Laughing Tots Make TV Debut

YouTube's giggling babies now starring in latest crossover ad campaign
By Laurel Jorgensen,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 31, 2007 5:34 PM CST

Babies with belly-laughs are the darlings of YouTube—one video has been seen by more than 35 million viewers—and now AIG is deploying them to sell financial instruments. Slate finds the AIG giggling-baby campaign instructive of what works and what doesn't in adapting YouTube videos to TV. For one thing, the ad co-opts a whole genre, not a single beloved video—which risks backlash.

And the low-key spot's message isn't  gratuitous: “Laughter can add 8 years to your life. So live longer, retire stronger." Other videos that haven't fared so well include BMW’s ad showing two kids freaking out about their new Nintendo 64; because the video had climbed YouTube's most-viewed list before BMW bought it, "the clip was already such a prominent brand that the commercial couldn't override it." (More YouTube stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X