ROBOCOP Viral Video Featuring ED-209 – You Have 20 Seconds To Comply

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Warmed to the latest model of the Robocop franchise yet? No? I suspect legions of ’80s kids are with you on that one. Nothing irks the callused-yet-sentimental hearts of the New Wave generation like exploiting our nostalgia for a quick buck.

But nothing wins their hearts quite so well as a damn good viral video.

Even after tapping some of the favorite edgy actors of the ’90s – Gary Oldman and Samuel L. Jackson – for the cast, the Robocopy still had droves of critics among the fan base crucial to its success: Thirty-something hipsters. So the marketing cadre bearing the Robocop banner launched its first assault on the original Internet kid’s weak spot – YouTube.

Running a trim 58 seconds, the RoboCop viral video is perfectly suited to squeeze in between action items at your cubicle. This is a conscious decision, of course. And so was the inclusion of a certain under-appreciated celebrity of the RoboCop mythos, ED-209.

http://youtu.be/dztELFt8uUU

Whether it’s his brainless destructive power or his pet-like demeanor, ED-209 has a lot of fans among my age group. For a kill-bot, ED is downright endearing. He sports a missile array and a dotty decision-making ability that sees him swinging between total annihilation and total obedience. What’s not to like?

So you simply could not have a RoboCop viral marketing video without ED. It’s not like you’re going to cram a significant character into it – they were, for the most part, rather boring, with the exception of the guy who got turned into a mutant by toxic waste and was smooshed by a truck.

Nope, it’s ED-209 – or at least the “I’ll Buy That For A Dollar” guy – if you want to charm us.

And charm us, they shall. After having been snuck onto the Web less than two days ago, the video has already hit 6-digit views.

Expect exponential exposure soon.

Also, expect more videos. The ad for ED – and for an upcoming “RC-2000″ cyborg that is, presumably, RoboCop himself – is part of a product line video gallery for OmniCorp, the fictional mega-corporation that’s the real Big Bad of the franchise. Now the fictional corporation has a very real, very neat Web site, http://www.omnicorp.com/, of course.

The quantity of graphics, layout and functionality there suggest there’s more to come. I doubt the RoboCop remake marketing crew would blow that quantity of talent constructing a throw-away Web site for a single ED-209 video.

You can count they’ll take a few more shots for the social-media video market in the year to come before the film’s release. This marketing machine is taking no prisoners. ED-209 would be proud.