Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2008/02/20/steamy_windows_film/
UK media consultant dupes 2.4m randy YouTubers
No 'Hot Girl Sex' for you!
Posted in Legal, 20th February 2008 23:52 GMT
UK "media consultancy" ST16 has discovered the secret to viral marketing: Hot Girl Sex.
Today, a pr flack tossed us an email explaining that ST16 just won the New York Film Festival's International Gold Award for a "viral film" called Steamy Windows. In just six months, the press release said, the film attracted over 2.4m viewers on YouTube and an extra 65,000 on Kontraband.
"The film was rated 85th most viewed of all time by UK Youtube," the release exclaimed. "Approximately 10,000 young people from Lancashire voluntarily watched the clip. This is approximately 10 per cent of the target audience."
The target audience is young men aged 17 to 25 who "may not pay attention to mainstream drink drive campaigns." As the film begins, you get the impression you're watching an attractive young woman enjoying the, um, company of some unseen young man. "She loved the way...he made her feel," the interstitials read, as the attractive young woman lets out groan after groan.
But by the end of the ad, you realize she's groaning for another reason: She's the victim of a drink driving accident. "Until he killed her," is the final message.
You think that's tasteless? A little net surfing revealed that when posted to YouTube, the film was flagged for containing "inappropriate" content - and it wasn't called Steamy Windows. It was called "Hot Girl Sex in Car".
There's more advice on how to create a viral video here (NSFW). ®