Leave it to OK Go to have the best video, even on Super Bowl Sunday!
Lonely Island does it again. Randomness with a purpose – and that purpose is to make Michael Bolton cool.
Seth Meyers was on fire, and Trump was *not* entertained. Which is ironic, because he’s been not entertaining audiences for decades.
President Obama got in a few good jabs, too.
I stitched together a long panoramic image from some aerial video footage of Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. I count 142 cars, plus buses & trucks, and there were more in the video, but this is as much as I could fit into the panorama. I guess when all the news- and weather-casters tell you you shouldn’t drive, you should listen.
Use the scrollbar to scroll to the right —>
View the whole image in your browser
(When the image opens, you might need to click it to zoom in on it)
Here’s the original video:
From wgntv.com
This was captured directly from the original VHS video single, manually edited to erase many video artifacts, and then processed with professional resolution enhancing video filters to increase the resolution and overall quality. Chances are, an ‘official’ HD version of this video will never surface; this is probably the best quality you will ever find this video.
Check out the stills for quality comparison with the old version:
The old version is here:
Genius marketing! It started with the Superbowl ad you probably saw:
Another ad was added to YouTube a few weeks ago:
Now this week, they started responding to select fans on various social media sites with customized video responses from the Old Spice Guy himself. The real kicker – they’re posting the videos to YouTube within hours of the tweet they’re responding to. So once they pick a tweet to respond to, they have to write a witty response script, film a single-shot take they’re happy with, and upload it to YouTube. See the timestamps below – they had a ‘conversation’ with 3 video responses to @Alyssa_Milano in 1 day – with videos about 1 1/2 hour apart; And think about this – that includes the time it took her to tweet back in between. Impressive!
It seems to be working out pretty well for Old Spice. They’re the #1 most viewed channel on YouTube this week, and 2nd for the month. And I don’t know about you, but the more I see that guy man, the more I actually think he smells really, really good; and the more I think, maybe, just maybe, I *do* want to smell like him!
Jul 13, 11:45 AM: On Twitter, Alyssa_Milano wrote “GENIUS. Shirtless Old Spice guy replies on Twitter w/ hilarious personalized videos”
Jul 13 1:22 PM: On Twitter, Alyssa_Milano wrote “My coffee went up my nose. @oldspice guy made a video reply to my tweet!!”
Jul 13, 2:57 PM: On Twitter, Alyssa_Milano wrote “Are you flirting with me, @oldspice guy…”
Jul 14, 12:04 PM: On Twitter, @Alyssa_Milano wrote “Ummm — Are you sitting down??? Sit down. Ready? The @oldspice guy sent me roses!”
On Twitter, @rosemcgowan wrote “I like it too! @Oldspice I told my husband I have a crush on you. Oddly, he started using the oldspice deodorant. (via @Alyssa_Milano)”
Kevin Rose (Digg founder)
On Twitter, @kevinrose wrote “i’m considering buying old spice body wash just so they keep making these epic commercials – http://bit.ly/K87jz ”
And it’s not just celebrities.
On Twitter, @Jsbeals wrote “@OldSpice Can U Ask my girlfriend to marry me? Her name is Angela A. Hutt-Chamberlin #Johannes S. #Beals”
On Twitter, @GeorgeGSmithJr wrote “@joshmishell I bet you would take me seriously if @oldspice made a video for me! #helpmeoldspiceguyyourmyonlyhope”
On YouTube, 12755JDH wrote “I love these commercials”
On Twitter, @Gillette wrote “@OldSpice what’s up my friend…big fan 
”…
Everyone:
[I guess it was just a 3-day thing]
View all Old Spice Guy video responses:
FastCompany has a great writeup and interview with someone from the advertising firm that came up with the campaign.
And now there’s even an Old Spice Man Voicemail Generator that was apparently thrown together mostly by members of Reddit.
Instead of Public Hearings, report to Congress in a “Congressional Confession Cam.”
I love how he does the “Cam” shot ‘live’ – without any time cuts.
After the ads, jump to the 7:00 mark.
Sorry for the ads, and having to try to seek to the 7:00 mark. Blame VIACOM / Comedy Central for only allowing certain clips to be embedded ad-free. Way to make it difficult to spread your show via social media, geniuses.