UPDATE: Levi’s Viral Video Moves Upstream to TV
Tuesday, September 9th, 2008
Remember the Youtube video where the kids were jumping, parkour style, into their jeans? I blogged about it back in May. It started off as an unbranded viral video. Within a week the video had hit 1M views, had developed a minor cult of spoof responses, and was picked up by Good Morning America, where it was outed as being a paid advertisement for “a certain denim company.” The video, as it lives online, still has zero Levi’s branding.
Last night, during Monday Night Football on ESPN, I saw the same video repurposed as a branded, fifteen second spot. It’s the first time I’ve seen content, created for the web as an underground viral video migrate upstream to on-air. Clearly, Levi’s test marketed the content on the web and in success, after amassing an audience of several million views matched with positive comments, decided the spot was broadcast worthy.
Kudos to Levi’s for pushing this innovative ad campaign forward.
