On January, 18, a friend and Star Wars geek sent us a link to a YouTube video entitled “The Bark Side: 2012 Volkswagen Game Day Commercial Teaser.” With the assistance of clever editing and cooperative canines, a chorus of dogs barks out Darth Vader’s favorite tune. The video pulled us in over and over with the power of a tractor beam. When the link was sent to us, the video had 305 views.
Four days later, the video included around seven million views. We’re not surprised. After we watched it, we quickly forwarded the link to several people and posted it on Facebook. More than five thousand people have struck back with YouTube comments, including two video responses of how people’s dogs reacted to the dark side’s Imperial March theme.
Wait a moment … we’re watching the video once more.
Ok, we’re done. Our dog Molly watched the video with us this time.
Anyway, the video’s description includes this link: http://vw.com/star-wars-invite. The link leads to the video “Intergalactic Invite” and talks of inviting your friends to your Super Bowl bash “with a customized Star Wars title crawl.” We’re not even sure we understand the whole thing, but it’s all on Volkswagen’s page where someone can build and price, get a quote or find a dealer.
We don’t know if these dogs will help Volkswagen sell more vehicles or lead to a big return of the Jetta. But the company sure is giving it one heck of a try. Viral videos can feel like the force: Only a chosen few can actually figure it out. But your business doesn’t necessarily need a viral video to get its sales out of carbonite. It just needs a good video … and maybe a few dogs or droids … to expand your universe.