Old Meets New... Social Media Style

One of my favorite ad campaigns ever was the series of Budweiser "Wassup" tv commercials featuring three dudes hanging out in their apartments talking on the phone. I wasn't the only one that appreciated this campaign and before long, there were dozens of mashups mimicking the "Yo Dookie, pick up the phone..." line. Of these many "Wassup" mashups, I had two particular favorites. The first was the super hero version, a video that my friend, Joe Quinan, and I easily watched 200 hundred times during a week with our wives in the Turks & Caicos back in 2000.



The second "Wassup" ad that became one of my instant was the "What Are You Doing" (or yuppy mix) version of the original. Again, this video was re-played over and over with my friend Joe on vacation in 2001 (also in Turks & Caicos with our wives). It's not quite as humorous now but you get the picture.



Now along comes the final installment in the trilogy, and one with a social conscience (dual meaning here). To be honest, it's hard to top this video and its commentary on the current economic and political happenings. Second, it has already gone viral (1M hits in two days) and at the risk of giving the punchline away, it is a big time endorsement for Barrack Obama. Interestingly enough, the video was put together by the original creator of the "Wassup" ad, Charles Stone III, nine years after he created the first "True" and "Wassup" videos (later picked up by BBD Chicago and Budweiser.



What's particularly cool in this case is that Charles Stone and his buddies are taking one of the more popular memes of the early 2000's and not only putting it to good use (endorsing change) but also tapping into the power of one of the biggest "social" engines around in Youtube.

My money says that you will see this video a WHOLE lot more before election night. Kudos to sir Charles and his merry band of "wassup-ers!"