, but then quickly spiral into flora weaponry, gender identity and male pregnancy, heartbreaking eBay auctioneering, and the difficulty in "Shorty" pimpery. We also come to the sobering realization that we've been duped...AGAIN! This must stop. EPISODE 127 Download today's podcast

'Wii Fit Girl' not a marketing ploy for Nintendo

Titled "Why every guy should buy their girlfriend a Wii Fit," the YouTube clip shows 25-year-old Lauren Bernat hula hooping in time with the fitness video game in her T-shirt and underwear. The video has been viewed more than 2.4 million times and was suspected to be a viral marketing ploy for Nintendo's Wii Fit.

The speculation emerged after learning that both Lauren Bernat and Giovanny Gutierrez, who filmed the footage, work in advertising. Gutierrez works as the director of Interactive Media for Tinsley Advertising in Miami, Florida. Bernat works as an account executive at the … Read more

What's in the future for Funny or Die?

Funny or Die, the comedy site co-founded by actor Will Ferrell, rose to fame a year ago with a wildly popular video called "The Landlord." Plans for the site are growing as fast as Ferrell's fro.

On Wednesday, the site snagged an equity investment from HBO. Funny or Die, which already had the backing of Sequoia Capital, also will also produce 10 half-hours of programming for HBO as part of the deal.

The HBO pact is part of a larger plan to turn the site--and the Or Die Network's group of sites--into "premium brands" … Read more

The 404 118: Where we wallow in the Swamp of Sadness

Cheryl Holloway fills in for a snoozing Wilson today and gives us her perspective on the Burger King 12-step program, killer Crocs, Wanted's sneaky viral video, the upcoming Smurfs movie, and the $50,000 Harry Potter prequel. We end the show by collectively begging Daniel Radcliffe to sheath his wooden wand. EPISODE 118 Download today's podcast

CNN prints headline T-shirts

CNN is now printing one-off American Apparel headline T-shirts. The new feature (in beta) allows you to order them from the CNN web site -- with the headline, time-stamp, and CNN logo on it.

Pretty cool. CNN gets it. Their T-shirt campaign exhibits all the key ingredients of contemporary marketing genius.

Instant: Merchandising in real-time, tangibly tied with world news.

Artificially scarce: The headlines are only available to be printed while the headline is in the current news section.

Customizable/hackable: The T-shirts are customizable. You can put your own headline on them simply by changing the text in the … Read more

'Rickrolled basketball game' video is '80s pop fiction

This post was updated at 9:19 AM PT on Thursday to reflect the correction issued by the New York Times.

Wow, we all fell for this one.

An NBC affiliate in Spokane, Wash., reported Tuesday that one of the Web's most popular viral videos of late was a fabrication, in a prank that fooled the national news media and plenty of YouTube loyalists.

The video, called "College Basketball Game Gets Rick Roll'd," purports to show a timeout in a women's basketball game between Eastern Washington University and Montana State University interrupted by a performance … Read more

YouTube Awards are a major yawn

On Friday morning, YouTube announced the second annual iteration of its YouTube Video Awards. What? Awards?

The video-sharing service, owned by Google since 2006, awarded accolades in categories like "Adorable," "Creative," and "Comedy" to original videos hosted on its site that were uploaded in 2007, as voted on by users. The prizes, per YouTube, are "bragging rights, a trophy, and a special invitation to an event later this year."

Okay, so the videos are kind of amusing. The "Adorable" category winner is a video of a baby who falls over … Read more

Moo's online Easter egg hunt a fun diversion, brilliant viral marketing

Viral marketing be damned, sometimes time spent searching the depths of the Internet for small, tucked-away items can be fun. Especially when you're rewarded from your efforts.

Web-printing company Moo is running its own Easter egg scavenger hunt in conjunction with several other hip online companies like Etsy, Blurb, Ponoko, and Picnik. People are supposed to hunt down small Easter eggs on the various services and claim them. Moo is also bundling some of the eggs in products sent to customers in the next week. Meanwhile, the company keeps track of who has found what, and awards various prizes … Read more