P&G Thank You, Mom

Anyone in the marketing industry – agency side, has at some point in the recent past either recommended, advocated, promised or suggested the need for creative to go viral. Unfortunately for all of us, the desire for anything to go viral and the reality of an idea doing so, is a divide that is not often breached. Cue the current P&G Thank You, Mom Olympic campaign. The 2012 TV spot has been in heavy rotation for the last 4 months leading up to the London games, so much so, that I actually checked out the full two minute commercial online (which I must admit still gets me a little watery-eyed). With the opening ceremonies underway, I was intrigued to find the music track for the spot by Ludovico Einaudi (“Divenire”) trending on YouTube today with over 1.2 million views. The video was posted almost 2 years ago, but the combination of heavy TV rotation, the biggest global sporting event about to begin, and a moving classical music piece have together created a viral perfect storm. And so Ludovico Einaudi, an Italian composer relatively unknown in North American, is now poised for his 15 minutes of fame. Probably not how P&G would have played it out, but having someone steal the spotlight from you means, at the very least, that you’re on the stage.

peter g