This morning I came across a cleverly disguised marketing campaign for Sprite in the form of a web video titled You Can Get In Anywhere If You Say You’re the DJ. The video is in the style of the short how-to clips that have been springing up all over the internet lately, and features only a small sprite logo on the title screen (so small I didn’t even notice at first) and a post-roll screen directing viewers to the campaign’s website. I’m sure most viewers wouldn’t even know they are watching an advertisement until the video is over, and this is what makes this campaign a great example of new media marketing done right. It turns out the video is just one in a series of truth hunting missions by the Sprite Truth Hunters AJ and Nickos.
The stunts themselves are the kind of pranks you would expect to see pulled by the Chaser or Vive Cool City crew I’ve mentioned previously, and is exactly the type of entertainment sought by tech savvy, short attention spanned, Gen Y-ers, who also happen to by Sprite’s target audience.
By producing the content that they know target audience wants to watch, Sprite has done an extremely good job at targeting and engaging the consumers they want to reach. This results in a much higher engagement and quality of marketing than can be achieved through traditional media such as television and radio.
Campaigns like Thirst For Truth are revolutionary in that they turn some of the ideas held by traditional media advertisers upside-down. Instead of finding content like radio or television programs that attract some of the consumers they want to reach and then buy advertising time within the program’s commercial breaks, sprite has chosen the demographic they want to reach and produced content to specifically target them. Success of reach in a campaign in a traditional media environment is based on how well viewers can recall the advertisers they have seen during a particular program, so advertisements are attachments to traditional media content. New media advertiser-produced content flips this around with the content being an integral part of the campaign.
Although I haven’t seen any, im sure there accompanying television ads to help draw initial viewers to the Thirst For Truth website, but the campaign has likely gained the most attention through viral distribution and word of mouth online. This is an obvious advantage of this type of marketing, if the content is of a high quality and is more importantly interesting, funny or shocking, the distribution will handle itself as people share the videos through social networks and blogs and show their friends. I only stumbled upon the campaign through a post on Boing Boing. As well as the Thirst For Truth website, the videos are available on a number of video sharing websites like YouTube and 5min.com to increase exposure.
I read a number of comments on the videos on YouTube and other places of viewers doubting weather the videos were ‘real’ or not because the clips are sponsored. But I personally don’t think this matters, as long as they look real they are fulfilling their purpose of attracting and entertaining the Gen Y audience.






1. Crazy Japanese Tape
2. Basics of Skateboarding: The First Step
3. Fortress (1993)
4. A Blank Tape



