Transcript: Hello, my name is Devin Matthews and I'm going to be showing you a few clips of the infamous Dramatic Chipmunk and it's effects on the advertising world. Since being posted to the web site in 2007, the dramatic chipmunk youtube video has reached over 21 million, 9 hundred thousand hits. That's more than the entire population of Syria! The short video features a prairie dog looking into the camera after a swift turn, coupled with a climax music clip from Frankenstein. The video was made from a Japanese television program for children called Hello! Morning. A prairie dog was brought out for the young girls to play with, and after a lucky camera shot and some clever editing, the video originally from collegehumor.com exploded into popularity. Since then, the Dramatic Chipmunk has been through edit after edit, each new video topping the ones before. The immediate effects of this meme were mainly merchandising. Tee Shirts, buttons, more shirts, hand bags, all to show the world you're up to date on the latest Internet trends. The first company to use the Dramatic Chipmunk was Comedy Central's animated series south park in april 2008. In the episode, all the most famous youtube stars are in a room together before a battle ensues. Typically viewers of Comedy Central and South Park are a young adult male audience of around 18-35, which also happens to be the demographic that is most receptive to web memes. Of course, the episode was a big hit and contributed to South Park's continued success as one of Comedy Central's highest-rated programs. In december 2009, website liveborderless.net held a contest hosted by LG involving the critter escaping and traveling across the world, challenging spoof makers to submit the best location, awarding 100 thousand dollars to the winner. One submission blamed the prairie dog for the infamous Banksy graffitti art, while another explained crop circles. The winner: Dramatic Chipmunk in Dubai, on the tallest tower in the world. In addition to gaining traffic on their site, LG successfully reached video editors and the young male demographic with their contest. LG now has a better grasp on credibility for the younger generation, also evident in their phone advertising. Generally the effect of this campaign was great, as it didn't tire the old meme any more than it already was, and paved the way for Carmax. Premiered at the 2010 superbowl, Carmax released its own line of Dramatic prairie dogs, birds, and other animals. The use of the meme catches the attention of that 20 million who've seen it online. The Dramatic advertising furthers the brand's image by tapping into the web meme-audience for it's website based business. Whether or not it's been successful, it's too early to tell. Using 3 year old memes have a hit-or-miss reaction, but there is no doubt the message was heard. People are generally pleased with the campaign, but its effect on pop culture is only as powerful as the original video itself, as it cannot be toppled as...one of the strongest web memes Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_on_Strike http://www.viralblog.com/viral-commercials/dramatic-chipmunk-breaks-out/ http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2010/02/carmax-discovers-quite-theatrical-creatures.html