lifestyle

WATCH: 11 million hits in 5 days. This is how you do it.

Old Spice man on a horse, Imma let you finish.

But what does it take to become the most-watched Australian ad OF ALL TIME?

This. A cute cartoon and a song about the dumbest ways to die. The ad was made by Victoria’s Metro Trains (who would have picked that?) and it’s designed to stop people from doing stupid things like dying from avoidable train-related deaths. It was uploaded on Friday and has already amassed more than eleven million hits.

Take a look. (WARNING: The song is super catchy and will plague you for the rest of the day.)

Media website Mumbrella interviewed YouTube Australia’s Karen Stocks about why the video has been so successful.

She said: “The number of views on mobile devices has been staggering. Far more than we’ve seen in the past for other viral videos. Which could be explained by the rapid uptake of tablets in Australia.”

Stocks singled out three reasons why the video has gone viral.

“A snappy headline. A catchy tune that gets stuck in your head. And a message that it easy to understand and perfectly targeted,” she said.

“It’s also very shareable,” Stocks added.

Exposure of the video is expected to rise further this week, when media buying behind the campaign starts.

What did you think of the video? Do you think it will be effective in getting its message across?