The Buzz around “Ball Girl”
by Kristin Parrish
Category: Digital Influence, Word of Mouth Marketing
As I sit here watching the University of Georgia struggle in the last inning of the last game Men’s College World’s Series, I can’t help but think how much they need the “ball girl” right now.
A colleague of mine sent me a clip of the “ball girl” at the Fresno vs Tacoma minor league game, catching a foul ball. He asked if we could recruit her for our PR league softball team. Why not? Even though we’ve got a great record going this season (2-2, fyi), who wouldn’t want a player like that (ahem, on stunt wires) in your outfield??
That’s right, I hate to burst anyone’s bubble about “ball girl” but she is not real — in fact, according to Shoot Online, she’s a result of Element 79 Partner’s new viral video for Gatorade.
The video has been making the rounds on the Internet and likely fooling a lot of people, but what we are seeing is, in fact, staged. It is actually a viral video for Gatorade titled “Ball Girl” that was created by Chicago’s Element 79 Partners and directed by Baker Smith of harvest, Santa Monica.
The video has received over 165,000 views in the past 5 days on YouTube. Definitely a strong viral video.
The thing that gets me is the effectiveness of the branding. Sure, many people have seen the video and they are certainly passing it around. But how many viewers recognize the Gatorade branding? How many people saw the Gatorade bottle sitting next to the ball girl’s chair?
So my question to you is how subliminal can branding be within viral videos and still be effective? Does the video have to focus on the brand like the Mentos and Diet Coke phenomenon? Or can the video have no obvious brand recognition at all? If so, how does the brand build awareness? Through press releases and additional WOM tactics?
As I think about it, I do think that a viral video doesn’t necessarily need to include branding to be effective. As long as the viral video is part of a larger WOM campaign, the conversation around the video and who’s behind it (aka the brand) can build visibility and brand recognition.
AdAge calls the Gatorade video “pure gold”. So what do you think about the “ball girl”? Could it have been done differently? Do you think it was as effective as it could be? What would you do differently? The same?
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June 26th, 2008 at 6:03 am
Exactly the same. I knew it was fake the first time I saw it. But I still enjoyed it. I also knew eventually someone would tell me what brand was behind it.
I think the answer to your branding question is right in front of you. I did not see the Gatorade branding first time around. However, I now know about it via this blog post, and I will likely tell a few others today. I might even go back and watch the video again.
In fact, if the branding had smacked me in the face the first time around, I probably would have written the video off.
June 27th, 2008 at 1:07 am
When you see the video at first, the quality isn’t that great, which is normal for “real” videos on YouTube. It looks like someone was recording off their TV. Thus, making you believer that it is real, but when you see the slow motion, you think twice and realize it is not real.
However, I didn’t know it was a Gatorade commercial until I read this blog (just as Ian mentioned). I assume other people don’t know that it is a commercial either.
I have been involved with online videos for 3 years have spoke a lot about marketing online with viral videos. My suggestions they could have done is put the Gatorade symbol; on the wall that she jumped on, on the wall she is walking back, or behind her when she is sitting down. That placement would have been a little better.
The current placement of the bottle isn’t that great and the duration of the footage of the girl sitting down, is not long enough for you to scope out the surroundings, yet alone see a small little bottle under her seat. Maybe they could have done footage of the girl nonchalantly sitting down and taking a drink of the Gatorade.
No this isn’t as effective as the Mentos commercials and neither is there any brand recognition. Maybe if they put a little outro at the end of the video there would be more recognition, but that could do a reverse effect and not become viral.
So how did you get all the information about the production team and figure out it was a Gatorade commercial? I saw the article you got the info, but I’m talking about the YouTube users profile. The profile of the user that uploaded the video doesn’t seem to be associated with Gatorade (unless he reposted the video from somewhere else).
Great post and investigative work!!
June 27th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
We think it’s a brilliant idea without the branding. Everyone knows that it could be fake and in searching for it, they find out exactly who was behind it all — which is intriguing and great! We love it!
June 28th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Ball Girl Goes Viral…
This video has been flying around the web for a little bit now, and now that it’s hit the Ogilvy 360 Degree Influence Site, I figured it
was time for me to talk about it….
June 29th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Things have changed in social media. Today, I think there is a great tolerance for “branded entertainment” like this. the social media purists woudl probably argue against the deception but I think most people just don’t care and think it’s a neat video. Same can be said for the Levis spots of the guys jumping into pants - although there is no mystery in those of where he message comes from.
The general public is not going to read the trade posts revealing gatorade as the sponsor. The Google results halfway reveal it. But I think it is too subtle to be of best value to he brand UNLESS this becomes a series of videos. If gatorade starts churning out these “feats” videos and tie it back to the brand via a video gallery or some more overt in-video mention - then they are on to something.
Story on Ball Girl >
December 29th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
All of this is interesting. I never noticed the bottle as the “ballgirl” was the focus. So, what good is subliminal advertising? I didn’t rush out and buy one so I could scale walls! And, more importantly, what is your factual evidence that says it was staged? Why should anyone believe you (as media guru’s have long ago been identified as part of the big lie)? I prefer to believe there is some superhuman lovely young lady that could in actuality achieve such a spectacular feat as oppose to “popping” a gatoraid for one uneventful “burp.”