May 28 2008
Jeremy Schoemaker

Nintendo Wii Workout “Hot Girlfriend” Viral Video

By Jeremy Schoemaker 116 comments

I noticed today on the Digg Most Dugg stories there was one on “Why you should buy your girlfriend Wii Workout” which had a thumbnail of some girl in her underwear and a video symbol. For research purposes I followed and watched it. Here so you have a frame of reference give it a watch.

Pretty good. I can see how this would make some guys want to rush our and purchase the Wii Workout. Err I guess that is what Nintendo had on its mind when they hired the Tinsley Advertising company to make this video for them.

The first clue to me was the username on YouTube: tinsleyadvertising

Then a quick search on the Tinsley Advertising site lead me to the employee page where I found 1 guy who looked very similar to the guy in the video. His name is Giovanny Gutierrez.

From Gio’s Bio:

Giovanny Gutierrez
Director of Interactive Media

Gio comes from the future. He is perfectly versed in most programming languages, dreams in code and can’t sleep when his pixels aren’t in order.

As Tinsley’s Director of Interactive Media, he creates web, e-mail and interactive marketing solutions that perfectly integrate with television, radio and print campaigns. Gio is a master of e-commerce, having created web portals for scores of businesses. He was founder and creative director of web-design firm Ionic Studios, teaches digital web programming at Miami-Dade College, is a certified Macromedia Developer, an Apple Certified System Administrator and a Certified Internet Webmaster. He’s also won numerous awards and accolades in the web design circuit.

Gio will be your point man on anything even remotely futuristic. Be nice to him or he will hack into your bank account.

Then doing a quick search on flicker with those tags we come across some interesting photos also tagged as tinsley which also give us clues as to who the girl is in the video. It appears to be another tinsley employee named Lauren Bernat.

Here are the photos captured from flickr:

tinsley advertising

Photo Credits here here here

Brilliant and subtle advertising viral ad. I actually have no proof it was a paid Nintendo spot…. If it is not it should have been. Everyone should tweet @Giovanny and congratulate him on a well done viral video.

  1. Nate Hill said on May 28th, 2008 at 4:40 pm

    Wow! good detective skills … it all seems pretty convincing
    genius … keep it up :)

    [Reply]

  2. blogstheme.com said on May 28th, 2008 at 4:41 pm

    She’s hot!

    [Reply]

  3. Jagdeep said on May 28th, 2008 at 4:44 pm

    most viral videos are from paid ad companies IMO, its just that some companies are better at hiding it

    [Reply]

  4. Lawrence said on May 28th, 2008 at 5:04 pm

    Filith! watch GodTube to purify today’s sex and materialistic world

    [Reply]

  5. Jagdeep said on May 28th, 2008 at 5:06 pm

    so whose gonna be first to post that this is also a link bait digg story lol

    [Reply]

  6. Stak Loaded - How to make money doing nothing! said on May 28th, 2008 at 5:06 pm

    Wtf? Did this dude actually just say “godtube” LOL

    [Reply]

  7. Lawrence said on May 28th, 2008 at 5:09 pm

    GodTube…yes, that’s correct. Balieve it, playa

    [Reply]

  8. JustFred said on May 28th, 2008 at 5:12 pm

    Dude, godtube is real, but not as real as FSM

    [Reply]

  9. Website Reveiws said on May 28th, 2008 at 5:18 pm

    Well, as hot as she is, and as great as that movement is, I do not feel like buying a wii.. .oh well, maybe I am just old and out of touch!

    [Reply]

  10. Brian said on May 28th, 2008 at 5:30 pm

    that video is obviously photo shopped - that’s clearly shoemoney working the wii and Dillsmack enjoying the action :-)

    [Reply]

  11. Link Snitch said on May 28th, 2008 at 5:34 pm

    Wow, very nice find.

    [Reply]

  12. petnos said on May 28th, 2008 at 6:00 pm

    she is hot, yes. but she is crazy i think. very crazy.

    [Reply]

  13. Ben said on May 28th, 2008 at 6:01 pm

    I would make the clip way shorter or increase the variety in the workout.

    [Reply]

  14. Start Blogging said on May 28th, 2008 at 6:03 pm

    Hilarious. :) And hot too!

    [Reply]

  15. Samir said on May 28th, 2008 at 6:05 pm

    Nice work Jeremy, I better go get the Wii and Wii fit

    [Reply]

  16. Sam I Am said on May 28th, 2008 at 6:07 pm

    Already keenly waiting the Nintendo retraction statement written by Lyndon. Or wait, will it be Youtube having him write the statement since the links are actually all over to their site… just plain beautiful!!! Well done research; we like.

