Muppet-astic Viral Marketing

The internet loves its cult director superheroes and sexy sci-fi, sure, but who would have predicted a Muppets reign over web video in July 2008?

First we had patrioticeagle claiming the July 4th blogbuzz, and 500,000 YouTube views later, America was a much better place:

The real Hensonfest really began a couple weeks later, though, when Classical Chicken started its march to 345,000 views, Habanera to 320,000, and Ode to Joy to a whopping 1,480,000:

The sudden abundance of authentic-looking, hilarious (though oddly classical music-focused) Muppets videos didn’t smack of coincidence, and suspicions were soon raised.

Each video was uploaded by a different YouTube user, though they all had similarly recent signup dates, were friends with one another (and nobody else), and sported quirky Muppet-themed profiles like weirdowhatever, deumnborkborkbork, and meepmeepmeepow. Each video even featured its own concluding jabs from Statler and Waldorf who garnered over 200,000 views for their own harrumphing over at heckleu247. Those guys certainly had an eerie prescience when it comes to modern web dialogue:

And while the aesthetic and sources aren’t as closely related, the Muppetmeme certainly extends to the clip of Feist on Sesame Street and the newfound appreciation for Bert and Ernie parody (check the “related videos” sidebar to further mangle your childhood memories). Perhaps these videos unwittingly rode the wave – or are they part of the Muppets’ web domination scheme as well?

And what is the point of all this? Three guesses – and don’t be naïve enough to suggest that the web’s finally fed up with sex and vulgarity. Viral marketing it is then, and it turns out that even an old media behemoth like Disney was unable to spoil the Muppets’ web appeal when it set out to build buzz for a new Disney Channel show called Studio DC: Almost Live that’s premiering this Sunday.

Just doesn’t have the same payoff of a YouTube Beaker joint, does it? However, it’s hard to deny the online star potential of Tisdale, Cyrus, and other Disney stars in tandem with the Muppets. I haven’t found an official online presence for the show yet, and I must admit that I’m curious (but not watch-the-Disney-Channel curious) to see what it’s like after the past month.

Let’s hope Disney stays on the right track and lets the web watch, unless they’re worried about such a concentration of web star power having drastic consequences.

Come to think of it, keep your fingers crossed this Sunday (and prepare for some quiet mediation, just in case).