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Wario Land: Shake It – Amazing Footage!

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Wario Land: Shake It – Amazing Footage! is a YouTube advertisement for the 2008 Wii video game Wario Land: Shake It! in which the protagonist Wario does various large-impact actions and collecting items, causing the surrounding YouTube webpage to be destroyed bit by bit while these items accumulate around the page. The video was directed by staff from the marketing company Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and produced by Jennifer Wilson of the production company Mike Kellogg. It was eventually taken down and replaced by a documentary-style advertisement for the 2009 Wii game Punch-Out!!, created by the same production company. It inspired the creation of a script that was used on Niconico to cause a similar effect to happen.

Wario Land: Shake It – Amazing Footage!
Screenshot of the YouTube ad
AgencyGoodby, Silverstein & Partners
ClientNintendo
LanguageEnglish
MediaYouTube
Product
Release date(s)2008
Written byNat Lawlor
Directed by
  • Jeff Goodby
  • Rich Silverstein
  • Bryan Houlette
  • Erik Enberg
Production
company		Mike Kellogg
Produced byJennifer Wilson
CountryUnited States

The video advertisement was considered successful among YouTube users, journalists, and marketing professionals, earning four million views in its first month and exceeding awareness expectations. The advertisement received multiple awards and recognition, particularly for having inspired future advertisements by other companies.

Video

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The YouTube advertisement features gameplay of the video game Wario Land: Shake It![a] showing Wario going through various parts of the game. As various impacts occur in the video, the surrounding elements (such as recommended videos, video descriptions, and YouTube functions) begin to degrade and fall apart. Coins and other objects also come out of the video frame and spread across the webpage. The video ends with the game's logo crashing on top of the YouTube video, causing it to fall into a pile of page elements. Viewers could pick up elements that fell around the page with their cursor, dragging and dropping them. Certain elements can still be interacted with, such as the "share" and "favorite" buttons. The video page will return to normal upon being refreshed.[1]

History

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The trailer was released in 2008, and was an "interactive first" for YouTube.[2] Its creative directors were Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein of marketing company Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. Its art direction was handled by Bryan Houlette, whose assistant art director was Erik Enberg. It was produced by the production company Mike Kellogg; its producer was Jennifer Wilson and its copywriter was Nat Lawlor. The video was created for YouTube in part because of the perception that YouTube was where kids may go to look into video games. The destruction of the surrounding page was done with this game because it reflected Wario's destructive nature.[3] YouTube was initially skeptical about an ad that destroyed their website. YouTube changed its mind eventually due to its apparent creative and marketing merit.[4] The campaign was created to appeal to teenagers and had a budget of $80,000.[2] The video was one part of the marketing campaign for the game, which also included a competition at Six Flags and a gasoline giveaway.[5][6] The ad was removed from YouTube upon the release of a documentary-style YouTube ad for Punch-Out!! for the Wii, created by the same marketing team.[7][8]

Reception

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The YouTube ad campaign was well-received by marketing professionals and gaming blogs. It was awarded silver in the 88th edition of The Art Directors Annual,[3] and won gold and bronze in the Viral and Rich Media Advertising categories, respectively, at the 2009 Clio Awards,[9][10][11] where it was also shortlisted for Animation.[12] It was successful with the teenage demographic it aimed for, achieving 24 percent awareness despite an initial goal of 12–15 percent.[2] The ad received a lot of attention, accumulating four million views in its first month. It was the first ad of its kind, leading to similar ads in the following months.[2] A YouTube representative told the team behind the ad that it caused them to receive a number of calls from advertisers questioning why this function was not made available to them.[2] Authors Damian Ryan and Calvin Jones believed that the success of the ad reflected that Internet users actively avoided "run-of-the-mill" ads, stating that marketers needed to create engaging, creative ads like this ad to draw attention.[2] Despite this positive reception, the ad failed to push the sales of the game to hit the pre-goal number of 350,000 units by the end of 2008, which the campaign team attributed to the Great Recession and low game sales across the board.[2]

