Activia’s Shakira Video Overtakes VW to Become Most Shared Ad of All Time

Brazilian-Themed ‘Trackvert’ Takes Number 1 Spot From Super Bowl Commercial With 5,375,756 Shares

An ad for Activia yoghurt starring Colombian pop princess Shakira has become the most shared ad of all time, according to data released today by marketing technology company Unruly. The three-and-a-half minute music video – called ‘La La La (Brazil 2014)’ and released in partnership with the World Food Programme – has overtaken Volkswagen’s Super Bowl commercial ‘The Force’, which has held the number one position since February 2011.

Released on May 22, ‘La La La (Brazil 2014)’ has attracted 5,375,756 shares across Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere. Volkswagen’s ‘The Force’ (5,372,945 shares) had previously held the top spot for more than three years, while ‘La La La (Brazil 2014)’ was able to leapfrog the number one within two months of launch. Driving the success of the video was Danone yogurt brand Activia’s collaboration with the Colombian pop star, who recently became the first person to reach 100 million Facebook likes. This ad is also the most successful example of a brand capitalizing on the growing trend of ‘trackvertising’, where a brand and musical artist co-release a video which is both a musical track and advertisement.

Nicolas Frerejean, Activia’s global marketing director, says: “It is fantastic to see such a positive response for the video. Reaching more than 250 million views and becoming the Most Shared Ad of All Time in just 2 months is incredible! We are delighted that we have been able to relay our message of support to the World Food Programme through the video ‘La La La (Brazil 2014)’. Partnering with Shakira to support the School Meals initiative is a great fit between Activia’s beliefs in good nutrition for all and the engagement that Shakira has demonstrated for a long time to support access for every child to quality education.”

“This video is introducing the World Food Programme to millions of people for the very first time,” says Jay Aldous, Director of Private Partnerships for WFP. “We are grateful to Shakira and Activia for highlighting our work and supporting school feeding programmes that help create the future we all want. A future of zero hunger and infinite possibilities.”

“Music videos are by far the most shared type of content, so it’s no surprise that brands are now blurring the lines between traditional ads and music videos in order to get themselves seen and heard on social,” says Sarah Wood, co-founder and COO at Unruly.

“Activia’s success with Shakira exemplifies a fundamental change in the way brands are now approaching video advertising. As brands struggle to win attention amid the content clutter, this milestone ad shows how innovative strategies and creative collaborating can engage a target audience at speed and scale.” “Music and advertising have a long history together. Some will remember the early days of TV commercials and jingles – the internet memes of its day! On digital, we see music deployed in a number of ways – from ads released alongside a professional artist, to parody or licensed tracks, to heavy product placement or even ads that make their own track famous,” adds Wood.

Methodology

Information is based on data from the Unruly Viral Video Chart™ and Unruly Analytics™, which ranks videos by the number of shares they attract across Twitter, Facebook and the blogosphere, ranking branded content by the volume of active pass-on rather than the more passive metric of video consumption (views).

UNRULY, UNRULY VIRAL VIDEO CHART, UNRULY ANALYTICS and logos and associated marks are trademarks of Unruly Group. Other marks are owned by their respective owners.

About Unruly Marketing technology company Unruly is the leading global platform for social video marketing and works with top brands and their agencies to get their videos watched, tracked and shared across the Open Web. Our programmatic video platform reaches and engages the half of the global Internet population who are watching and sharing videos outside of YouTube. Our end-to-end solution cracks the code on social video sharing. Advertisers can predict earned media with proprietary algorithm Unruly ShareRank. They can engage 1.17 billion people across the Open Web with Unruly Activate (comScore Feb 2014), the leading social video distribution platform.

And prove ROI with Unruly Analytics, a cloud-based dashboard providing real-time competitive benchmarks across 6 billion customizable data points. The product set is powered by the Unruly Viral Video Chart, a unique data set covering 430 billion video views and tracking 24 million shares per day. Engaging audiences across the full range of mobile, tablet and second screen devices, Unruly Activate has delivered, tracked and audited 4.27 billion video views across 3,600+ social video campaigns for over 650 brands, including Volkswagen, Dove, Coca-Cola, T-Mobile, Microsoft, Warner Bros and adidas. We’ve worked with 65% of Ad Age Global 100 brands and our mission is to deliver the most awesome social video advertising campaigns on the planet.

Founded in 2006, Unruly has 12 offices and employs 150 people globally. In 2012, Unruly secured a $25 million Series A investment led by Amadeus, Van den Ende & Deitmers and Business Growth Fund. The company has won 26 awards, including ‘Best Content Distribution Platform’ at the Braves Awards; ‘Digital Innovator of the Year’ at the Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100; ‘International Management Team of the Year’ at the BVCA Awards 2013 and #14 on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA. Unruly has been selected by Tech City as a Future Fifty Company. To find out more, visit unrulymedia.co