Video effects by Logitech, the digital toolmaker, are receiving quite a viral marketing boost from YouTube.com and a quirky home movie produced by a 17-year-old girl.
“Breakup” was the third most-watched clip Wednesday on video-upload site YouTube, one of the Internet’s fastest growing Web sites. The 75-second clip, which has generated more than 100,000 page views in two days, is little more than a young girl discussing a recent breakup with her boyfriend.
As “Bowiechick,” a YouTube username, discusses her plight, she switches with a click of a button between visual effects. One minute, she appears to be wearing glasses, the next minute it looks as if she put on a gas mask. At one point, she dons feline eyes and nose.
Of the more than 600 comments posted about “Breakup” on YouTube, dozens were requests for information on how the effects were created. “Wow, what movie maker is that?” asked one of Bowiechick’s fans. “Sorry about your break up.”
Bowiechick didn’t respond to interview requests by CNET News.com. But in her YouTube profile, she writes that she shot her video with Logitech’s Quickcam Orbit MP, which Amazon.com offers for $104.
Nancy Morrison, a Logitech spokeswoman, said software called Logitec Video Effects is behind the nifty images. The software, which the company launched last August, features animated avatars that can make a user look like a Martian, a Great White shark, or Santa Clause. The software tracks a user’s face and stay in position even when the user moves, says Morrison.
“The software maps to about 16 points on your face,” Morrison said. “When you turn your head, the effects turn with you.”
Logitech offers almost 100 different avatars and all are available for download at Logitech.com . Four of the company’s Web cameras: QuickCam Fusion, QuickCam for Notebooks Pro and QuickCam Pro 5000, come equipped with the software.
While it’s too early to tell whether Bowiechick has impacted Logitec sales, it’s plain that many more people are aware of the company’s visual graphics as a result of her video. Though only a teenager, Bowiechick may be an expert in the practice of “viral marketing,” where companies try to exploit online social networks to create brand awareness.
“That was really funny,” wrote one Bowiechick fan. “I wish I had a webcam cool enough to make me a kitty.”
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