    [Reply]

  17. Stak Loaded - How to make money doing nothing! said on May 28th, 2008 at 6:15 pm

    what in the world is a godtube

    [Reply]

  18. Link Snitch said on May 28th, 2008 at 6:18 pm

    Crazy for playing a Wii or crazy for being a chick?

    [Reply]

  19. chris said on May 28th, 2008 at 6:21 pm

    i can tell you 100% fact this was not a viral ad that nintendo got in on

    [Reply]

  20. jon said on May 28th, 2008 at 6:41 pm

    LOL… Shoe, you rank on Google (#10) for the Wii girl’s name “Lauren Bernat” already :)

    [Reply]

  21. MoneyBites said on May 28th, 2008 at 6:47 pm

    Ha ha, yeah, I’m not sure if Ninendo paid or if it is just a great way to get this companies name out there…

    [Reply]

  22. MoneyBites said on May 28th, 2008 at 6:47 pm

    I believe he means youtube, it’s just a pun on words….

    [Reply]

  23. OnTheSternSHowDOTcom said on May 28th, 2008 at 7:08 pm

    Awesome research!! The last pic is the winner!!

    [Reply]

  24. OnTheSternSHow said on May 28th, 2008 at 7:10 pm

    Awesome research!! Last pic is the winner !

    [Reply]

  25. Terry Tay said on May 28th, 2008 at 7:14 pm

    Put a sexy girl in her underwear in a video and there will always be plenty of guys (or even girls I would assume ;-) ) willing to take the video viral.
    ~Terry

    [Reply]

  26. Think Like An SOB said on May 28th, 2008 at 7:20 pm

    She looks better from the back.

    [Reply]

  27. Alex said on May 28th, 2008 at 7:24 pm

    AWESOME!!!!

    [Reply]

  28. team ray said on May 28th, 2008 at 7:29 pm

    she has no butt

    [Reply]

  29. Darren said on May 28th, 2008 at 7:32 pm

    Heck, I don’t care…that was sexy as hell.

    [Reply]

  30. Matthew said on May 28th, 2008 at 7:37 pm

    Man those are some uber detective skills. Did you go to school to learn how to use google?

    [Reply]

  31. Tim said on May 28th, 2008 at 7:42 pm

    Actually, if you were to Google it you’d see: GodTube is the premier, Christian video-driven social network where users find inspiration, interact, chat, share and upload Christian videos, …

    [Reply]

  32. Tim said on May 28th, 2008 at 7:43 pm

    Either it was paid or he isn’t getting enough campaigns and made that one to grab some attention. Either way it worked.

    [Reply]

  33. Shaun Carter said on May 28th, 2008 at 7:51 pm

    Great research Shoe! Definitely very interesting to see an organization like that behind a viral youtube video.

    [Reply]

  34. Gab Goldenberg said on May 28th, 2008 at 7:59 pm

    Aww come on Jeremy - why ya gotta harm their chances at gaining links?

    [Reply]

  35. Hustle Strategy said on May 28th, 2008 at 8:55 pm

    haha, good point.

    [Reply]

  36. Hustle Strategy said on May 28th, 2008 at 8:57 pm

    and of course the most important part…

    [Reply]

  37. jim said on May 28th, 2008 at 8:57 pm

    Don’t hate the player… very nice detective work.

    [Reply]

  38. Hustle Strategy said on May 28th, 2008 at 9:00 pm

    The first links title is “Mr. Lala (aka Giovanny Gutierrez) loves Lauren Bernat”

    [Reply]

  39. Stak Loaded - How to make money doing nothing! said on May 28th, 2008 at 9:01 pm

    Lol that’s … interesting :/

    [Reply]

  40. brevetoxin said on May 28th, 2008 at 9:15 pm

    I swear to god, Chris Hooley is in one of those pics. LOL

    [Reply]

  41. Bob said on May 28th, 2008 at 9:34 pm

    Oh Man! She’s is damn! hot….

    [Reply]

  42. Geiger said on May 28th, 2008 at 9:59 pm

    I don’t care if it’s a professional. I need one now. Obviously the equation is Wii = Hot Chicks!

    [Reply]

  43. Geiger said on May 28th, 2008 at 10:00 pm

    Thank God! … that I didn’t have to Google it to find out. Thanks for the info!

    [Reply]

  44. Tim said on May 28th, 2008 at 10:18 pm

    I’m in love.

