A child of the ‘80s, I love a great music video. From U2, INXS, and Robert Palmer to Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Blind Melon – I enjoy watching and singing along. A few years back, I couldn’t get enough of OK Go’s video for “Here It Goes Again,” perhaps better known as the “treadmill video.”
Now it appears the band is well on its way to having a second viral success with its latest video for “This Too Shall Pass,” which features a ginormous Rube Goldberg machine.
I haven’t seen the video on MTV or VH1, just online. And apparently I’m not the only one. Since the video was released on March 1, it has received over seven million views. Its popularity is not an accident: The band had help promoting the video from PR firm Big Hassle.
According to the PRNewser blog on Mediabistro, Big Hassle sent out two pitches to promote the video – one of which was a rather long press release, the other a very brief reminder about the video’s debut. Traditional pitches for a music video? I admit, I was surprised to learn about the PR effort for the video. It was a reminder that even in a world filled to the brim with new media and fresh approaches, long-established communication methods are still valuable and not to be overlooked. The pitches led to media coverage that drove awareness. Plus, I learned about the video before my nearly 13-year-old stepson who practically lives on YouTube.
Check out the full press release here.
Watch the video here.
Hi Jennifer,
At nearly nine million views, I’m probably one of the last people to have seen the “This Too Shall Pass” video. I followed someone’s tweet to it about a week ago. That Goldberg machine is something else. I like this one far more than the treadmill video.
I suspect that there will always be room for some traditional promotion to coexist with new media.
Ray