ONTD

The rise of social networks like Twitter and Facebook make it much easier for a quirky story or embarrassing stunt to spread like wildfire.

We take a look at some of our favourite examples of viral marketing campaigns.


Old Spice Guy

Former American Football player Isaiah Mustafa shot to fame in a viral web phenomenon as "the man your man could smell like".

The promotion took on a life of its own with numerous parodies and Mustafa posting YouTube responses to questions from Ellen Degeneres, Alyssa Milano, and anonymous tweeters on the web in real time.

Mustafa has since scored a Hollywood movie role alongside Jennifer Aniston in the film Horrible Bosses.

Old Spice: The man your man could smell like


Tipp-Ex hunter

The video "A hunter shoots a bear" was posted on YouTube just two weeks ago and has already received 750,283 views.

It features a hunter reaching outside the video screen to an ad for a white-out marker and then using it to erase the word "shoots" from the video heading.

The campaign then encourages viewers to fill in the blank, and hit play to command the hunter and bear to interact in any number of ways.

Bear hunting: Tipp-Ex's interactive advertisement


Bing/Farmville

Bing's social media promotion gives FarmVille users virtual currency if they become a fan of the Bing Facebook page.

The page quickly grew from around 100,000 users to more than 500,000 and now sits at 1,110,694 fans.

The experiment has been a success for Bing with 70 per cent of fans going on to use it as a search engine, dramatically increasing its traffic.

Facebook fans: Bing's fan page


Evian babies

Evian released an ad featuring break dancing babies on roller skates exclusively on YouTube in July 2009.

The computer generated video was done on the back of Evian's "live young" slogan and supposedly shows what the water does to your body. It was a hit followed by parodies to remixed soundtracks, and "behind the scenes" interviews with the young stars.

It is the most viewed online ad in history according to last year's Guinness World Book of Records, with more than 60 million views of the original video to date.

Live young: Roller skating babies

Burger King's subservient chicken

Burger King created a subservient chicken website to advertise its TenderCrisp sandwich in 2004.

The site features a man in a chicken suit and an area for customers to type commands such as "moonwalk" and "make a sandwich".

The site reported receiving 15 million hits in the first five days of the campaign that is still hosted on the Burger King website.

Chicken site: Burger King's subservient chicken


iPhone hacker

Australian hacker Ashley Towns got a job with a Sydney software firm after he released the world's first iPhone virus from his home in Wollongong.

The "Rickrolling worm" changes the user's wallpaper to display an image of Rick Astley "jailbroken" phones altered to run non-Apple approved applications.

Mr Towns, 21, said he only expected the worm to affect about 10 to 15 people.


Fun theory

Car-maker Volkswagen set out to prove "something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people's behaviour for the better."

The viral video competition offered participants the "fun theory award" for the best video ideas on how to change behaviour.

The competition and 2500 Euro ($3516) was won by Kevin Richardson of the US for his idea to reward drivers for obeying the speed limit by way of a speed camera lottery.

Piano stairs: Volkswagen funds fun projects
Safe drivers: Speed camera lottery


Greenpeace Orangutan

Greenpeace's video campaign against confectionary giant Nestle depicted a man eating a severed orangutan's finger instead of a Kit Kat.

The video spread quickly on YouTube and Facebook and successfully convinced Nestle to stop using palm oil from rainforest deforestation areas.

Have a break: Greenpeace's YouTube activism


The Blair Witch Project

The creators of The Blair Witch Project generated a lot of hype for the movie before it was released in 1999 via online messaging boards. Fake news clippings speculated whether the story for the documentary-style movie was real or fake.

The movie went on to be a runaway success taking $US29 million ($32 million) in its first week of showing.

Docu-drama: The Blair Witch phenomenon


Virgin Blue tweets

Virgin Blue sold 1000 domestic tickets in three minutes on Twitter in a first for the social media platform.

The airline's "Tweet Seats" promotion offered $9 seats as part of its ninth birthday celebrations with tickets prices deliberately set at "less than a bottle of birthday champagne".

The airline has since expanded its Twitter account to 16,868 followers, using it to connect with individual customers to offer exclusive deals.


Best job

Tourism Queensland received more than 34,000 applications for its self-proclaimed "Best Job in the World" offer as caretaker/blogger for the islands of the Great Barrier Reef in January 2009.

34-year-old British fundraiser and adventurer Ben Southall's 60-second video application won him a salary of $150,000 for a six-month position and luxury accommodation on Hamilton Island.

Tourism Queensland estimates the campaign has attracted more than $400 million of publicity and climbing.

Do you have any favourites ONTD?

Fair shake of the sauce bottle, mate.