Here’s a great viral video of Matt Harding dancing a jig at famous spots throughout the globe. He is a self-described "29-year-old deadbeat from Connecticut who used to think that all he ever wanted to do in life was make and play videogames".
At first blush, it looks like a purely amateur piece of CPG. You have to dig into his story to learn that Matt’s travels were sponsored in part by Stride Gum, a new challenger to Wrigley’s from Cadbury.
The connection is subtle – the gum doesn’t appear anywhere in the video – just one link next to the post on YouTube, below Matt’s personal blog. The only reason you would make the connection is if you cared enough about the content to learn more. And people have seemed to take notice, to judge by the number of responses to the original video.
Kudos to Cadbury’s for having the courage to let viewers discover the relationship for themselves. It shows real trust in the power of viral marketing, and it’s a very smart use of the Web. (Thanks to Matt and Mark)
Misha Cornes
Comments
Connections
It’s “courageous” to invent a fictitious/phony DIY “phenomenon”?
I’m not sure if you’re too cynical, or I am!
What is true is that Matt did two trips. The first, in Feb 2003, was on his own dime and of his own volition. His DIY videos were popular enough to get the attention of Stride, who sponsored him to take a longer global jaunt in 2006. He’s as real as any other sponsored athlete.
I say courageous because I know how hard it must have been to convince the Top Brass at Cadbury’s not to hang their logo all over him – think how over-marketed a Nascar driver is.
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