YouTube and a Marketing Phenomenon

Saturday, September 09, 2006
MissBiz Journal Article, "YouTube and a Marketing Phenomenon"

by MISSBIZ aka Jacqueline Howatt
Published and Copyright: Sunday September 6, 2006
Saint Mary's University, The Journal


I can’t figure it out. I’ve never been so curious and perplexed by anything, ever. For the past month or so, I have been actively surfing the ever-expanding YouTube.com media site and I cannot pinpoint how, when, or most concerningly – why – I decided to click on a certain video blog (actually a mini-series) in the first place. With over 2 million views, this series has accumulated speculation and intrigue from “media expert” sources, such as, the New York Post, Businessweek, and New York Magazine, right down to the low lying network of media privy, web savvy, and marketing resistant consumers and bloggers, like you and I. I’m sure at least a handful of you have caught on by now what it is I am talking about, but if you haven’t, I could not be talking about anything other than the mind-boggling phenomenon that is, “Lonelygirl15”.

For those of you who are not in the loop, I’ll give you a brief overview. A teenage girl, named Bree, began posting video entries to accompany her YouTube blog known as “Lonelygirl15” – her online handle. She is home schooled in, according to her, a very “boring” town in the USA. She is fairly religious, quirky, cute, and decently intelligent for someone her age. She tends to blog about the boy of her affections quite frequently (who is basically her only companion) – Daniel or “DanielBeast” as he calls himself online. She also blogs about her hiking trips, lazy eye, her purple monkey, and “Proving Science Wrong” rebuttals. Daniel and Bree hang out often and a certain romantic chemistry exists, however, their relationship is completely innocent and plutonic – which is seemingly understandable as Bree’s parents are highly religious and Bree herself is relatively sheltered seeing as she is home schooled, as mentioned earlier. Daniel is often seen in Bree’s video blogs, which she films in her bedroom at her computer desk. Daniel also edits her video blogs, which incorporate music, slow motion, fast motion, and other cinematic techniques. There is nothing too catching about this entire scenario at all, until you notice how many views the “Lonelygirl15” videos have accumulated – over 2 million all together.

I stumbled into one of her videos in YouTube and noticed that she had a whole string of 2-minute video entries. Being curious about who this girl was (I have never followed anyone’s video blog before), I looked her up in Google to see if the videos were coming from a root source – such as her own MySpace or other website. Upon receiving the Google results, I was stunned at what I saw. This girl not only had her own YouTube space (with all of her videos), but she has a fansite, and multiple references from other bloggers and media giants such as the New York Post! I watched the rest of her videos, which did not amount to much at all – there were only a handful since she began posting earlier this summer. Besides having a fun personality and having an innocent appeal, I still could not wrap my head around what the big deal was.

Then I read the articles that referenced her videos, and this is when I became furiously interested. From what I have researched, the slippery slope of speculation begins with the following: 1) the “borderline professional” cinematography. She is just a girl in her bedroom at her computer desk with a webcam, but albeit, it does look more like an actual camera. 2) The Shakespearian-like drama between her and Daniel. They obviously like each other, but because of her strict parents, it does not seem likely they can be together. And if her parents are so strict, why are they allowing her in her bedroom with a boy and the door closed? It seems more like a scripted story than reality. 3) The “nemesis” following. Several other bloggers have become somewhat famous themselves for merely opposing Lonelygirl15 and stating that she is a fake. Outsiders have gone so far as to suggest that these opposing bloggers may be apart of the Lonelygirl15 story – possibly just to throw gas on the fire. 4) The fansite. The fansite, http://www.lonelygirl15.com/, was registered a month before Bree even posted her first blog, suggesting this is a set-up. 5) Since she has not commented to any of this speculation, people believe that all of her blogs were filmed all at once and posted sporadically to look as if it is a real video journal.

So is Lonelygirl15 for real, or, could it be something else? And if it is something else – what could it be? Enter the profuse amount of bloggers, critics, and writers (like myself), who are either trying to figure it out or who are just adding to the flames by speculating various meaning.

Right now, there are a few possibilities as to what the Lonelygirl15 blogs could be intended for. Many believe that this “mini-series” is some type of viral marketing scheme in order to promote the new documentary style video entitled, “The God Who Wasn’t There”. It is suggested that Bree may be in the trailer for the movie – but nobody can confirm if it is really her. Another theory is that it may be a brilliant viral marketing scheme for an unknown product that she will, in time, name drop to the millions of people watching her. Lonelygirl15 has even been compared to Moses – paving the way for a revolutionary twist in online marketing.

Nothing has been revealed as of yet, and the central aspect is that everyone adds their own opinion in what the fuss is about. Since it has been suggested that even the Lonelygirl15 critics are in on the plot, I cannot help wondering if I am in on it too, and I just don’t know it yet? Maybe this really is a mastermind virus set up so that whomever stumbles across it contracts it and spreads it to others. Like I am doing to you right now.

Who knows? It is very unsettling in a sense. However, I cannot help but marvel at this entire idea of something so unimportant reaching so many people in the world and having them work together to find a common meaning. Maybe Lonelygirl15 is just a teenager who is caught up in a wicked web of assumption and she decided to have fun with it by not acknowledging it at all. No matter how you look at it, Lonelygirl15 is a breakthrough in online marketing schematics – whether it was intended to be or not.