Viral Web Video Ads Going Mainstream

[mandy]

Those funny clips that push products are getting slicker and more expensive to make and distribute. YouTube and Google are taking note

Six years ago, ad executive Ed Robinson carried out an experiment. He spent $10,000 to produce a humorous video about a man who meets an explosive end while inflating a child's raft. He attached his firm's Web address to the clip and e-mailed it to five friends. Then he waited.

By the end of the week, more than 60,000 people had seen the 12-second spot, Robinson says. The video had "gone viral," passing from Robinson's friends to their own friends and from there, to blogs and sites across the Web. Within three months, Robinson's Web site received 500,000 hits.

For Robinson, the traffic was confirmation that the video and others like it could create buzz and, in turn, make big bucks. "I was trying to prove a point: If you entertain your audience, they will get it and the viral mechanism will make the audience come to watch you."...

full article: http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnfl...535865.htm