Pepsi & ‘Funny or Die’ Vs. Facebook Celebrities : Viral Videos Attempt
Yesterday I came accross this campaign surfing the web, and it visually caught my eye because it was very close from what we did on the “ProjecteJK052″ video promo campaign last year [read more here]. So I digged a bit more to bring the whole story to you today.
The ad agency partner is The Barbarian Group
Pepsi is having this “online taste test” with FaceBook “celebrities, made famous for their activities on the network. But since they couldn’t or wouldn’t have them to get filmed while discovering the “Pepsi next” taste, Pepsi unrolled the improvisation comedian to impersonate those people, having them react on camera.
Let’s talk of the setup for a minute : It’s a bit disturbing for a visual professional ; It has a chromakey back screen all blue, like the have on many sets for post-produccion CGI purpose. But they have accessories painted in the same color, phony studio furnitures and lamps. And you guessed it, the chromakey screen is blue, Pepsi-royal-blue to be exact.
On a presentation, we can see the internet celeb watching his impersonation by a professional comedian, so we can see the mimetic. It’s not always obvious, but hey, I didn”t know those two people before hearing of that campaign, so… The awkward part is on the count view, and feedback from the public: 10 + 1 videos so far, 600 views a piece !! Not to mention the “wine tasting” video, which could really be the best one, and has… 50 votes in favor, 7 against. The “scumbag Steve” one is not that bad either, and had 2824 views, 11 votes for, 39 against !! The process is :
- you get to watch the video
- then go to the FB page sign up for a chance to get your own Improv You video
- eventually get to know the comedian who will impersonate you
- have your own impersonation tasting bit
Well it doesn’t seem to have reached tons of people so far, and it has been two days already. The Facebook app page showing the videos is a dead giveaway to the lack of material, for… well maybe lack of engagement. We’ll keep you updating on this one, to see if the Pepsi Next campaign takes off or not. So far the response is both timid and not that positive…
What do you think about it? Clever? Pretentious? Let us know in the comments below!
