The Viral Factory
Encyclopedia
The Viral Factory is a full service viral marketing
agency based in Shoreditch
, United Kingdom
.
Their first venture was a collaboration with director Adam Stewart and creatives Richard Peretti and Gary Lathwell to create Headrush , an in-house promotional viral which gained the fledging company its first web audience. Another collaboration with Adam Stewart; Moontruth aided in establishing the viral as a tool for public and media notoriety.
One of The Viral Factory’s first major corporate campaigns was a series of virals for the United States
brand Trojan Condoms U.K / European launch. This in turn led to an increase in global blue chip clients and further viral campaigns with brands such as Microsoft
, Ford and Coca-Cola
.
In 2010 The Viral Factory closed its USA branch.
The Viral Factory has, on occasions, used ‘covert seeding’ to amplify the supposed authenticity of their footage, particularly in the Levi
‘Freedom to Move’ campaign of 2006.
Viral marketing
Viral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses...
agency based in Shoreditch
Shoreditch
Shoreditch is an area of London within the London Borough of Hackney in England. It is a built-up part of the inner city immediately to the north of the City of London, located east-northeast of Charing Cross.-Etymology:...
, United Kingdom
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
History
The Viral Factory was founded in 2001 by Ed Robinson and Matt Smith.Their first venture was a collaboration with director Adam Stewart and creatives Richard Peretti and Gary Lathwell to create Headrush , an in-house promotional viral which gained the fledging company its first web audience. Another collaboration with Adam Stewart; Moontruth aided in establishing the viral as a tool for public and media notoriety.
One of The Viral Factory’s first major corporate campaigns was a series of virals for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
brand Trojan Condoms U.K / European launch. This in turn led to an increase in global blue chip clients and further viral campaigns with brands such as Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, Ford and Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
.
In 2010 The Viral Factory closed its USA branch.
Style and content
The Viral Factory work on feeding basic human emotions with anarchic versions of reality to get their client's message across, often using a mockumentry film technique or computer generated animation to convince the viewer that the footage is real.The Viral Factory has, on occasions, used ‘covert seeding’ to amplify the supposed authenticity of their footage, particularly in the Levi
Levi
Levi/Levy was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third son of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Levi ; however Peake's commentary suggests this as postdiction, an eponymous metaphor providing an aetiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite...
‘Freedom to Move’ campaign of 2006.
Notable clients
- Trojan Condoms — The Trojan campaign parodied OlympicOlympic GamesThe Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
events, substituting them with sexual "sports", such as Pelvic Power Lifting and Masters of Precision Vaulting. - BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Health and Education — GI Jonny is a parody of a retro children’s action toy television commercial. Sponsored by the BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
to raise AIDSAIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
awareness amongst 16- to 25-year-old British males, starring 'GI Jonny' and 'Captain Bareback'. - SamsungSamsungThe Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...
— An animation created using the product to illustrate its functions.
Controversy
- ‘Moontruth’ Playing in to the hands of conspiracy theoristsConspiracy theoryA conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
, a film was leaked to the public that supposedly proved that man had never in fact landed on the moon and that the moon landingApollo 11In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
was in fact staged in a television studio. This viral hoax led to 3,000 people, taken in by the footage, calling NASANASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
to complain about their dishonesty in saying that they had conquered the moon. - Ford KaFord KaThe Ford Ka is a city car from the Ford Motor Company marketed in Europe and elsewhere.The current European version is produced by Fiat Auto in Tychy, Poland, while the model sold in Latin America is built in Brazil and Argentina....
campaign. A viral entitled ‘Cat’ for the Ford Ka found notoriety in 2006. Depicting a cat getting its head chopped off in the ‘Ka’ roof. The viral caused outrage which led to the advertising agency that allegedly commissioned the viral and Ford, the client, to claim that they had never approved the virals’ release.
Awards
- CannesCannesCannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
Cyber Gold Lion: Trojan Games (2004), Revenge Phillips amBX (2006) - EPICA Gold : Axe/Lynx ‘Ravenstoke’ (2005)
- London International Awards Gold, Viral : ‘Fingerskilz’ Hewlett Packard (2007)
- Webby AwardsWebby AwardsA Webby Award is an international award presented annually by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for excellence on the Internet with categories in websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile....
Not for profit People’s Voice Winner : ‘GI Jonny’ BBC Learning (2008) - D&AD Yellow Pencil, Viral Animation & Motion Graphics & YouTube 2007 awards nomination, Most creative for ‘How we met’ Samsung Electronics (2008)
See also
- Viral marketingViral marketingViral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses...
- Seeding agencySeeding agencyA Seeding Agency is a social media advertising agency which places branded films on websites, messageboards and online communities that are heavily frequented by users. Usually a client pays a seeding agency per hit. There are a number of seeding agencies in the US, among the most popular are...
- Viral videoViral videoA viral video is one that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email...
- List of Internet phenomena
- Webby AwardsWebby AwardsA Webby Award is an international award presented annually by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for excellence on the Internet with categories in websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile....