Publicis Mojo Schweppes ad goes viral – after a year’s wait
A short film by Publicis Mojo that was created more than a year ago for Schweppes has raced into the world’s viral video top 20 after online users belatedly fell in love with it.
“Signs” was originally created to promote an online Schweppes short film festival. It was one of the last pieces of work by Nick Worthington before he left the agency to move to Colenso BBDO as executive creative director.
But in the last month, the 12 minute movie, which does not feature the brand and has only one subtle reference to a character putting her finger to her lips, has surged in popularity.
On YouTube it has picked up nearly half a million views and a Facebook Group has acquired the film nearly 2,000 fans. According to the website Viral Video Chart, it is currently the world’s 17th most viral video. (Update: It’s now number nine. Update to the update: It’s now number five.) Globally, more than 300 blog posts have been written about it in the last 28 days. It has become particularly popular with Portugese and Spanish audiences.
The popularity of the film exploded after a US-based YouTube user uploaded it on January 29.
There is evidence that other users heve uploaded it to video sharing sites in the past and seen it removed – possibly because the brand wanted to have traffic go to the Schweppes site. But on this occasion, the work has remained up and exploded in popularity as a result.
Last year, the film failed to make a major impression on awards juries – making Cannes Lions and Clio shortlists and going inbook for the D&AD Awards, but failing to win major metal.
Directed by Patrick Hughes of Surry Hills-based Radical Media, the film tells the story of a lonely office worker gradually falling in love with a woman he can see in the next office block. They communicate by holding up hand-written signs.
Much of the online debate has been over whether the female character is deaf.
The user who uploaded the video told Mumbrella: “I didn’t even have slightest clue that the video I uploaded a few weeks ago would evolve into another YouTube hit. I am still amazed with the number of hits I’m seeing every day. I am still overwhelmed with the popularity of the video. The video is extremely popular in many countries including Poland, France, Spain, China, Brazil, and Oz.
“I have many people sending messages to me asking me if “Stacey” was deaf or not. It is something we cannot answer for sure. However, it is all up to us, the audience, to decide if she is deaf or not. Ironically, I am deaf as well.”
Stacey is played by Kestie Morassi, who has since become familiar to Australian TV viewers as lawyer Zarah Garde Wilson in Nine’s Underbelly and brothel boss Natalie in the Showcase drama Satisfaction.
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
Linkedin
Awwwwww….very, very cute.
User ID not verified.
I’m sure I spotted a couple of product placements in there. Sccccchhhhweeeet though!
User ID not verified.
Nice and subtle. A Schweppes’ bottle is conveniently positioned on the girl’s desk and she has a drink right at the start.
User ID not verified.
Love it. Publicis Mojo produce some very heart warming pieces.
User ID not verified.
Best ad I have seen for a while… oh to have more clients willing to be this open!
User ID not verified.
it just goes to show that ‘trapping’ content within a micro-site doesn’t work…
Make the content portable and let it fly!! Just imagine if Schweppes had had the foresight to own the end frame.. they could have driven traffic back and forth to the film site so audiences could enjoy more.
The sites that have syndicated the clip have driven some 81,000+ views. Be interesting to know how the original site performed…
User ID not verified.
Lovely. Entertaining and not overtly commercial.
Hopefully all the people who call themselves ‘digital marketers’ will learn something from this.
User ID not verified.
This is a great result
According to our proprietary GYLAM (Goat yelling like a man) Youtube success measure these viewing numbers see “signs’ hit an index of 146.9.
GYLAM link https://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=goat+yelling&aq=f
User ID not verified.
Good idea to send the Signs link out at lunchtime ! Just in time for a break. Thanks!
User ID not verified.
You can see a graph of the Viral Content Index here that @Reevesy mentioned – http://flickr.com/photos/samgranleese/3326521695/
The index of 146.9 is unusually high for a piece of creative made in Australia – can you imagine many of Singos shouty ads going viral?
User ID not verified.
what a great short film 🙂
We’ve been using the GYLAM index for our free channel video campaigns for some time. The issue seems to be moving goal posts – When we started GYLAM was at 120,000. Question – is GYLAM still relevant, or do we need a more dynamic system of viral video success metrics?
User ID not verified.
@Ross – do you mean that the shifting goalposts come about from the GYLAM growing on you? It is definitely growing on me, and probably others.
Perhaps we have to establish an average that is anchored in time?
Tim – what are your thoughts on GYLAM?
User ID not verified.
Ross.
Right, yep, i hear you, ‘your videos just aren’t rating’ on the GYLAM charts. So let’s all just go ahead ahead and question the GYLAM methodology. Perhaps you should stop short of questioning the measurement philosophy and have a good hard look at your content.
Don’t hate the game – player.
User ID not verified.
I don’t doubt that GYLAM is the best viral video measurement device currently available to marketers, but I do feel that the underlying methodology may be flawed. I guess until a better solution comes along, we’ve no choice but to go with GYLAM. After all, it’s one of the few digital metrics that our clients understand.
User ID not verified.
I think what GYLAM demonstrates clearly is the fact that Signs is actually really boring. GYLAM’s passontomatesability rating is over 36.7 times higher than Signs…with no industry seeding I might add.
GYLAM can’t tell if stacey is deaf though…sequel anyone?
Fingers crossed!
User ID not verified.
Perhaps for 2nd tier viral campaigns – potentially those from brands that are less than household names, we could use the more modest SSDBHB Index: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgQNx_aRZgk
User ID not verified.
Interesting comparison of ‘Signs’ versus ‘GYLAM’ here: http://flickr.com/photos/samgranleese/3327075921
Definitely supports the idea of a high passontomatesability rate.
User ID not verified.
Fascinating as the debate on the GYLAM Index is, I can’t help but notice that all of the postings on the issue seem to be coming from the same IP address…
As Reevesy mentioned, it’s a proprietary tool.
User ID not verified.
Sorry guys did i miss something i fell asleep
User ID not verified.