7 January, 2013

Fitzy and Wippa dominate YouTube's top 2012 viral ads

By B&T Magazine

Nova’s comedic duo Fitzy and Wippa were viral stars last year, winning three places on YouTube’s top ten viral ads list including the top spot.

The Nova funny men took out number one with their parody of YouTube sensation Gangnam Style called ‘Aussie Battler Style’.

The spoof video has accumulated 2.257 million views while their version of hit single Call Me Maybe came second on the list.

The duo’s send up of hit song Battle Scars, which poked fun at Wippa’s weight battle and featured the song’s singers Guy Sebastian and Lupe Fiasco, finished fifth.

Meat and Livestock Australia, which is gearing up for its next Australia Day lamb push, claimed two top 10 spots.

Karen Stocks, head of new products and solutions for Google Asia Pacific, told B&T she was “fascinated” by the range of diversity in the Australian YouTube Viral Ad Zeitgeist report.

The top 10 viral ads range from the more traditional 16-second spots, such as Carsales’ ad in 10^th, and a video by DC Shoes which clocks in at just less than 10 minutes.

One important ingredient in the recipe for viral success is authenticity according to Stocks.

“Australian audiences love authenticity and they love something that is a bit of fun – such as the Fitzy and Wippa parodies.

“They also love clever advertising that makes them think.

“Things like the Seductive Motion ad by Samsung Televisions is a very clever piece of creative that keeps you enticed the whole way through.”

Producing ‘premium’ video content does not need to be a focus, according to Stocks who said content can be instead be ‘popular’.

“We don’t need to have multi-million dollar productions we just need things that go ‘hey, this is a really great creative idea’…that people will enjoy, watch and share.”

Stocks said brands looking to create a viral video in 2013 need to keep in mind the context and device on which people will be viewing their spot.

“The common mistake advertisers should avoid is that a video is a video, is a video.”

“What we need to look at is the context with which people watch videos.

“The best way to do that is to think of yourself as a user and how that works differently for you.”

Stocks said it was great to see Australian companies trying new things and “gaining great traction”, but she said some businesses need to increase their efforts.

“Fitzy and Wippa’s success demonstrates there’s a real appetite for Aussie ads on YouTube,” Stocks said in a release.

“It’s an appetite that other local businesses have to yet to satisfy.”

Meanwhile, YouTube has also released the top ten movie and game trailers in Australia last year. See the full list as well as the videos below.

Top ten viral ads on YouTube in Australia, 2012

1. 'Aussie Battler Style' by Fitzy and Wippa