10 Big Brands (Not Including Weezer) Using YouTube Stars In Their Promotional Campaigns

Earlier this week the band Weezer invaded YouTube, making cameo appearances in the videos of some of YouTube's biggest stars in order to promote their new album 'Hurley'. Weezer is just one example of a big band, brand or product recruiting YouTube stars for their promotional campaigns. Huge brands like Kellogg's Pop-Tarts, Ford, Kia, GMC and Colgate have also recruited YouTube stars to help promote themselves on the web. We've compiled a list of ten of the biggest brands using YouTube stars in their promotional campaigns. Check them out after the jump. Carl's Junior Back in 2009, Carl's Junior turned to some of YouTube's biggest stars to help promote their Portobello Mushroom burger. Well-known YouTubers, including iJustine, Nigahiga, HotForWords, WasteTimeChasingCars, SMPFilms, SxePhil and Smosh. The campaign garnered millions of views. Check out Nigahiga's video below, which has been viewed a whopping 7.7 million times! What Carl's Junior did not account for, however, was that the second most-viewed video of their campaign was not actually part of their campaign at all, but a spoof made by YouTuber Shane Dawson. Dawson's video, which has over 1.6 million views, pokes fun at the fact that YouTube stars will do anything for money or free stuff, including going so far as to promote a burger on their YouTube channels. However, despite Dawson's 'Anti-Carls Jr.' efforts, the campaign was still a pretty successful one, in terms of views and spreading awareness about the burger (which looks delicious!). Pop-Tarts Pop-Tarts first collaboration with a YouTube star happened when YouTuber Venetian Princess sponsored a Pop-Tarts challenge asking YouTube users, how do you get your Pop-Tarts Toaster Pastries at nighttime? A few months later, in April of this year, DaveDays entered the YouTube Pop-Tarts campaign with his own song about Pop-Tarts. Venetian Princess fired back on DaveDays a few days later with a spoof, asking if DaveDays knows about her history with Pop-Tarts. Following Venetian Princess' spoof, Pop-Tarts released a 'Battle of the Flavors' video, mashing up both YouTubers' songs in an ultimate Pop-Tarts song. Check out the 'Battle of the Flavors' clip below, as well as another cool Pop-Tarts clip uploaded by MysteryGuitarMan. Ford When ford started their Ford Fiesta Movement they turned to YouTube to recruit "agents" to help promote the Ford Fiesta all around the United States. A number of big YouTube stars submitted videos, including BrittaniLouiseTaylor, WheezyWaiter, and MysteryGuitarMan. Check out a couple of the audition videos and Ford Fiesta videos showcasing celebrity YouTubers below. Kia Motors Kia has gone to the YouTube stars with their current 'Who's Next?' YouTube Talent Search contest. For the Kia Soul contest, which asks YouTubers 'How Do You Roll?', Kia has recruited YouTube celebrity judges ShayCarl, Lisa Nova and SMOSH. The YouTube stars not only made promotional videos for the contest, but also chose the finalists. The contest is now down to the final four and you can vote for your favorite contestant on the Kia Soul YouTube page. Hasbro's Trivial Pursuit Earlier this month, Hasbro launched a neat, interactive YouTube game that lets you play Trivial Pursuit against YouTube celebrities. Not only are a number of well-known YouTubers involved in playing the game, but they've also made videos to promote the project. Among the YouTubers involved are Michael Buckley, the Numa Numa guy, Tay Zonday, and the boys from 'Charlie Bit My Finger'. Taco Bell YouTube's Rhett and Link came out with an awesome drive-thru folk song back in 2009 to promote Taco Bell. They drive through a Taco Bell and place the order via song. The best thing about this video is that the Taco Bell employee taking the order actually got their entire order right! The video has 3.6 million views. Pepsi Pepsi is giving away grants to individuals and communities through their Pepsi Refresh project, and have turned to celebrity YouTubers to help promote their project. YouTube stars including Michael Buckley, Lisa Nova, The Fine Brothers, Charles Trippy, The Key Of Awesome, and DeStorm have all made videos for the project, talking about their own favorite organizations, causes and ideas submitted to the Pepsi Refresh project. The videos have been released over the past few of months. Check out a couple of the videos below. Hot Topic Hot Topic took a slightly different route with their YouTube celeb promotion. Instead of making a slew of YouTube videos, they had Fred Figglehorn use YouTube to promote a live signing in a Hot Topic store back in 2009. Colgate Some of the branded videos created by YouTube stars are clear promotions straight through. For instance, it's obvious that the Carl's Junior and Pop-Tart videos are promoting Carl's Junior and Pop-Tarts all the way through. Colgate took a different approach with product placement. In MichellePhan's video for how to get kissable lips, she uses Colgate toothpaste, as well as throwing in a recommendation for the Colgate Wisp. The Colgate promoteion starts around 1:43. It's great because it's tied into the topic of the Do It Yourself video, and afterwards she moves on to the next step of the tutorial. The video has been viewed over 2.3 million times. GMC This summer, GMC turned to YouTube basketball tricksters Dude Perfect to help promote their new 2011 Sierra Heavy Duty. Dude Perfect not only competed against another basketballer 'Ricardo the Busboy' on Jimmy Kimmel, but also starred in an amazing cliff jump shot video to promote the new pick-up truck, with over 1.2 million views.

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10 Big Brands (Not Including Weezer) Using YouTube Stars In Their Promotional Campaigns

Megan O'Neill

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Megan O'Neill