Are you one of over 5 million to have watched the latest trailer for Titanic: The Sequel on YouTube? The rumour mill has been churning out the idea of a possible sequel to box-office hit Titanic (1997) for a good decade now.

So some college kid with a little too much time on his hands thought up a story line, spliced some film clips together and made a spoof trailer – Titanic 2: Jack’s Back. What amazed me, apart from my sister’s Asian students thinking it was a real advert for a forthcoming release, was the sheer number of people who had viewed the clip. And it was all through word-of-mouth.

Harnessed properly, YouTube makes for an ideal primary medium for broadcasting a ‘television’ campaign. A YouTube campaign doesn’t face the constrictions of conventional television advertising and can be far more risqué, something global youth brands like Levi’s could definitely benefit from.

The trick is to produce something with a concept that is going to excite people enough to want to talk about it. That said, all the money that would have been spent on primetime broadcasting could convert into money spent on developing something of quality.
Whilst a YouTube based campaign may reach less people, the real value lies in the fact that every person who watches it is choosing to consciously process it. If they like the clip, they will actively promote it and, by association, the brand. It’s Viral Marketing at it’s most effective and I’m behind it all the way.