Very Virile Viral

I've generally scoffed at attempts by agencies to create work on behalf of clients that they hoped would "go viral" - usually because I find the attempts weak and not worth forwarding to my friends or colleagues. I don't want to be thought of as the idiot who thought your lame "viral video" was worthy of wasting someone else's time on.

I'm going to change my tune this time and promote the viewing of Tribal DDB's mockumentary for the Philips' Bodygroom. It's well done, if you like comedy with lots of deleted swearing. The main actor, who reminisces about his old buddy from Coney Island, Frank "Furback" Sack, was a great find and carries the piece by himself. My only criticism is the extra cheese the host throws on. He's sort of the poor man's Bruce Campbell, who has perfected Smarm Charm™ for Old Spice. (Of course I think all these guys steal from Bill Murray.)

This is the kind of stuff I wish I could work on. A client willing to give a project like this the go ahead is a pretty cool client. But will it sell Bodygrooms? That'll be hard to measure - and that's why the industry is in the crazy state it's in. I suppose if this thing gets a million views this month and Philips sees a simultaneous spike in Bodygroom sales, they can assume Tribal DDB talked a bunch of guys into manscaping.

Heard about this from Steve at AdRants.