Brands all over the world are trying to create branded content. In this latest example, Volvo Trucks to showcase their dynamic steering feature decided to use a hamster to show how lite it is to steer their entire truck up a mountain.
The video has got over 4 million views and stands as a testament to how a product that very few would watch online, could be transformed into something worth watching for everyone.
A security team clears the street in a quiet neighborhood. Neighbors step outside. Then a tiny convoy rolls in. 193 miniature “money trucks”, each loaded with 1-cent coins, drives up to the winner’s home and unloads one million cents into a growing pile in the driveway. It is a cash delivery staged like a movie scene, except the payoff is real.
Celebrate a social milestone by turning “one million” into a physical spectacle people can watch, share, and retell.
Over the last couple of years I have seen a handful of brands reach the 1 million fans milestone. To celebrate, most of them create really nice and innovative thank-you videos. A good example is Tic Tac “Likes” Matt. Media Markt hits the same milestone, but takes a very different route. It turns the number into a physical stunt people can watch, share, and retell.
Media Markt on reaching 1 million fans on Facebook launched a contest: “How many small trucks do you need to transport 1,000,000 cents?” The activation was created by Ogilvy & Mather Frankfurt.
The mechanic is deliberately basic: one question, one number, one prize framed as a million small units. It is easy to participate, and easy to share.
The winner does not receive a bank transfer. She receives €10,000 as 1-cent coins, delivered using the exact number of miniature trucks the contest asks people to estimate.
The delivery is filmed as a “cash-in-transit” moment: security clearing streets, convoy arriving, coins dumped into a heap. The documentation becomes the story asset that travels beyond Facebook.
“One million fans” is abstract. One million coins is instantly legible, and the convoy makes the number feel even bigger.
Announcement. Guessing phase. Winner selection. Convoy “journey” updates. Final delivery video. The campaign creates multiple moments people can follow, not one single post.
Electronics retail competes in a world of deals and hype. This behaves like a deal, but acts like a story. The spectacle fits the loud, “big gesture” brand posture without needing product claims.
If you want people to care about a community milestone, do not announce the number. Stage the number. Make it participatory, then make the payoff visual enough that the community wants to distribute it for you.
A Facebook contest asks fans to guess how many miniature trucks are needed to transport one million cents.
€10,000 delivered as 1,000,000 one-cent coins, transported by 193 miniature trucks.
Because it closes the loop. The answer is not just “correct”. It becomes the logistics and the spectacle of the payout.
Ogilvy & Mather Frankfurt.
Turn a social milestone into a simple prediction game, then make the reward delivery so visual that it becomes the main distribution asset.
You are doing your shopping in a mall, and you spot a giant Mikado dispenser. Above it, a message scrolls: “Une envie de Mikado ? Vous ne devriez pas…”. A free box is right there. The temptation is immediate. People hesitate for half a second, then they reach for it anyway.
The moment the “victim” takes the Mikado, reality shifts. In a beat, they “fall” into an absurd, high-stakes scene. A nightmare wedding. A robbery. A knife-throwing scenario. Six variations. Each one staged to make a single point feel physical: Mikado is hard to resist, even when you are warned not to.
Turn “irresistible” from a claim into a public dilemma. Then prove it by watching people choose temptation in front of everyone.
This is a deliberately simple setup with a brutal logic loop:
The dispenser invites you, then immediately tells you not to do it. That contradiction creates tension and curiosity in the exact moment of decision.
When the actor takes the box, they “drop” into a surreal scenario. The audience in the mall watches the fall. Then they watch the scene unfold. The humor is the proof mechanic.
The campaign runs as a set of videos with multiple protagonists and outcomes. The variety matters because it turns one stunt into a format.
At the end of the video experience, you can choose who becomes the next “victim.” That interactive twist is not a gimmick. It reinforces the theme: you are part of the temptation chain.
The campaign does not explain why Mikado is irresistible. It sets up a moment where resisting is the story.
“You shouldn’t” is what makes people want to do it. The copy creates the tension. The action resolves it.
People do not only watch the “victim.” They watch the crowd. The social proof is built into the scene itself.
If you want a product attribute to stick, stop describing it. Build a situation where people demonstrate it for you. Especially when the attribute is emotional (irresistible, addictive, impossible to ignore), the most persuasive proof is behavior under temptation.
A public dispenser offers free Mikado while warning you not to take it. When someone does, the stunt flips into a staged “consequence” scenario that proves irresistibility.
Because a single stunt becomes a repeatable content format. Six outcomes keep it watchable and shareable.
Viewers can choose the next “victim” at the end of the video experience, extending participation beyond the mall moment.
Design a public “temptation test” where the desired product truth is demonstrated through behavior, not explained through messaging.
If the consequence feels mean-spirited or unsafe, the tension flips from funny to uncomfortable. The stunt has to stay playful.
