The Hunter and Bear: An Unconventional Friendship

Hunter and Bear

This week two friends decided to celebrate a birthday in the same way as most people do, by having a birthday party with cake and candles but when these two friends are a hunter and a bear then you can imagine it would not be a normal celebration. 18 months on from their successful viral video campaign Tipp-ex have returned with their latest video that focuses on the adventures of the hunter and the bear. The original video was a massive success online, winning numerous awards for the digital agency behind the video thanks to the video's innovative nature and the ability for the user to change the outcome of the ad.

It all started with a video titled "A hunter shoots a bear" which was part of the "Tippexperience" campaign which was run by French based digital agency Buzzman on behalf of the German owned correction fluid company. In the original video which can be seen below, the hunter is startled by the bear rumbling around his tent and he is encouraged to shoot the bear by the camera man. The viewer is then prompted to either "shoot bear"or "don't shoot bear" with both decisions leading to the same screen with Tipp-ex branding and ads featuring prominently. 

The hunter then breaks the forth wall and tells the viewers that he does not want to shoot the bear and instead reaches out of the video to grab the white out pocket mouse that could be seen in the ads beside the video. Using the Tipp-Ex products to "white out" the part of the video title, the hunter then encourages the viewers to rewrite the story by entering key words or phrases that would lead them to a conclusion video. If the words or phrases they entered have no corresponding video they were brought to a comedic 404 page error video.

First example of the interactive Annotation of the "Tippexperience"

                       The Hunter "whiting out" the word "Shoots"

The functionality behind the actual Tippexperience youtube channel showcased the innovation and creativity that has taken precedent in modern digital marketing. The first video lets the user decide how the story should go on, already giving the impression that this is something interactive and that the user can direct the story. Both options available to the users lead them to the Tipp-ex Youtube takeover page. It is just a layer that gives the impression of a regular YouTube video. This innovation is part of an advanced part of Youtube's operation called annotation. YouTube annotations is an effective tool for creating videos that are engaging, interactive, informative and entertaining. Annotations can be used by digital marketing companies to initiate a dialog with your viewers, call upon them to take action and get higher levels of engagement. When used correctly annotations can improve viewership and grow the brands audience. 

Tippexpererience, as mentioned previously, was a massive success for the the Tipp-ex brand with the campaign quickly becaming a worldwide viral phenomenon, amassing over 35 million views within the first 100 days of launching. It went on to win various awards such as Digital and Interactive Bronze at New York Festival, 2010 Ad Age award for Best Interactive Video Campaign and also a Gold in Web and a Silver in online film, media innovation and alternative media (France)2010 at the Epica Awards.From a consumer interactive perspective the video was a great success for the brand. In the first 36 hours alone the Teaser video had over 1 million view and was Shared over 100, 000 times on Facebook and 7, 500 times on Twitter. In the proceeding 36 hours the ad  had a Virality rate of 5000 % (each user send the link to 5 people on average) with an average time spend with the brand of 6 minutes. The company has estimated that the equilivant media coverage would have cost the company over €5 million if they want to gain the same traction.

Earlier this week Tippexperience season 2 was launched with the focus this time being on the users ability to rewrite history instead of just the story.The  story this season takes place at the Bear's birthday bash in 2012 where the Hunter and bear are faced with an earth-destroying meteor in the sky above them. The annotation begins by offering the user a choice between either ending  the party or keep it going. Once more using the Tipp-ex whiteout the hunter encourages the users to interact with the video by choosing a different year to continue the party in with 46 different scenarios available. There are also Easter eggs scattered throughout the choices.Since its launch on the 12th of April the videos have been viewed over 5 million times already with nearly 17000 subscriptions to the channel.

The Hunter "Whiting out" the year 2012.

Hunter and bear's -1000 birthday party with social media channels clearly displayed throughout.

Within its first week the "Tippexperience 2" viral has already been a great success for the creators, Buzzmann, and the parent company Tipp-ex. The annotation used in the original "Tippexperience", as mentioned above, brought the brand closer to the public which for any company is one of the key reason for pursuing any form of digital marketing. The innovation and interactivity which is afforded by the use of Youtube annotation is one of the biggest benefits to modern brands as it enables them to make a connection with both current users and potential users.