Old Spice’s ‘Your Man’ Hangs On but Views Drop Again by Half

by Michael Learmonth

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — I’m a little surprised it took Levi’s excellent “Walk Across America” this long to appear on the Viral Video Chart given press attention and pass-around its received over the past few weeks. The video debuted on the web in July and seemed to generate a good bit of buzz, but maybe that’s just my Twitter feed talking.

The video was created from 2,770 individual still photos by director Sam Griffith, producers Blake Heal, Peter Cote and actor/model Michael Johnson. And while Johnson didn’t really walk across the U.S., the crew did drive across over 14 days (here’s the route) shooting Johnson’s steps along the way. In addition to the ad itself, the creators posted a making-of video, which has received hundreds of thousands of views. Biggest challenge: “living on an RV for two weeks with six other dudes.”

“Walk Across America” has been watched 3 million times since it was posted July 20, and 1.5 million times last week, according to Visible Measures, allowing it to push aside some Old Spice videos into the No. 2 spot. Those Old Spice videos are still hanging on, by the way, even though their collective audience dropped again by about half.

Another debut on the chart this week is from Kia Motors, whose “A New Way to Roll” saw about a million views last week and took No. 7. That video is the latest in a series for the Korean automaker and has been on the web since May, suggesting that some paid promotion gave it a bump last week. Kia has tapped YouTube celebrities Smosh, LisaNova and ShayCarl for their “Who’s Next?” promotion asking for wannabe YouTube stars to submit their own “new ways to roll.”

Originally posted on Ad Age.