Textbook example of how YouTube can be used for online marketing

When I saw this open letter (below) on YouTube posted by Zen Magnets, an up & coming competitor to Buckyball, the market leader in the 'small magnetic ball' market, I couldn't help thinking it was an interesting demonstration in harnessing the power of a social network channel such as YouTube to convert an apparent threat into an opportunity.

The recorded-voicemail-delivered-legal-threat starts to backfire as an apparent PR own goal early on for Buckyballs, as Zen use its inclusion in the video to cast themselves firmly in the roll of hapless recipients of a threatening legal broadside from their competitor.

From then on, through the use of disarming lo-fi video editing, no nonsense science & amusingly irreverent delivery Zen deliver an impressive reply…(right up until the end of the video when Zen Magnets guy experiences a partial ‘charm implosion’, that they would have done well to have left on the cutting room floor).

Anyway, the video serves as a textbook demonstration that tools such as YouTube in the right hands, can be used to create compelling marketing ammunition that can neutralise more traditional threats such as legal challenges.