This Crazy Video of Neymar Jr is Going Viral

This is not a joke, but what do you get if you combine a football superstar, an extreme martial artist, a world freestyle football champion, a football trickshot champion and a martial art that combines acrobatics and dancing? The answer is you get a visually stunning video that has gone viral and views more like a work of art than an advert for a new concept in online poker. It has proven to be an advertising dream for PokerStars as viewers around the world marvel at what these people can do with a football.

Adverts where you notice the production and skill featured in it first and the product second are the modern way to promote things. Steve Jobs at Apple first introduced the concept of you being swept along by the artistry and the dream of what you are witnessing before introducing the product itself. He ensured the promotion of the product was always kept subtle and this approach is mirrored in many adverts we watch today. In this sense, Neymar Jr’s video is a complete win for PokerStars. Add social media to the mix and the result is that the video has been watched over 1 million times since it was posted only five days ago. Mission accomplished for PokerStars!

The video is restricted in the UK because of gambling advertising restrictions but (hint-hint) it is viewable in its entirety by visiting Neymar Jr’s Facebook page. The video has gone “viral”, which means everyone has gone completely nuts over it, sharing it across their networks to their friends and followers in the hope they watch it and enjoy it too. The sharing of the video, which is completely intentional on PokerStars part, turns every user into freelance advertisers for PokerStars and is the reason such careful thought goes into producing a video that people want to watch and want their friends to watch it too. So far the video has had 105,000 “reactions” which includes 11,400 shares and 1,500 comments. Most of these comments contain the word “wow” or something along those lines.

So why the fuss? The video features Neymar Jr, who last May joined PokerStars’ growing “SportStars” team as a global ambassador, World Football Freestyle Champion Andrew Henderson, Extreme Martial Artist Jonny Caines and Football Trickshot Specialist Liam Coyte. They combine Capoeria, a Brazilian martial art that combines dance, acrobatics and music, with Football and after some complex dance moves that you really would not want to attempt if you are not very flexible indeed, they strike a ball accurately towards a target with the knockout poker logo on it, whereupon impact the target explodes into a cloud of orange dust. There is also some clever tricks with the ball on a moving escalator, where they make it look very easy indeed. The video concludes by encouraging twitter users to join in the conversation about PokerStars’ latest gaming concept by utilising the hashtag #kopoker. You finish watching the video thinking “that was really cool” and you want to be part of it. PokerStars lets you know they have the perfect way for you to be a part of it, you can play knockout poker!

I often watch the best footballers in the world during a match and despite my own average skillset I marvel at the way they create space for themselves and play with such skill. They make it look so easy so I think to myself “I can do that.” After watching this amazing video, I did not think “I can do that” in terms of their skills with the football but I was intrigued enough to want to find out more about what knockout poker is and I logged into PokerStars to read more about it.

Knockout Poker is a new concept that adds a bounty style element to Sit and Go tournaments. Players earn a bounty if they knock another player out of the tournament and you gain this prize even if you do not cash in the tournament itself. This encourages action as you have something to gain by taking a chance to knock out an opponent. In knockout poker, 50% of the prize pool is set aside for the bounties so you need to be knocking players out as well as finishing high in the tournament to maximize your return. PokerStars have made knockout poker accessible to all players with buy-ins starting from as low as $0.55 and they are available across a number of formats including Turbo, Hyper-Turbo and Regular.

This very well may be the best example I have seen so far of a promotional video. This will please PokerStars senior management, as I imagine it cost quite a bit to make, especially if they had to clear up the orange powdered paint afterwards! Have a watch, you won’t regret it.