Most Shared Ads Of June 2015: Proud To Love And Puppyhood

This article originally appeared in Contagious.

Years from now, what will we remember about this past month? Maybe it’ll be Kanye West breaking Glastonbury. Maybe it’ll be Facebook emblazoning LGBT pride across the world’s profile pictures. Or maybe it will be nostalgia dinosaurs from the ‘90’s returning to stomp all over the box office.

In any case, the month in online video advertising had its own technicolour peaks, While pop culture (and particularly, video games) garnered a lot of attention in June, the top spot goes to a rather simpler entertainment. The old internet adage goes that an adorable animal will make anything go viral and, with 2,600,000 shares since release, Purina’s ‘Puppyhood’ is doing nothing to disprove that.

A simple yet charming tale of man meets dog, ‘Puppyhood’ owes its enormous success to a couple key factors. Firstly, Purina’s partnership with BuzzFeed is remarkably shrewd, producing a click-friendly piece perfectly pitched for the website’s legion of devotees. Secondly, it’s genuinely funny, with a cheaply-produced, improvisatory style tailored to the subject matter. ‘Puppyhood’ succeeds because it doesn’t feel like an ad; it just feels like a funny video you’d send to a particularly puppy-happy friend.

However, if you are looking for the tragic antidote to Purina’s feel-good schmaltz, look no further than Argentinian transplant PSA ‘The Man And The Dog’, clinging on at number 20. Then maybe watch ‘Puppyhood’ again to feel better.

June was also officially LGBT Pride Month, with this year’s celebrations jolted by the momentous legalization of same-sex marriage in all 50 American states. Brands across the internet found clever and innovative ways to celebrate, including YouTube, whose spot ‘#ProudToLove’ exploded across social media this past weekend. A touching celebration of love and social progress (using YouTube’s unexpected status as a platform for people to publicly ‘come out’), it’s absolutely worth your time.

Looking further down the chart, the former king of the summer blockbuster rears his mighty head. That’s right, Arnold Schwarzenegger is back and now he’s terrorizing his loyal fans in this new ‘prankvert’ from Omaze. Trotting out his old Terminator costume to promote the upcoming sequel, the spot finds Arnie challenging street impersonators to do their best, well, Arnie. Who knows, maybe if he does well enough, he might even get his own branded phone.

On the television front, last month’s surprise success from Comic Relief, ‘Cold Play’s Game Of Thrones Musical’, hangs on at number 5. That’s good news for both charity and viewers alike, as it remains an absolute delight for Chris Martin-mockers everywhere. Further good news came for television fanboys when Netflix announced that hit series ‘Orange Is The New Black’ would be hitting screens early. In fact, this was such good news that OINTB’s Facebook teaser was then shared over 300,000 times. Read more about the show’s pioneering social strategy here.

E3, the world’s largest technology conference, also took place this month and this only means one thing: game trailers galore. Topping out the list is the highly-anticipated Fall Out 4, followed by a remake of RPG classic Final Fantasy VII and a slew of others. If fantasy isn’t your thing, however, Toyota and Samsung are ready with a hard dose of reality in the form of driver safety adverts. ‘Loving Eyes’ is easily the more emotional and memorable of the two, but a good cause is a good cause, right?

Meanwhile, telecom giant Vivo sent a rogue Cupid through the streets of Sao Paolo, Castrol’s videogame racer lives to drift another day and Angel Soft says ‘Happy Father’s Day, Mom‘.

Most shared ads during June 2015

1. Purina: ‘Puppyhood’ 

Shares: 2,673,481

2. YouTube: ‘#ProudToLove’

Shares: 311,559

3. Omaze: ‘Arnold Pranks Fans As The Terminator…For Charity
Shares: 309,741

4. Netflix: ‘OITNB: Season 3 Is Out On Early Release!’

Shares: 301,785

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5. Comic Relief: ‘Coldplay’s ‘Game of Thrones’ Musical’

Shares: 252,989

6. Bethesda: ‘Fallout 4’

Shares: 248,789

7. Square Enix: ‘Final Fantasy VII’

Shares: 238,517

8. Vivo: ‘EX4GERADO’

Shares: 201,402

9. Boticario: ‘Casais’

Shares: 181,072

10. Toyota – ‘Loving Eyes’

Shares: 125,477

11. Castrol – ‘Virtual Drift’

Shares: 130,259

12. Angel – ‘Happy Father’s Day, Mom’

Shares: 91,482

13. EA Sports – ‘FIFA 16: Women’s National Teams Are In The Game’

Shares: 89,682

14. Naughty Dog: ‘Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End’

Shares: 83,080

15. Sony Computer Entertainment: ‘The Last Guardian’

Shares: 80,503

16. Samsung: ‘The Safety Truck’

Shares: 73,103

17. Turkish Airlines: ‘The Insider’

Shares: 69,020

18. Samsung: ‘Not Just For The Superheroes Among Us’

Shares: 68,493

19. Guerrilla Games: ‘Horizon Zero Dawn’

Shares: 66,206

10. Fundacion De Trasplante Hepatico: ‘The Man And The Dog’

Shares: 64,942

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