I came across this video on YouTube yesterday and at the time of writing it’s had 1.46 million views in less than a week, as well as nearly 4,500 user comments and 13,500 “likes”. (Update: As of 29 August, it’s now had 5.3 million views).

It goes like this (spoiler alert!)… a group of friends are gathered on a rooftop. A guy called Josh makes a brief speech to his girlfriend, asks for a ring to be thrown over to him, but as he tries to catch it he falls over the wall and his girlfriend fears the worst. However, when she runs over to peer over the balcony, he’s cleverly lying at the bottom on top of an inflated pad with signs saying “will you marry me?”

A great idea and quite an entertaining video! But is everything what it seems?

  • Why is everyone drinking what looks like a sports drink, instead of say beer, wine, water, etc?
  • Why does Josh always hold the bottle with the Neuro label facing the camera?
  • Why does everyone have a different colour bottle? Is this to show variety and catch your eye more?
  • Why is the film so professionally produced from various angles?
  • Are they really all good friends, or does it look a bit staged?

One website says they’ve spoke to the creators: “The video is real, not a viral ad, despite what many think. Brooke worked for Neuro and happened to have the cases at the party.”

Well, I’m pretty convinced it’s a clever viral marketing video for Neuro. But I love it!

It just shows what can be achieved in terms of exposure on a very small budget. Right, I’m off to buy some Neuro drink…!