Viral Commercial: Smirnoff Tea Partay

"Straight out of Cape Cod
We’re keeping it real
We’re going to have a party makes the ladies squeal
We’re going to turn it on
With our parents’ riches
We’ll serve Smirnoff, raw tea and finger sandwiches"

So, I have seen this You Tube video before and thought it was super funny. What is even funnier than this video is that I didn't even think about it being an add when I first saw it; I just thought it was some funny video a random person decided to make. Take a look, it's called Smirnoff Tea Partay (OK, I tried to post the actual video and it wasn't working. So, here is the link so you can watch it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTU2He2BIc0

Have you watched it? OK, good! Hahaha! It's really funny. This video was created by the New York branch of a British ad agency called Bartle Bogle Hegarty. This agency handles a variety of companies including Axe and Vaseline. The video was first posted in 2006 and spread like cold in a kindergarten classroom. On October 2, 2006 Fortune Magazine's Devin Leonard wrote about the seemingly new phenomenon of viral campaigns and about the success of this campaign specifically.

Viral campaigns are kind of neat. But, I think by definition as I understand it, they are kind of more a Public Relations tactic than an advertising tool (although I know they are advertisements). I reason this because in basic level classes we learn that the biggest difference between advertising and Public Relations is that Advertising is paid for and the producers have full control where PR is free but the creator has no control. Viral campaigns, as noted by Leonard in his article can successfully be distributed world wide without paying one cent. Smirnoff paid nothing to get this video out on the air. The downside is that the video may pop up next to video about things the company may not want related to their company. For example, a viral campaign for Twinkies could pop up next to a viral campaign for fat camp. The advertiser has no control.

"But now it’s time to break
But please will you promote
Smirnoff raw tea parties
And we’ll send a thank you note
In cursive…"