Viral Video at its Best: A&E’s “Hammer Pants”
Posted in Youth Culture Research on June 12th, 2009
I’m not one to throw around superlatives, but there is no denying that A&E’s “Hammer Pants Dance” video, and their overall strategy for marketing the soon-to-launch reality show, “Hammer Time,” borders on genius. Maybe not genius like, say, Hume or Picasso — but I’ll go on record as saying it’s about as close to transcendence as marketing for a reality show about MC Hammer can get.
But before we continue here, do me (and yourself) one favor: close your email, silence your BlackBerry, turn up the speakers on your computer and watch the video below. You’ll get more out of the post, and it will improve your day immeasurably.
The first thing that requires mentioning is obvious: the bald man in the suit featured at 0:53 is very, very talented. But there’s another thing that should stand out in the screenshot below: the number of views. In less than 8 days, this video has been watched 900,000 times. And that number is growing every hour. Since last night at about 11 pm, when I watched it from the first time, it has been seen another 50,000 times. And another 2,500+ people have thought enough about the video to comment on it.
So, what does this video get right? And what can we learn from it? The first thing that stands out to me is the fact that there isn’t the vaguest hint that this has anything to do with marketing until the last 3 or 4 seconds. This is essentially a commercial for a reality show — probably one of the least attractive of subjects — and yet it manages to feel so joyful and authentic. The fact that it has been aired exclusively on YouTube is also important. If you were to put this on television, it would still be entertaining, but as a viewer, you would be on guard from the beginning. No matter how funny it was, you would be cognizant that you were being sold something, even if you couldn’t tell what it was. Using YouTube and the social web generally allows you to connect with people when they’re at their most open. People — and especially Gen-Y — are used to experiencing moments of pure, weird joy through viral video. There is no expectation of an ulterior motive, which allows you to put your cynicism aside and simply enjoy. And that, of course, is this video’s real strength: it’s just awesome. It doesn’t let it’s goal — driving people to the website, encouraging people to talk about MC Hammer and “Hammer Time” — to get in the way of creating a fantastic, bizarre, hilarious moment. And so we reward A&E with our attention.
When you head to the website to investigate the show, you see the second prong of A&E’s digital campaign for “Hammer Time.” There is a link to MC Hammer’s Twitter feed, a few dozen short videos, and roughly one zillion different ways to engage with the cast and show generally. You can “Meet the Family,” get recipes from Hammer’s wife Stephanie, or tell A&E which family member deserves a spin-off. Some of this all feels a little forced — I don’t know that I need a “Hammer Time” widget on my blog, but the overall experience is impressive. As a viewer/visitor, if you’re not feeling engaged, you’re not trying very hard.
(It’s also worth noting that MC Hammer is doing his part. He has to be one of the hardest working men on Twitter. At the moment, he has over 800,000 followers, and appears to be tweeting about every 12 to 15 seconds, mostly to say hello to “fans.” If you, too, would like to follow him, he’s @MCHammer.)
All in all, this is a very clever, very well-thought out campaign which has been getting a lot of attention. And there’s a good chance it might have been pretty cheap, too. From what I can find in Adweek, it looks like A&E did all of the production/promotion of the show in house. If you know anything else about the players involved in this campaign, I’d certainly be interested in hearing about it.
Happy Friday,
(And speaking of viral, if you want to share this post, use this bit.ly link: http://bit.ly/F7IKc)
BNewcomb
June 16th, 2009
at 4:53 pm
This was written and directed by Marc Klasfeld.
http://www.rhfilms.com
Viral Video at its Best: “Hammer Pants” - Crammed
June 17th, 2009
at 2:37 pm
[...] out why this was successful here You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, [...]
culture de-jamming « nathanjurgenson
August 18th, 2009
at 2:37 pm
[...] claim that the gathering cannot even be a flashmob if it is corporate). Examples include A&E’s “Hammer Pants” mob and video and T-Mobile’s large dancing mob at the Liverpool Street Station in London. The latter example [...]
culture de-jamming « Sociology Lens
August 24th, 2009
at 1:13 am
[...] claim that the gathering cannot even be a flashmob if it is corporate). Examples include A&E’s “Hammer Pants” mob and video and T-Mobile’s large dancing mob at the Liverpool Street Station in London. The latter example [...]