Sitting in dusty Delhi as a little girl in 1981, I saw the world come to a standstill because there was a royal wedding in faraway London. Yessir, I have grown up with the knowledge that however irrelevant monarchy may be today, it's a story that sells.
Little wonder then that everyone is tripping over himself to make hay while the sun shines over this century's happy Royal couple William and Kate, who will wed next week. Mobile service phone provider T Mobile has one bright idea. Catch it here:
In this new online exclusive ad, T mobile has drawn inspiration from a viral video hit from the summer of 2009. US couple Jill Peterson and Kevin Heinz's home video - JK Wedding Entrance Dance - posted on YouTube soon after their wedding, has had over 64 million views. And not one of those times was I the one that clicked it to play. What a delightful discovery today.
On this video, which went viral within days of Heinz posting it for family and friends to watch in July 2009, the entire wedding party, ushers, bridesmaids, groomsmen dance down the aisle to Chris Brown's Forever. The groom summersaults in and the bride sways down the aisle. This then is today's real Catch, two years after it was posted. YouTube's third most popular video of 2009:
Heinz and Peterson, who say they practiced for all of one-and-a-half hours, got instant celebrity, even appearing on the Today Show and dancing on it for good measure. So popular did the video become that it prompted a parody a few days later called the JK Divorce Entrance Dance.
The T mobile Royal wedding dance ad, released last Friday, has Royal lookalikes dancing in, but this time to music from East 17. Chris Brown's Forever may seem very apt, but the singer's image clearly does not lend itself to the grand Royal celebration. T-mobile posted the video on YouTube wishing William and Kate a "long and happy marriage." This video has already been viewed over 4 million times.
Even the hilarious divorce spoof managed 8 million views. Worth watching.
The JK entrance dance caught the imagination of people all over the world. The Wiki on the dance says in the week after it was posted on YouTube, Chris Brown's Forever hit no 4 on iTunes and number 3 on Amazon.com. Now T Mobile is set to cash in.
Jill and Kevin, young and fun-loving, made some people rich. I hope their story is a forever one.
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