The Email Wars

I have always been a big fan of Diesel for the fact that they take major brand risks. Now that being said their brand is attractive because of the risks that they take. So maybe it is not a risk. This email that arrived this week was sent to announce the celebration of their 30th Anniversary (B-day) and drove to a video that has as of now gone viral.

Now the great thing about this email is that it references the email but does not deliver the email in the creative itself. It makes the shock value even stronger once you get in to watch it. Why try to deliver video in an email if you think it might scare people from clicking on it, or even worse it does not play in your email client.

I also love the landing page (which is built by city) for the fact that they still only give away sparse details on the party but you need to stay tuned to get the event location information. I can only bet that this is going to be a bash and I have asked our eROI NYC Office Director to follow this, go, and get some video of the event to post later.

There is also a good article on iMedia about Viral today you should read.

Video on the next page.

I will warn you about the video as it borders on the edge of taste for many people. I think it is genius in the execution and the fact that this email and video are being forwarded at a record pace. It falls into the categories that I have always believed to make something viral.

1. Involves an animal : cat dog, bear, anything

2. Someone gets hurt: Just like the success of America’s Funniest Home Videos, you just can’t turn away.

3. It has sex in it, or references to sex

4. It is something that you might never witness in your life or imagine was possible.

Here is the video. Enjoy. (UPDATE THEY TOOK IT DOWN AND YOU NOW NEED TO LOGIN http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf8jUMDgnes)

BUT AS VIRAL GOES YOU CAN’T CONTAIN IT:

http://www.break.com/usercontent/2008/9/Diesel-SFW-XXX-577249.html

http://hypebeast.com/2008/09/diesel-xxx-sfw-worldwide-dirty-30-party/

http://www.didntyouhear.com/2008/09/29/diesel-is-making-xxx-sfw/

http://www.cpluv.com/www/feeditem/6705

http://www.asourceofinspiration.com/2008/09/25/diesel-xxx-party/