I received a video link today from my wife for a comedian we really enjoy, Zach Galifianakis. This is the latest in a series of advertisement videos he’s done for Absolut Vodka. I thought the video was really funny and you can check it out below to see if you agree with that but the point of this post isn’t a critique of comedy, it’s about the way that this video highlights the rapid transition of marketing in an online world.
The principle assumption behind this ad campaign is that, for what I can only assume is a relatively low production cost, Absolut uses these comedians to target a specific audience. In particular Zach Galifianakis attracts a quirky, psuedo intellectual (well maybe a few of his audience members are actual intellectuals) urban crowd who are likely to hit the bars and maybe enjoy a vodka or two, three or four. That being said at no point does Zach actually endorse the product on the level; instead he makes fun of the advertising process which essentially makes this video akin to so many other viral marketing campaigns currently in existance.
The breakout moment of the video however is when the comedians take aim at the viral format of the video and joke about reverting back to a straight-forward endorsement advert. At this point the video is essentially working on the premise that advertising for a product in either a traditional or a viral format is just ridiculous. I’m reminded of an episode of the Simpson’s when Homer is starring as a freak at Lollapalooza and two disaffected youths question whether or not they’re being sarcastic, or if they even know anymore.
Intentional or not Absolut has asked that online marketing change direction and I couldn’t agree more. If you haven’t been jaded by the viral marketing campaigns already then you’re lucky; if you haven’t been jaded by traditional marketing methods by now then you must be very young. As a bit of a footnote I’d like to mention that the first people to make it clear that they found viral marketing annoying and amature was Coudal Partners in this video response.
So where will online marketing head next and what will we suffer for it?
