Fake Disclaimers Put Nokia into Viral Waters
Try noticing a piece of information that would be Fantastic!, if it were true!
The apology!
Videos promoting phones and tablets tend to do well on the Viral Chart. But a little scandal didn’t hurt viewership on Nokia’s newest video promoting its yet-to-be-released Lumia 920 either. PureView debuts this week at No. 9 with 1.42 million views.
The video, which was released following a press event on September 5, supposedly demonstrates the phone’s Optical Image Stabilization functionality, which allows for clearer videos and pictures of moving objects. The same day, the blog The Verge noticed a peculiar reflection in the video: a white van with a camera man and a lighting rig. As Nokia would confirm, it hadn’t used the Lumia’s OIS technology to film the video or take photos for other marketing materials, nor had they put a disclaimer on the video.
Nokia issued a formal apology on its blog on September 6. The company provided Wired with a statement that included this explanation:
“This video was produced while the Nokia Lumia 920 was in early prototype and still not ready to show the full benefits of the amazing innovation it contains. While there was no intention to mislead, the failure to add a disclaimer to the video was obviously a mistake, and we apologize for the misunderstanding it did cause.
Nokia also uploaded a new video to its blog and YouTube that shows the OIS functionality in an actual Lumia prototype. The “fake” video now carries a disclaimer any time the OIS function is shown, which reads “simulation of OIS technology.” The company is also launching an ethics review into the video.
Nokia has a lot riding on the Windows-powered phone. In April the company lost the title of world’s biggest handset-maker, which it held for 14 years, when it was overtaken by Samsung. Samsung’s sales are largely driven by phones powered by Google’s Android OS, whereas most of Nokia’s sales still come from Symbian phones. In the second quarter Nokia accounted for just 2% of smartphone purchases, according to Businessweek.
1
390%
The Beauty Inside
Intel, Toshiba
Pereira & O’Dell San Francisco
Views this week: 7,555,664
Last week: 5
2
-8%
Sport Doesn’t Care Who You Are
Samsung
72andSunny Amsterdam
Views this week: 2,147,590
Last week: 3
3
-5%
Angry Birds Space
Rovio
NA
Views this week: 2,011,570
Last week: 3
4
-27%
Muscle Music
Old Spice
Wieden + Kennedy Portland
Views this week: 1,855,704
Last week: 2
5
NEW
This is SportsCenter
ESPN
Wieden + Kennedy New York
Views this week: 1,813,646
Last week: NEW
6
12%
Beer Chase
Carlton Draught
Clemenger BBDO Melbourne
Views this week: 1,602,876
Last week: 5
7
NEW
Zero Robotics
NASA
NA
Views this week: 1,542,121
Last week: NEW
8
-43%
World Humanitarian Day 2012
United Nations
Droga5 New York
Views this week: 1,521,630
Last week: 1
9
NEW
PureView
Nokia
NA
Views this week: 1,425,596
Last week: NEW
10
NEW
1000 Years of Darkness
Chuck Norris
NA
Views this week: 1,366,826
Last week: NEW
Source: Visible Measures
Ad Age’s Viral Video Chart, powered by Visible Measures, focuses on brand-driven social video ad campaigns. Each campaign is measured by True Reach, an MRC accredited metric that includes views from brand-driven and audience-driven social video clips. The data are compiled using the patented Visible Measures platform, a constantly growing repository of analytic data on hundreds of millions of videos tracked across hundreds of online video destinations.
Note: This analysis does not include Visible Measures’ paid-placement (e.g., overlays; pre-, mid-, and post-roll) performance data or video views on private sites. This chart does not include movie trailers, video game campaigns, TV show, or media network promotions. View counts are incremental by week.
**Indicates percent change in views compared with the same period the week before.
To notify Visible Measures of an upcoming social video ad campaign, please contact Visible Measures directly.
