While the Eepybird team is definitely acknowledged as the ultimate master of combining Diet Coke and Mentos for explosive effect, the fact that they didn’t originate the art form must make branding somewhat difficult. That, plus a clear desire to be more than a one-trick creator, has driven them to experiment with other media — which brings us to their most recent inspiration: Post-its.
Wait, no, not Post-its — non-brand-name sticky notes (though 3M did provide the actual Post-its used for the experiment: 280,951 in total). No matter what you call them, though, the same thing happens when you tip a pad of connected notes (designed for pop-up dispensers) over like a Slinky — neon-colored magic.
The appeal of the Diet Coke and Mentos experiments was all in the sheer joy of watching soda go “WHOOSH” — not much was required in terms of execution. Sticky notes are, by design, a simpler medium, but to counterbalance that simplicity this video’s production values add a new sophistication to the proceedings. Spectacular Sticky Note Experiment is a triumph of production — ribbons of color descending from every possible angle, the effect orchestrated beyond performance art by the dynamic cinematography, which utilizes impressive tracking shots and deeply saturated color to create something visually striking, even beautiful.
And it’s not just a pretty video — it’s a sponsorship feat. This is the first Eepybird video to indicate explicitly who’s holding the purse strings: Samurai Girl stars Jamie Chung and Brendan Fehr participate in the action, and OfficeMax branding provides a not-so-subtle clue as to where you might acquire some sticky notes of your own with which to experiment. The blog Techdirt describes it as “a very entertaining video that doesn’t ‘trick’ anyone, isn’t intrusive and still helps ‘advertise’ a whole variety of different things without being annoying about it.” Coca-Cola is also a sponsor, despite none of their products being used — you can’t blame them for wanting to join in on the fun.
Spectacular Sticky Note Experiment is oddly reminiscent of those music videos for songs from movie soundtracks, in which the actors appear along with the band to make the cross-promotion at work clear. But how did Samurai Girl, the 6-hour miniseries during which Spectacular Sticky Notes Experiment premiered (marking the first time a online video has premiered first on television), get involved?
According to Eepybird founder Fritz Grobe, it comes down to synergy: The ads were produced by DigiSynd, a Disney-owned company that made the hook-up between Eepybird and ABC Family. “ABC Family was looking to do something innovative to promote Samurai Girl,” Grobe said via email, “and when they saw our test footage of the sticky note experiments, they liked it!” Simple enough. It’s still not clear what connection we are supposed to draw between the experiment and Samurai Girl’s tale of an adopted heiress training in martial arts to fight the Yakuza and fulfill an ancient prophecy. But Chung and Fehr’s enthusiastic aping of the traditional Eepybird post-experiment stance is delightful all the same.
Eepybird assures viewers that whatever sticky notes can be reused are, but let’s just hope the notes being used are at least 50 percent post-consumer recycled. Artists should suffer for their art, but trees shouldn’t.
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