DMC has planned and seeded a new online buzz marketing campaign with creative material from animators 12foot6.

We’ve launched a new online buzz marketing campaign to promote ‘Dog Judo’, a humorous new series of online entertainment clips sponsored by Virgin Mobile as an adjunct to their Christmas camera phone promotion.

James Kydd, brand director for Virgin Mobile, said:

Our Christmas camera phone print campaign is all about taking snapshots during humorously named, unmissable events - from ‘Nuns on Ice’ to ‘Topless Trampolining’. When we saw the animated characters created by 12foot6, a ‘Dog Judo’ event fitted perfectly with both the camera phone campaign and our brand’s renowned sense of humour. So we agreed to sponsor a funny new web-exclusive animation series from 12foot6, using DMC’s viral and buzz marketing expertise to launch it among entertainment-hungry, highly active online users.

The ‘Dog Judo’ series features two dog characters - ‘Ruff’ Rex Hunter and ‘Barking’ Bob Bones - in highly ’snap-able’ situations that build on their rivalry and dry sense of humour over several episodes. Episode one is called ‘Power Date’. It shows Barking Bob trying to impress a date, much to the annoyance of his sparring partner who lives only for judo. The animated clip exists both on the Dog Judo microsite and as a standalone file that can be passed around. The file invites viewers to click through to the microsite and sign up to be emailed when new episodes are released. (Episode two is also available there, with two further episodes planned for the New Year.).

Virgin Mobile is again demonstrating its understanding of the consumer-driven, peer-to-peer viral marketing arena, sponsoring highly appropriate, cult-like creative material and using our online seeding expertise to kickstart buzz and maximise its spread. Our online film tracking system will also help them to quantify the impact the campaign has on brand awareness.

Check out the Dog Judo episodes here