The social media marketer’s dream came true over at Old Spice over the past two days. The brand’s latest campaign by Wieden + Kennedy was translated into real-time, branded video responses to social media fans and followers. If you weren’t watching along in awe with me, or if you ignored all social media in general, you may have missed it. If that’s the case, here’s a recap:

The campaign developed originally for TV is over-the-top masculine, peppered with hyperbole stated as hilarious science. When combined with the nearly perfect casting of the ruggedly attractive Isaiah Mustafa, who is every woman’s kryptonite and every man’s idol, viral sharing of these videos was imminent. A phrase from one of the earliest ads exemplifies the tone of the entire campaign: “Did you know that women prefer Old Spice for their men one bajillion times more than lady-scented body washes?”

Riding the horse of popularity associated with the ironic campaign, Mustafa holed up in what appeared to be a bathroom, setting out to thank influencers (read: celebrities and bloggers with a large following) including Ellen Degeneres, Perez Hilton, and The Chicago Blackhawks. He also answered questions from fans–all in the exaggerated tone of the original campaign. Memorable moments from the two day real-time YouTube video onslaught included the spokesperson pausing to facilitate a fan’s proposal to his girlfriend, shooting down an offer for coffee from @Starbucks and putting to rest rumors that he was masking the voice of a nerd. In slightly over 24 hours since the marriage proposal video was posted on YouTube, it has been viewed 269,203 times and counting.

Each video in the series reeks of manly, unabashed confidence, and based on a search of Social Mention, we are eating it up: the brand is mentioned in social media every 39 seconds.

Aside from its novelty, uniqueness and incredibly sharable nature, there were some strong points to this real-time-video-production-marathon that made it even more extraordinary (and more viral) than the original. Or as the Old Spice Man may put it, virally viral videos that were viraler than the viral originals.

1. The fans are speaking the @oldspice language. Sarcastic questions, such as “Do you take calls from fans or just calls from the wild?” are being slow-pitched to Mustafa, making it easy for Old Spice and its team of writers to create more content to share and extend the campaign’s reach.

2. The speed at which these videos were released was staggering. Over two days, 184 videos were created in this production bender, that’s a little under 4 videos produced and posted every hour, assuming that this team isn’t sleeping, which is hard to say based on Mustafa’s unwavering strength even up to the very last video.

3. Even though the video production concluded, the social fans and followers gained will be sustainable. The tone of Old Spice’s Community Moderator matches that of the campaign perfectly. The increased number of fans and community engagement will hold steady as long as the moderator shares content aligned with the campaign that inspires laughter and engagement.

Old Spice, we salute your manly video assault on our senses of humor. These videos truly make for an extraordinary experience. I want to end this post with a question to the Old Space Man just in case he decides to make one more video: just how does that towel stay up?

Jeana is a Community Moderator for Nissan Cube and Nissan Juke, out of the Chicago office.

It’s official. LeBron James is a free agent.

Since the Cleveland Cavaliers got bounced by the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, it seems the entire world has been has been abuzz about one looming question: Where is LeBron James going next? Now that the Cavs have signed Byron Scott as their next head coach and he’s met with all of his potential suitors, we could hear about his decision any day, any minute, now.

In the meantime, major markets have been doing the full court press to woo James to their city, and even safari guides as far as Botswana have been asking if “LeBron is going to leave the Cavs.”

As we saw with the World Cup, digital is doing its part to fuel the free-agent frenzy.  Like a mythic creature being hunted by salivating predators, LeBron’s every move is being sniffed out, observed and analyzed online.  And, though the digital noise has been deafening, will it actually impact his ultimate decision?

The Stalking

If you work in digital, you’re probably no stranger to the occasional “stalk-booking” or “tweet creeping” to find out what a friend, enemy, co-worker, or ex is up to. But the LeBron phenomenon takes digi-stalking to an entirely different level.  ESPN’s “LeBron Tracker” and Sports Illustrated’s “LeBron James Watch” make no bones about the fact that they’re set up for one sole purpose: to track every word uttered, every rumor circulated, every fantastical scenario dreamed up about the superstar’s next move. There’s even a “Free Agent Slot Machine” for those who’d prefer to stop analyzing and leave it all up to chance.

The Bait

Major markets with money to spend have been pulling out all the stops to lure King James to their respective cities. From full-blown marketing campaigns to grassroots blogs, sites and videos, the online buzz is deafening. Here’s a snapshot of some of the top contenders using digital to land LeBron.

New York: The Big Apple is doing some big pimping to bring LeBron to NYC. By far the most savvy and coordinated offensive, New York launched C’mon LeBron to give all of NYC the chance “to get together to show the world’s greatest athlete why he belongs in the world’s greatest city.” The online campaign features a website, Facebook page, Twitter hashtag (#cmonlebron) and an A-list team of NYC elites, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg , the Today Show’s Matt Laurer, and even famed chef Mario Batali, urging LeBron to come to NYC. Twins Jason and Corey Grant (aided by their marketing savvy parents) also launched #NY<3LeBron, which features a “LeBron button” that you can press at gyms, basketball courts and other spots around New York, as well on a website, in order to show your support for LeBron donning a Knicks uniform. At the time of this writing, more that 2 million clicks were logged. From gourmet food to free clothes by top designers to an offer by a luxe realty company to help LeBron find his dream home at EveryKingNeedsACastle.com, New Yorkers have proven they’ll stop at nothing to land LeBron.

Chicago

SendLeBronToChicago.com is the Windy City’s attempt to lure LeBron. Launched in conjunction with a billboard on a prominent Chicago street, the campaign was started “by Bulls fans, for Bulls fans,” with the goal of signing LeBron and “putting the Chicago Bulls back on the map as kings of the basketball world.”  The official Send LeBron to Chicago has 22K+ likes, while another Facebook page with seemingly the same mission, LeBron to Chicago, has more than 28K likes. You can even buy a Send LeBron to Chicago Tshirt on Zazzle to support the cause.

