Interesthing Sharing 30th May '07

...And he scores!

Once again, The Mok proves his amazing interesting-ness by winning Interesthing Sharing. Okay, co-winning. But a win is a win lah...

This week's sharing comes from the magical land of Youtube.

Let the video description speak for itself:

I thought "wouldn't it be a good idea if there was a band that, instead of playing instruments, just repeatedly spoke the title of their instrument to the tune of the song" then I thought "No it'd be terrible and they'd get nowhere" So I tried it.

Stupid? Lame? Sheer genius? Have it your way.

Eventually this minute-and-half video became one of Youtube's most-viewed videos ever, snaring close to 2 million hits. Over 6000 people commented on it, and over 13,000 thousand favourited it. Last I checked, there've been at least 6 parodies/video replies of it.

But hmm..it makes me wonder.

Imagine this was an ad campaign. The creative team, God bless their sweaty palms, are about to present this idea to a room full of men in suits.

"See, it'll be really cool. Instead of singing lyrics, they'll sing the names of their instruments. And their voices will sound like the instruments."

"Hmmm..."

"Nobody's tried this before. It'll be impossible to miss!"

"It's kind of...strange."

"I didn't get anything from that."

"Yeah, what will the consumer benefit from hearing the instruments' names?"

"It's creative...but does it sell my product?"

"Why instruments? We're not selling instruments."

"Maybe we can have them sing the features of the product."

"Don't forget our website."

"Will people be able to hear it clearly if it's sung? Wouldn't saying it better?"

And so the story goes. Before you know it, the ad becomes another plain-Jane-vanilla-shake. Pot-bellied businessmen will huddle around it and admire the clarity of the message, only to wonder months later why nobody else remembered it.

When money and jobs are on the line, people become fearful. When fear creeps in, creativity curls up and die.

As you watch the following video, feel free to comment. You may find it funny. Scary. Idiotic. Interesting. Weird. Ugly. Artistic. Annoying. Addictive. Hateful. Lovely. Just remember you felt something.

Ladies and gentlemen...'The Incredible Mouth Band'.