The video has received positive reception from video game writers as well. Kotaku writer Mike Fahey called the ad "genius", finding it more interesting than the accompanying free gasoline campaign.[13] Destructoid writer Colette Burnett felt that it would be memorable for its viewers. Burnett, along with Wired writer Chris Kohler and Joystiq writer Ross Miller, found it to be a clever ad, with the latter calling it a "fun surprise".[14][15][16] CNET writer Josh Lowensohn considered the marketing campaign a memorable one, calling it "mind-bogglingly cool".[1] Following its removal, a Kombo writer expressed sadness that the only way it would be seen is through non-interactive YouTube videos, calling it Nintendo's best advertisement ever. They hoped that someone would be able to clone the page.[7]

A Niconico user utilized an exploit in the Flash compatibility of the website using a script that connects Flash to JavaScript to destroy the HTML once the user hits a button that warns the viewer to never touch. The script was created after being inspired by the Wario Land: Shake It! ad.[17]

Notes

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  1. ^ Known as Wario Land: The Shake Dimension in Australia and Europe

References

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  1. ^ a b Lowensohn, Josh (October 8, 2008). "Forget AdSense on YouTube, give me explosions". CNET. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Ryan, Damian; Jones, Calvin (2011). The Best Digital Marketing Campaigns in the World: Mastering The Art of Customer Engagement. Kogan Page Publishers. pp. 91–94. ISBN 978-0749460631.
  3. ^ a b The Art Directors Annual 88: Advertising Design Illustration Interactive Photography. Rockport Publishers. 2010. p. 312. ISBN 978-2888930853.
  4. ^ One Show Interactive, Volume XII. Rockport Publishers. pp. 25, 42. ISBN 1610593316.
  5. ^ McWhertor, Michael (September 29, 2008). "Wait... Nintendo Was Handing Out Wario Mustaches?". Kotaku. Archived from the original on May 11, 2019. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
  6. ^ Fahey, Mike (September 22, 2008). "Nintendo Gives Away Free Gas In LA...Didn't We Just Write This?". Kotaku. Archived from the original on May 11, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
  7. ^ a b "R.I.P., Wario Land: Shake It! YouTube Ad". GameZone. May 4, 2012. Archived from the original on May 11, 2019. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
  8. ^ Good, Owen (May 10, 2009). "Punch-Out!! Documentary Ad Walks the Dog". Kotaku. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  9. ^ "4 Grand CLIOs in Emerging Media". Adweek. May 14, 2009. Archived from the original on December 13, 2018. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
  10. ^ "Wario Land Shake It! – Viral". Clio Awards. Archived from the original on May 3, 2025. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
  11. ^ "Wario Land Shake It! – Rich Media Advertising". Clio Awards. Archived from the original on May 3, 2025. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
  12. ^ "Wario Land Shake It! – Animation". Clio Awards. Archived from the original on February 15, 2025. Retrieved May 4, 2025.
  13. ^ Fahey, Mike (September 23, 2008). "Wario Land Marketing Shakes Up YouTube". Kotaku. Archived from the original on May 11, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
  14. ^ Burnett, Colette (September 23, 2009). "Nintendo gets clever on YouTube with some viral marketing with Wario". Destructoid. Archived from the original on September 22, 2015. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  15. ^ Kohler, Chris (September 23, 2008). "Video: Wario's Smashing YouTube Debut". Wired. Archived from the original on December 22, 2016. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  16. ^ Miller, Ross (September 23, 2008). "GDC09: Joystiq interviews Nintendo's Denise Kaigler about Nintendo and 'the core,' DS coexistence". Engadget. Archived from the original on May 18, 2021. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  17. ^ "「ニコ動」「YouTube」の画面が崩壊!?". IT Media. October 3, 2008. Archived from the original on January 26, 2025. Retrieved March 23, 2025.
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