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This is actually “old news” by now (it was hot in spring 2009) — but I missed it the first time around and maybe you did as well.  It shows how the web can amplify the voice of a single complaining customer.  The video has more than 6 million views!  The story is best told by the protagonist, musician Dave Carroll, in his own words, copied from his website and quoted below.  I have placed the first video “United Breaks Guitars” below that.

“In the spring of 2008, Sons of Maxwell were traveling to Nebraska for a one-week tour and my Taylor guitar was witnessed being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers in Chicago. I discovered later that the $3500 guitar was severely damaged. They didn’t deny the experience occurred but for nine months the various people I communicated with put the responsibility for dealing with the damage on everyone other than themselves and finally said they would do nothing to compensate me for my loss. So I promised the last person to finally say “no” to compensation (Ms. Irlweg) that I would write and produce three songs about my experience with United Airlines and make videos for each to be viewed online by anyone in the world.”

The dangers of viral media.  Method thought it had a clever video which got plaudits from marketers and a 4 star rating from YouTube.  But when a vocal minority were offended, Method was forced to pull the ad.  An unauthorized copy is still available on YouTube here.  The full article “Method Pulls ‘Shiny Suds’ Ad After Sexism Complaints” is at AdAge.com, December 2, 2009 (subscription only).

Household cleaner marketer Method has pulled down a viral video roundly applauded by marketers at the Association of National Advertisers annual conference last month and by most viewers who’ve seen it because of heated complaints from some women who view it as sexist and even condoning rape.

These videos are hilarious — maybe more so for married men and women than for most of our students.  So maybe it will work better for those of you with nontraditional students.  The original “Beware of the Doghouse” viral video was popular last holiday season and so JC Penney created a new version “Back to the Doghouse” with new twists (see “JC Penney’s ‘Doghouse’ Lives to Bark Another Season,” Brandweek, November 20, 2009).

Here’s a current and very hot viral advertising campaign. This article talks about the campaign (“A Stairway to Marketing Heaven,” (scroll down for article at BusinessWeek.com, October 22, 2009) but the fun occurs at TheFunTheory.com website. As of this writing, there are three different viral videos (the stair video is shown below), each of which ask the question: Can you get people to change their behavior and do the right thing by making the right thing more fun? The viral videos are sponsored by Volkswagen and they will eventually tie into an online advertising campaign that features VW’s environmentally friendly cars. For 10 years (until earlier this year), VW’s “Drivers Wanted” campaign implied that driving a VW was fun. This new campaign is a natural extension to that positioning. You could use it to discuss positioning, viral video promotions, or promotion objectives. The campaign is also a good example of publicity; it’s received considerable attention from the press. Besides all that, these viral videos are fun to watch.