By Brice Sanderford | June 2, 2010
Good ideas can come in all shapes and forms; they can be well thought out and meticulously sculpted, or hectically thrown together on a whim and a good feeling. Just ask Matt Harding, the creator and star of the Internet video sensation “Where the Hell is Matt” as well as several other creative videos. Matt’s video’s take him all over the world where he may display some questionable dance moves, but presents them in locations that are so strikingly beautiful and unique that no one really seems to care. Matt’s dance moves took him to all corners of the earth and include locations such as Paris, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Seoul, and Kuwait. According to Matt, since the start of his Journey back in 2003, he has since been to all 7 continents, visited 55 countries, received a sponsorship from Stride Gum and been hired by Visa to star in their upcoming Travel Happy campaign.
Matt started filming videos of himself doing his now famous dance, when one of his travel buddies told him to do the dance on camera. When the comedic potential of Matt’s dancing was discovered, it was decided that more dancing shots should be filmed, and eventually a short film was compiled. His second film “Where the Hell is Matt (2006)” garnered a much larger response, as it featured him dancing at 36 famous landmarks all over the world, and was able to spread around the internet thanks to the arrival of video sharing network Youtube. To date that video has accumulated more than 15,000,000 views.
However, it was what Matt decided to do on his third and most successful video that is the reason for this article. Now with the status of Internet celebrity, and with the secure backing of an enthusiastic sponsor, Matt reached out to his fans with the help of his website. He asked his fans that would like to have their country visited and be featured dancing in his next video, to email him with their location and a time to meet. The results that followed are not only staggering but moving on an emotional level as well. In “Where the Hell is Matt (2008)” Matt visited an amazing 69 locations, and filmed himself dancing with thousands of people all over the world. With the addition of his tactic to include local people dancing in the video, Matt’s third film’s views skyrocketed to 29,000,000.
Matt had the wisdom to realize that what he was offering, a fun and lighthearted video of a lone man dancing all over the world, had much more reach and appeal if he included not just himself but hundreds of others who love to dance. Using the power of the Internet and the amazing ability for people to connect on social networks, Matt reached out to those who loved his video and gave them the opportunity to join in on the fun. Matt’s video shows in the most touching of ways that people love to interact and to be a part of something. With the inclusion of more people in his video to not only make the film more interesting, but also to have the film shared exponentially across the web by those who participated, the third installment of “Where the Hell is Matt” saw its total number of views double when compared to the 2006 film.
The same thing is being done in the business world every day, as the ever growing power and reach of social media allows businesses to connect with their customers like never before. If anything Matt has shown the business world that if you can create a product that people want and find interesting, and give them a way to share it and even participate in it, than your end result will always be greater than if you chose to go at it alone. So before you start your next marketing campaign or update your business scheme for the next financial quarter, remember Matt’s advice, and get as many of your customers and fans involved as possible.
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I had already watched “Where the Hell is Matt” 2008, but I didn’t know the story behind it. And wow, what an interesting story.
This story is like reading Seth Godin’s book Tribes, and build a tribe and involve them when possible.
Great advice, and awesome article.
What strikes me when I watch the videos of “Where the Hell is Matt” is how easy it seems to create viral videos. The hard part is the idea
When I first started reading the post I didn’t really understand why you wrote it. It seemed that it had nothing to do with social media. Then you got me to visit the Where in the World is Matt videos. This is the first time I have seen them, I really have to start learning how to use social media networks properly because right now I am really unsure how to go about it. But, your right Matt took what he knew already worked and added his fans and followers to it to improve it. Great post!
Hi Gilbert,
Wonderful, I’m glad you enjoyed it!