Thursday, January 8, 2009

╠ Viral Entertainment Vs. Product Integrity ╣

This is a bit old but some of you probably saw the original Powerthirst commercial that went so viral on the internet that it even made it onto the Gruen Transfer for being an interesting attempt at advertising a drink. The original video was created to be entertaining and not for a real product. However it became so successful that from it 400 babies were sporn, one of which was.



Brawndo is a real energy drink which can be purchased in America. I haven't seen too many more stories on it to see how succesful it is, however I did notice that my favourite online geek store had picked it up and now sell it to their American audience.

This is an interesting product launch because it is more focused on the entertainment than the product initially than the more common variety of having a product and then trying to entertain to sell it. It is also an interesting ad because via normal methods you have to be truthful in advertising however this ad claims the near impossible. Is this product simply too out there to be taken seriously enough to be in trouble, immune because it is using the internet as its advertising medium or could their unique approach to stating the benefits of the product end them up in trouble with consumer affairs?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Not strictly related to the topic, but "Brawndo", the energy drink you are talking about, was created as a fictional drink, which has now (evidently) been made into a real one.
It is a plot device in the 2006 film "Idiocracy", which is quite relevant to the topic now that i consider it...
So there you go. From a film plot device, to a viral video to a real product.
Rediculous.
:)
Sodman2k