By CLARA BENDAYAN
Prankvertising is the name of the latest marketing fad sweeping the web.
Hidden cameras are strategically placed around the world, aiming to record people’s reactions to completely unexpected situations and spooky encounters.
A new company, Thinkmodo, has attempted to take over the market for young viewers that are most involved with viral videos.
Their most recent ad for the movie, “Devil’s Due,” garnered more than 35 million views on YouTube within the first seven days of being uploaded. The video spread like wildfire on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Another popular ad from this company was their successful marketing ploy for the horror film titled, “Carrie.” Cameras were hidden inside a coffee shop in New York City and an actress appeared to be using telekinetic powers to throw objects and people (other actors) against a wall in rage.
The customers, unaware of the setup, were seen fleeing and swearing, seeking cover from this deranged woman who appeared to possess magical powers. Visual effects were also used to further enhance the mayhem.
This bizarre and unique marketing tactic achieved wonders as it increased awareness and promoted the movie greatly.
Another interesting part of this is that the company includes the behind-the-scenes footage where production crew members are seen setting up the prank. This pulls the viewer in from the start and grabs their attention for the duration of the video to see the results.
This novel marketing tactic is clearly serving its intended purpose, which is to use creativity to attract viewers and promote products and ideas. This emerges at a perfect time, as social media has compromised the average person’s attention span.
Additionally, the influx of advertisements seen everywhere — on buses, pop-up ads online, YouTube ads, for example — are flustering many consumers. People are beginning to ignore advertisements since they are too rampant and ubiquitous, diverting people’s attention elsewhere.
Prankvertising is a refreshing way to market as people are drawn in without reservations or restrictions since it’s spontaneous. People are demanding alternatives to traditional branding, and it’s an excellent way to utilize the power of the World Wide Web.
Thinkmodo founders James Percelay and Michael Krivicka, for content to go viral, the idea within it has to be really new. It has to be engaging and easy to search for. Since it’s new, you will find it when you search for it as there’s no other video like it.
I think this is an excellent strategy and it comes at a time where it will be most well received. We share videos through various social media outlets on a daily basis across countries. People love to see how others react to humorous or frightful situations, and our curiosities are piqued when the circumstances are as unique and unprecedented as this new marketing strategy.