A talking chimp arriving in e-mail inboxes speaks in its sender's voice through a telephone connection or recites a pre-recorded joke for the boss. "Knock, knock. Who's there? Not me, because I quit!" The monkey can be customized with aviator glasses, a tiara or an i-Pod and set against different locales, including the corner office, a cubicle, an airplane, the golf course, a prison cell or an exotic dance club.
Say hello to the Monk-e-mail, which is among the latest viral marketing campaigns that blend advertisement and entertainment across informal consumer networks. And doing it with great success, according to CareerBuilder, the job-search firm behind this ad, which claims that more than 18 million of its Monk-e-mails have made their way across the Internet. Another corporate-initiated viral ad offers a version of the cartoon opening of The Simpsons shot with live actors, produced for the British Sky Broadcasting television network. Burger King sponsors a "subservient chicken" site, where viewers can type in commands to a person in a bizarre chicken suit with red garters. The chicken will do a cartwheel, sing, fall, jump, and even drop to its knees and pray. (This chicken has standards, however: If asked to strip, it marches forward and wags a finger at the requester.)
The intersection of advertisement, entertainment and interactivity is a key part of the business model behind a new service developed by JibJab, the Santa Monica, Calif., production company that created political cartoons passed virally to millions of PCs during the last U.S. presidential campaign. One of the best known ones, a parody of the song "This Land Is Your Land," has a singing George Bush calling John Kerry -- dressed as a hot dog and clutching a bottle of Heinz ketchup -- a liberal weenie. Kerry later opens Bush's head and puts in a brain while singing, "Sometimes a brain can come in handy." JibJab has developed a new site called JokeBox, where consumers and corporations can post and share funny videos or jokes online.
[continue]
Page 1 of 7
> >>