Getting people to put down their smartphones for a few minutes is a tough mandate these days, especially for advertisers trying to win over consumers' short attention spans. So it's interesting that Coca-Cola topped this week's Adweek/VidIQ top branded video chart with a YouTube video encouraging people to unplug from technology.
Coke's cute two-minute video, "Stop Phubbing Around," encourages people to get more social in real life by turning online parlance on its head. (Phubbing means to snub someone by looking at your phone.) In one scene, a couple holds their hands together to create a picture frame while copy on the screen reads, "Snap real moments." The ad then references the #nofilter hashtag commonly used on Instagram to show off untouched photos. In another scene, parents hold their baby while the commercial encourages people to "LOL" more. The soda giant's video has been viewed 14.1 million times and shared on social media more than 2,000 times since being uploaded on Dec. 17. Coke is also using the #enjoynowsharelater hashtag to spread the word about the ad.
While Coke wants to pull people away from technology, Samsung pushes for the opposite in its holiday campaign—claiming the No. 2 spot on this week's chart. The tech manufacturer's ad tells the story of how one boy prepares for Christmas, including sending a digital wish list via text message. Samsung's spot has been watched 8.67 million times since it was uploaded on Dec. 12.
Also on the chart, Google breaks down this year's top searches. The 90-second spot runs through 2014's buzziest news stories (including the Ferguson protests and Ebola outbreaks), pop culture obsessions like Netflix's House of Cards and the charity-raising Ice Bucket Challenge from the ALS Association.
The celeb-packed Beats by Dre spot and Samsung's holiday commercial with Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell continue to grab spots on the chart after several weeks.
Samsung, Google, Kia and McDonald's Mexico all put paid ads behind their videos this week to rack up some additional views.
The interactive infographic below (powered by VidIQ) plays all of this week's videos.
NOTE: Adweek's VideoWatch Chart, powered by VidIQ, reveals the Top 10 Branded Web Videos on YouTube every week. The chart tracks more than just pure views, as VidIQ incorporates sharing data from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, among other data sources, in an effort to measure true engagement. Every video is also ranked with VidIQ's proprietary Score, which helps judge the likelihood of a video being promoted in YouTube Related Videos, Search and Recommended Videos.