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Brands' fan trends: Incredible stunt video boosts brand's Facebook fans

Relaxnews
Thursday 25 November 2010 01:00 GMT
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A Red Bull sponsored video of stunt cyclist Danny MacAskill bouncing his way across Scotland has attracted 2,371,378 views on YouTube and has led to an increase in the brand's Facebook fans.

The incredible video called "Way Back Home" shows Scottish stunt cyclist Danny MacAskill bouncing off walls, scaling telephone boxes and sliding down rails as he cycles from Edinburgh to his home on the Isle of Skye. The video shot to number one in the viral video charts in the days followings its release on November 16, and remains in the top three nine days later.

Danny MacAskill became famous when an amateur video of his stunts attracted over 21 million YouTube videos. Since then the cyclist has been used by various sponsors to promote their products, including Volkswagen and this time Red Bull.  

Although the energy drinks company is only briefly featured in the commercial when at 3:58 Danny MacAskill drinks from a can of Red Bull, the video, which as of November 25 has attracted 2,371,378 views, is the most likely reason for the increased traffic on Red Bull's Facebook page.  According to Fan Page List, which ranks the number of brands' fans on the social networking site, Red Bull's page, which features a link to the video, has experienced an increase of around 3,600 fans per day. This pushes the brand above Coca-Cola and makes it, in terms of daily increase in fans, the biggest brand on Facebook.

The majority of brands engage in some form of viral video advertising: UK communications company T- mobile regularly film and upload their "flash mobs," the latest of which occurred in Heathrow airport and has so far attracted 4,242,125 views on YouTube; the video can be viewed here.

The importance of Facebook fans for brands was demonstrated in a November 10 study published by the Journal of Consumer Research which showed that brand engagement on the social network allowed the company to engage with the consumer and build a loyal customer/brand relationship and link the product with the consumers' self image.

Danny MacAskill can be seen in action for Red Bull at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj6ho1-G6tw and doing tricks for Volkswagen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4fs8gS7ANA

As of Thursday, November 25, the ten biggest brands on Facebook in terms of "fans today" according to fanpagelist.com were:

1.       Red Bull (+3,664 fans today)
2.       Coca-Cola (+1,863 fans today)
3.       Playstation (+1,647 fans today)
4.       iPod (+1,491 fans today)
5.       Disneyland (+1,462 fans today)
6.       Converse All Star (+1,396 fans today)
7.       Oreo (+1,301 fans today)
8.       iTunes (+1,253 fans today)
9.       Ferrero Rocher (+1,236 fans today)
10.     Pringles (+1,180 fans today)

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