Via Mashable comes the Last Exorcism viral campaign on video chat site Chatroulette. This is one of the better ones out there though is showing the trend of how easy it is to use prerecorded video/animations on video chat. Similar to how chat bots took over Instant Messaging back in the day, initially it will be hard to tell if you’re having a conversation with a real person. At least with video, you can have an augmented reality experience which makes it a bit more interesting…
The last few weeks have seen an explosion of viral videos that center on Chatroulette ‘improv’. The interactive video conferencing format of Chatroulette makes this a perfect breeding ground for up and coming bands and musicians to get their 15 minutes of fame. For instance, rock band I AM UN CHIEN recently performed a live music video on Chatroulette.
But I think we’re just beginning to see the start of the ‘improv wars’ on Chatroulette with the first battle between Alex Roda (the original improv) and Merton (the piano improv). Alex Roda was first to hit the scene with his improv vocal video which to date has approx. 135K views. Following that was Merton’s piano improv video which has exploded onto the scene with over 3.3 million views on YouTube in less than 10 days. Alex Roda then released his second improv vocal video ‘live’. Naturally, viewers have taken sides in the comments which has further fueled the fire.
Personally I think both videos are great and show the power of real-time interactive video conferencing which is in it’s infancy. Marketers are still trying to figure out how to best use (i.e. exploit) Chatroulette for marketing purposes (The French Connection promotion aside) but my guess is one brand is going to latch onto one improv artist sooner rather than later to tap into non-stop Chatroulette buzz. I’ve embedded both original videos below and you can judge for yourself which chatroulette improv performer you like better..
ALEX RODA (Auto-tune Vocal Improv)
MERTON (Piano Improv – updated version; original pulled due to TOS from YouTube)
UPDATE: BEN FOLDS (Tribute to Merton). This just happened last night at a Ben Folds Five concert in Charlotte where Ben Folds did his best Merton impression for the concertgoers while live on Chatroulette. Amusing given that people seem to think that Merton/Ben Folds are the same person…
We Are Organized Chaos (WAOC) is Zugara’s (www.zugara.com) interactive marketing and advertising blog where we’ll be featuring some great projects and discussing upcoming trends in the digital world. Work — good and bad — will be critiqued. Hope you’ll enjoy reading our insights and thoughts on interactive.