Cleveland

In the hunt for LeBron, Cleveland holds the home court advantage…and it looks like they’re lucky considering their online appeal pales in comparison to the Big Apple’s glitzy marketing blitz. Like the hard-working people of the city, PleaseDontLeave23.com is a simple, homegrown effort, complete with a sad-faced Ohio mascot and some pretty awkward graphics. But you’ve got to give it to the homeys for coming up with a creative offline gimmick: the Witness Mobile, a pimped out Cutlass Supreme that doubles as a petition that fans can sign to keep LeBron local. In a more sophisticated serenade, the renowned Cleveland Orchestra created a video tribute to the basketball superstar, set to Orff’s scintillating “Carmina Burana” score. RealCavsFans.com, “the #1 Cavs Online Community” has also logged 937,957 posts, while MoreThanAPlayer.org is an integrated campaign aimed at pulling on the King’s hometown heartstrings through a website, billboards, and flash mobs of support throughout the city. It’s sponsored by the “Fans for LeBron Committee” and said to be partially funded by the Cavaliers organization with the goal of “keeping one of Northeast Ohio’s greatest assets in Cleveland.”

A Spectator Sport

Even for those without a true stake in the outcome of this madness, it’s hard to ignore the LeBron buzz. A quick search on Tospy.com counts nearly 409K web mentions and 80K tweets about LeBron, who has been a top worldwide trending topic on Twitter for months.

Words to Ponder as We Wait…

So what does all this buzz and banter mean?  We’ll get our answer soon enough, but NBA insiders believe that LeBron is leaning toward staying in Cleveland. If that ends up being true, the infinite musings, tireless talk and passionate pleas—all being played out online—will be for naught.

As a digital agency, we’re constantly awestruck at the power of the online medium to drive dialogue, inspire causes and mobile movements. But like other forms of communication, there is a dark side: it can also amplify noise—in this case, to epic proportions. Wouldn’t it be ironic if the loudest message that drives James to action is the one within his own head and heart? Like the infamous “balloon boy” who caused a worldwide frenzy filled with drama, constant media coverage, worry, panic and speculation about where he would land, all the hype may well end with a proverbial “thud!”—leaving James exactly where he belongs: safe and snug in his own hometown.

Celia is the Marketing Director for Critical Mass globally, with a desk in our Chicago office.

Let’s assume that one of the UK’s largest broadcast networks like iTV decided to stop all advertising efforts for Britain’s Got Talent. Would they cross their fingers and hope people talked about the shows around the water cooler at work? Would they hope that enough people added the show to their DVR list while it was being promoted heavily? Or maybe, they would wish for a 47 year old woman who would sing a song that was heard by millions?

Reports from Mashable show that Susan Boyle’s video is on track to reach 100 million views (not counting replays on talk/new shows, news shows, etc). What’s the implication here? Britain’s Got Talent received the equivalent of a super bowl sized audience because they were lucky enough to host a venue with the potential for amazing content. The show didn’t even have to create it. It simply established and promoted the venue. The formula we witnessed in this situation is:

The Chicken or the Egg of New & Old Media

The Susan Boyle saga brings up an interesting circular question. Would anyone have noticed Susan Boyle if the show hadn’t advertised itself via paid media previously and built up its viewership? (Assume this was the first season) Conversely, could Britain’s Got Talent have become the success it is today, if it solely relied on the likes of Susan bringing in such a storm of attention?

For most brands, the latter choice in the above question is not going to be an option. People that know companies for selling widgets are not going to look to that company to provide content; especially the kind of content that is going to reach millions of people. This means that those widget-selling brands need to examine a few items:

1. Can any marketing goals be achieved through content marketing in an ideal situation?
2. If so, can subject matter relate to the target audience of your product/brand?
3. Are you prepared to invest the time/resources/funds/risk needed to create content without a firm date of ROI?

If any of the answers are no, then this form of marketing might not make sense (a likely outcome for many). The mass majority of media that goes viral was not intended to be marketing. That being said, achieving it is not impossible either. It just comes down to being comfortable with the idea that it rarely can be intentional.

Driving sales or Driving Attention?

The last couple of years have shown us plenty of examples of advertisers trying to jump on the bandwagon of viral distribution. Focusing on video in particular, Honeyshed tried to drive sales through a kitschy version of catalog shopping and Doritos sought to build buzz by crowdsourcing its super bowl creative. The obstacle with these initiatives was that the goal was to drive immediate sales, not drive attention. If a company wants to drive sales, there are much more effective means for doing so.

Given the above mindset, the overarching plan for a marketer should be clear. Use your marketing dollars to gain attention to your platform. Once you get that window of attention. Create amazing content so that the attention has a longer shelf life. If you or your community is able to produce a “hit,” then the brand will reap the benefits of being associated with it.

There’s no such thing as a free “Launch”

If after all these cautionary points, a company still wants to pursue content marketing, the last thing to remember is that creating/aggregating content is NOT a free alternative to a marketing budget. Sure, it’s technically possible to shoot a low budget video that has the potential to go viral, but generally that cannot happen unless that video is launched on a platform that already has some attention around it. As discussed earlier, widget companies don’t own these kinds of platforms, so in order to establish them you need to leverage your marketing budget to create that wealth of attention. Take advantage of that paid-for attention to produce content or unique aggregation of other’s great content. If you are lucky (and viral marketing is very much a game of luck) then perhaps one of those pieces of work sent forth will be your very own version of Susan Boyle.