Cherry Chocolate Rain

If you’ve been using the internets during the year of 2007, you’ve probably been one of the more than 11.5 million people who have viewed the YouTube song “Chocolate Rain” by Tay Zonday. Well now Zonday has intersected with the world of food. Dr. Pepper hired him to make a new original song and internet video called “Cherry Chocolate Rain.” The goal? To promote their new soda, Cherry Chocolate Diet Dr. Pepper.

The song was released yesterday, and as of 3 PM today, already has more than 200,000 views. In my opinion, this is a brilliant marketing move by Dr. Pepper. I’m betting the number of people reached by this relative to the cost will be astounding. The only cost for this is making the video. How much would airtime cost for a 3-minute ad on a show with 200,000 viewers? A lot more than just making this video, that’s for sure.

A friend of mine, Catch Up Lady, wrote about the use of viral videos as advertising in August. She suggested that companies should piggyback onto an established YouTube star instead of trying to make their own viral videos from scratch. Even more crazy? Catch Up Lady specifically suggested a company partner with Tay Zonday because the returns on investment could be huge. At the time I posted on her blog saying it was a great idea, and marketers would be wise to embrace it. So are Catch Up Lady and your own humble So Good blogger the world’s next Nostradamus? Or just very sharp marketers? You make the call.

Bravo to Dr. Pepper for embracing the YouTube medium to its full extent. I’m guessing this video will have well over a million views by the end of the year. Keep in mind these are all WILLING viewers, not people at home tuning out when a TV ad comes on. Two thumbs up Dr. Pepper, we on the internets salute you. And now, I present to you, Tay Zonday in “Cherry Chocolate Rain.”