Of all the viral videos around, my favorite for a couple of reasons has to be Where The Hell is Matt?  If you haven’t seen these, basically a guy goes around the world dancing like an idiot in front of famous places, sometimes by himself and sometimes with a bunch of people.  Its hard not to smile and feel all warm inside – yes, I’m a softie.

Another neat aspect of this video is that Stride gum approached Matt, the maker of the series, a while back to become a sponsor.  I found this interesting because you don’t see the Stride logo plastered all over the place, nor do Stride make a big thing of boasting about it like you often see from sponsors.  I don’t exactly know how much benefit the Stride brand gained but I’m sure it has been vigorously studied.

I ran across a posting about why being likeable is a profitable business strategy and it struck me that the concept described in the post is exactly what Stride were embracing by attaching themselves to such a likeable piece of media.  And by making sure they didn’t spam the spirit of the video with logo splashing and such, Stride ensured that they would not lose any of the positive association gained by sponsoring this heart-warming video.  I was also reminded about something Mitch Joel spoke about in a recent podcast, where he advised potential Podcamp organizers to find sponsors who would keep a low profile, in order to maintain the spirit of the event.

I appreciate and respect this type of marketing.  Most of us don’t want to be barraged with advertising but will connect with a brand to which we feel a positive emotional response.  While multi-million dollar tv and print campaigns may better reach the masses, the type of marketing used here by Stride shows that the brand “gets it”.  It also provides a great example on how social media and advertisers can work together for the benefit of all.