Unless you've been living under a rock, or possibly leaving that rock to go on vacation under the rock next door, I'm sure you have seen articles, posts, trends, and shares on both Ben and Jerry's new ice cream flavor "Schweddy Balls", and Nike's new Air Mag shoe that is a retro-future style accessory from the "Back to the Future II" movie.  In film it is always good to know how to market yourself appropriately, and these are two of the best examples of viral marketing that I've seen in recent times- Including the quickest trend "spread" with possibly the largest coverage. Nike Air Mag is being sold in limited quantities for a good cause , namely Michael J. Foxes foundation for Parkinson's. I commend the foundation's efforts to reach this epic awareness scale. I commend both products for proving twice within the span of a week that life does in fact imitate art - all the time- more often than we might be aware of.

  I can remember a short time ago when I saw a very modest  Youtube video with a young lady that fashioned a prototype of the "Back to the Future II" self lacing Air Mag shoe. It was handed back and forth between many of us in our geeky little film community, but our imaginations continue to run wild on the possibilities of this being an actual for sale product. This smart woman won some funding to complete another prototype (clip seen below), but the ones that Nike ended up using apparently dropped the automatic laces. Bummer sort of, but it goes for a good cause and her idea lives on.

  It came to reality.  And whether the online community had time to differentiate it from a hoax or not it spread like wildfire on Facebook, Google Plus, Buzz, and the like.  This was quite a phenomenon as I was just seeing it for the first time and logging in and seeing multiple posts in the activity feed passing along the news of this truly unique product that catered to our imaginations inspired by "Back to the Future II" from our nostalgic memories.  Then comes "Schweddy Balls". SNL (Saturday Night Live) aired a sketch that lampooned NPR and through that idea in art form came reality. My guess is that Ben and Jerry's decided the potential, had a good sense of humor, and decided to go with it.

The news of this new ice cream flavor spread faster than possibly any other food product in preparation for release, that I've ever seen in my entire life.  These posts proliferated faster than news of the recent East Coast Hurricane and Earthquake combined.  One can only imagine the power behind such a simple low cost idea as viral marketing in these uncertain times.  People talk.  People talk about things that amuse them.  People post.  Ideas get around.  At times I get some grief for sticking with the name Uddershiet Films, but in actuality I've probably gotten recognition and product identification from the sheer simple fact the name is fun to say or try to say than anything I've ever tried - 19 years still strong. Is this a sign I should stick with it?  The lesson here is it doesn't take very much money to virally market an idea as long as it's fun and people are intrigued.  Though I may not be able to afford the "Back to the Future II" Air Mag shoes, I will tell you I would almost give up my life savings for one of those Hoverboards.  So what are your feelings on viral marketing? What compels you to post or re-post an idea? Humor , Nostalgia? In this case a little bit of both? In most cases at least in my mind- I believe it's something I think someone would want to know/see and several people are thinking the same thing (then it just spider-webs outward exponentially), then I guess maybe we just got to the heart of viral marketing.

Thanks again,
TJPARSONS

Tom Parsons

The founder of Uddershiet Films and film enthusiast, maintains a fun collection of movies that he regularly references for technical examples, discussions with colleagues, friends, students, and production staff. Although there are particular films, shorts, and videos that he prefers over others, seldom is there a movie that he doesn't like.