Dr Pepper is launching a limited time flavor extension, Cherry Chocolate Diet Dr Pepper. While that sounds completely unappetizing to me, this viral video for the new product is very tasty:
With over 300,000 views since it was posted last night, this is clearly what success looks like for viral marketing.
Which is a little strange, I admit.
Building off of the success of Tay Zonday and his original Chocolate Rain video, Dr Pepper adds its product into the mix without making the video seem too marketing-focused or losing any of the off-beat humor.
More importantly, it doesn’t look like an ad. I mean, it’s a man who looks like Steve Urkel and has a voice like Al Green…and they splash a squirrel with chocolate.
I don’t get that part, but it’s the kind of humor that spreads like wildfire on the internet, and the kind of humor that marketers too often ignore because they want to talk about their product, its benefits and all those boring things that make consumers ignore them.
Dr Pepper recognized the traction that Tay Zonday was getting, saw a confluence of interest and asked him to do a video. They gave him a lot of freedom for the video production and it shows.
Which is surely why so many people are watching it.
Y&R is the agency of record for Dr Pepper, but, wouldn’t you know it, they were not involved in this. At all. Good job, guys.
the daily (ad) biz 
I’m not a fan of these little viral res-haping’s. Tay’s original ‘Chocolate Rain’ was great, a good laugh, and had Dr. Pepper been behind it from the beginning, then THAT would have been brilliant. But scooping up a piece after it’s popularity has already run its course seems a little backward to me.
that’s supposed to say re-shaping.
Some part of me agrees with you, but another part looks at all of the failed viral attempts by brands who try and go it on their own and thinks that they best route is to find a winner that aligns with your brand and do a re-mix. You are ensuring your brand at least some exposure that way and exposure, really, is what it’s all about.
If Y&R had nothing to do with this, do you know who is responsible?
Was it an agency or did the marketing department do this on their own?
PS: What time zone do you have your comments set to? It says 4:37 PM, but it’s only 11:37 AM in NY
I left my comments and posts to whatever the default time zone on wordpress is…so things are a little off. I am going to try and change that right now.
I hear that the marketing department did this on their own.
Apparently, Y&R is really only a creative execution shop. The strategy and planning functions have been moved in-house at Cadbury Schweppes, at least on the brands that Y&R works on (Cliff Freeman and Laird are also on the roster, for Snapple and Diet CSDs/Mott’s respectively and I don’t know how the relationship is with those two agencies).
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i nominate Chocolate rain as the #1 most likely song to get stuck in a person’s head