Let's bees really cool and produce a viral video. No, let's please not.

I've nothing against bees. Well, I don't like it when they sting me. And I get a bit nervous when they're in close proximity to me...because the risk of them stinging me increases exponentially. But that's not to say I no longer want them around.

And right now the fact that they're not around has scientists scratching their heads--they can't understand why honey bees are just *poof!* dying out. It's very concerning being it's happening overnight, as usually we get a bit of a warning before species go extinct.

Bad enough we have so many beautiful animals going extinct due to reasons that we understand--like our poor polar bears who, due to climate change melting so much ice, drown because they grow so tired from swimming so far in search of some ice to rest upon.

But now we have another species dying for reasons unknown. So Haagen-Dazs has taken up the mission of spreading awareness on this epidemic. And that's a good thing. In fact, if consumers buy their "bee-dependent" flavors of ice cream they'll donate more to research. Another good move--I like it when companies align socially responsible initiatives with everyday purchases.

But please don't be fooled into thinking that this is a purely altruistic measure, or "do-good" branding tactic...it's for the bottom line. You see, nearly 40% of their yummy flavors need the honey, nuts and fruit that the honey bees facilitate (bees aren't just for honey; we need their nectar for peaches, blueberries and many more fruits). So saving the bees and saving the brand go hand-in-hand. And they have a nicely done web site about it right here.

And then they have this very peculiar video on it (video is below).

I guess someone thought "Since bees do a funky little dance when they spread their nectar, and we humans can dance like crazy, then let's make it really cool and, um, 'keep it real yo', by creating this dancing bee video."

And then people will say "Yo, those bees sure can dance and we should care more about saving them." Then I guess, the reasoning goes, that after watching the video, consumers will buy more ice cream since it supports a good cause.

But I do not think that's what people will takeaway from this particular video. It's just so completely ill-aligned with the web site and the campaign's other messaging.

Now, I admit that this video does make me laugh and it has engaged me. But I'm engaged in laughing at them, not caring more about the cause or buying more Haagen-Dazs ice cream.

My thought? Perhaps we should put this video in a time capsule and then 1,000 years from now when they look back to see how we worked to solve this problem they'll intuit, "Apparently, 21st century Fortune 500 marketers figured that placing dancing humans dressed-up as hip-hop bees on YouTube was an effective tactic."

And then maybe that will give them a few extra laughs, too. (Wouldn't it be great to be a honey bee on the wall at that meeting?)

Drew Mclellan--who is, in fact, the bee's knees--has a far better analysis of it here. By the way, it may be a virus that is the culprit of the honeybee epidemic, learn more here. In any case, here's the video-- email and RSS subscribers please click through to the blog for your share of dancing bees ;-).

Comments

[Evette]

"Apparently, 21st century Fortune 500 marketers figured that placing dancing humans dressed-up as hip-hop bees on YouTube was an effective tactic."

^ I would love to see that when it happens, because it's probably going to. I think Haagen-Dazs inadvertently achieved their goal of awareness-- I've seen more than a few posts on the topic now just because the video is so BAD. Ends justifying the means?

[CK]

Hey Evette: You know, the video will likely garner awareness (we marketers are aware just because we like to analyze everything ;-). But we're quickly coming to realize that there's "buzz" and then then there's "buzz + results". I'm not confident--silly as this video is--that it will get the results that HD is looking for.

I hope for our poor bees that it does--and the new research pointing to that it might be a virus is some good news being scientists are starting to figure out why this is happening (and will hopefully figure out the cure for it to cease).

[CK]

For a far more subdued video, here's what Burt's Bees is doing (they giveaway a free packet of seeds to consumers--and they've also started their own "Colony Collapse Disorder lipbalm" that consumers can buy with profits going to research).

Here's the PSA: http://youtube.com/watch?v=unca1QR3nLs