Lindsey’s Daily Deal: What the *&%$ Was That, One Bad Viral Video Can Spoil the Whole Bunch and Something Freaky For Friday

By Lindsey Campbell, Captains of Industry

Hey Captains’ readers,

Here’s your Friday Deal:

1. What the *&%$ was that?

I’ve got a question for you. If you had to somehow get young guys to go see the latest scary movie, “The Last Exorcism” coming out next Friday, how would you do it? Give them free passes? Bribe them with popcorn? Maybe even make a kick ass movie trailer?

I’m betting that anything you can come up with isn’t as good as what Lionsgate actually DID. According to Tim Nudd at AdFreak, Lionsgate really wanted to scare the pants of their new movie’s target audience. So, after some thinking, they decided (like any good marketer would) to promote their movie where their target spends most of their time—a website called Chatroulette. In case you don’t know, Chatroulette is a website that pairs random strangers from around the world together for webcam-based conversations. Basically, guys go on it to meet hot chicks. Enough said.

On Chatroulette, Lionsgate created a previously recorded webcam video that shows a very pretty girl who’s smiling and then suggestively starts unbuttoning her top. Once she gets the first button undone, she pauses, runs her fingers through her hair and then looks up at the camera. That’s when it happens. Her eyes roll into the back of her head and she goes all Rosemary’s Baby on you. The best part? Lionsgate managed to film the reactions of the guys that checked out their webcam video. Let’s just say, these guys won’t be signing up for online dating anytime soon.

2. One bad viral video can spoil the whole bunch

The beauty of a viral video is its unpredictable nature. When a video is first uploaded onto YouTube, no one knows how many people will want to view it. Like any parent, we can only hope and pray that it has what it needs to be successful, hope that it does well, and send it on its way. However, there are times when a video that is neither funny nor interesting somehow climbs to the top of the views ladder without any concept or idea at all. Not only can this frustrate the creators of a perfectly good, hard working and diligent web video that has all the potential to go viral, but it also gives the rest of the web videos a bad name. For example, if you really want to waste twelve seconds of your life, I highly suggest taking a look at this viral video about chips getting stuck in a vending machine.

Better yet, don’t. We shouldn’t encourage this kind of behavior.

3. Something Freaky for Friday

I have a lot of odd fears and pet peeves. For your sake, I won’t go into the whole list. However, I will give you just one glimpse into my very strange world. One thing that disturbs me, from my head to my toes, are children who look like they are middle aged.

Bear with me for a second here.

Does anyone have any idea what I’m talking about? There are actual kids out there that look like miniature versions of their future older selves. It’s freaky! Why am I sharing this with you? Well, because I just viewed the latest commercial for Haribo’s Gold-Bears gummy candy, and I was literally BOMBARDED with these little grownups. Chills, I’m talking an actual inner shudder, ran down my spine. If you dare, watch their latest campaign on YouTube. Soon, you too will know what true fear feels like.

Until Monday,

Captain Lindsey