    [Reply]

  45. Michael D said on May 28th, 2008 at 10:19 pm

    I love that you took the time to research and share this! I’ve been fascinated by the responses to Lyndons attention getting post. It’s a huge topic that’s only going to get more attention.

    [Reply]

  46. Bibokz said on May 28th, 2008 at 10:34 pm

    Whew!!! So hot in here… Gonna buy nintendo, hoping to get some hot chick also.. :P

    [Reply]

  47. Carl said on May 28th, 2008 at 10:53 pm

    lol the last pic is hotter than the video….. must go buy wii now….

    [Reply]

  48. Chetan said on May 28th, 2008 at 11:03 pm

    Great work there by Gio and team :) Wii looks hotter now ;)

    [Reply]

  49. Greg from Make Money Online said on May 28th, 2008 at 11:41 pm

    I could watch that video all day. That one of the best videos I have seen in a while.

    [Reply]

  50. ShoeMoney said on May 28th, 2008 at 11:50 pm

    there is no way this makes digg fp… shoemoney has been on autobury for like a year or so since we hit the front page every day for 5 days to prove how easy it was

    [Reply]

  51. martinsc said on May 28th, 2008 at 11:55 pm

    That’s marketing!
    great video, hot babe… ;-)

    [Reply]

  52. Nick said on May 29th, 2008 at 12:55 am

    That’s some pretty impressive research!

    [Reply]

  53. Peter said on May 29th, 2008 at 1:16 am

    I can only say the power of Google is simply amazing. You can actually find out a lot about people these days just by a couple minutes of search.

    [Reply]

  54. altek said on May 29th, 2008 at 1:23 am

    leave it to shoemoney to get to the bottom of things ;)

    [Reply]

  55. Sabrina said on May 29th, 2008 at 2:14 am

    I know them, and nintendo had nothing to do with it. It was just Gio being funny.

    [Reply]

  56. David Dunn said on May 29th, 2008 at 2:55 am

    Nice bit of detective work! :D

    [Reply]

  57. ultrasur1 said on May 29th, 2008 at 3:05 am

    good work. now let’s find that osama guy.

    no seriously, good detective skills

    [Reply]

  58. Web Marketeer said on May 29th, 2008 at 4:15 am

    Seriously nice butt on the lady, another classic example of “sex sells”, let’s face it. Your detective skills amaze me Jeremy, you’re truly an internet master!

    [Reply]

  59. wert said on May 29th, 2008 at 4:54 am

    Don’t hate the player… very nice detective work.

    [Reply]

  60. Język said on May 29th, 2008 at 5:17 am

    @Sabrina: Nonetheless it is a nice benefit for nintendo, even if not (n)intended. Personally I liked the video quite a bit.

    [Reply]

  61. Paul B said on May 29th, 2008 at 5:27 am

    It’s all good fun until your 16 stone mate decides to jump on and have a go at the hula leaving you mentally scarred for the rest of your life.

    [Reply]

  62. Barbara Ling said on May 29th, 2008 at 6:57 am

    Both an excellent marketing video…and also a superb sleuthing exercise as well.

    Amazing how one can connect the dots in ways the original ‘actors’ probably never imagined….

    Barbara

    [Reply]

  63. Mayank Rocks said on May 29th, 2008 at 6:58 am

    I have to agree with that lol

    [Reply]

  64. Mayank Rocks said on May 29th, 2008 at 6:59 am

    Godtube? LOL whats that?

    [Reply]

  65. Mayank Rocks said on May 29th, 2008 at 7:00 am

    haha…Shoemoney working? That sounds funny for some reasons :D

    [Reply]

  66. Mayank Rocks said on May 29th, 2008 at 7:00 am

    I like the last pic out there. Wow :P

    [Reply]

  67. Georgia said on May 29th, 2008 at 7:42 am

    Excellent cyber search. She’s a hottie for sure.

    [Reply]

  68. VaBeachKevin said on May 29th, 2008 at 7:56 am

    Looks like they added a post script to the video:
    “PS This is a personal video I made… I just work at Tinsley Advertising (not related to Nintendo whatsoever). However I’d love to do work for them :)

    [Reply]

  69. joe said on May 29th, 2008 at 8:04 am

    They did a good job with this. But how many games is it really going to move? This is more of a party trick than an advertsiing campaign.

    [Reply]

  70. Jay Wagers said on May 29th, 2008 at 8:04 am

    In the first Flickr photograph, the outfit she’s wearing, by the colors, looks like it could be a Shoemoney employee uniform.

    [Reply]

  71. CT Moore said on May 29th, 2008 at 8:10 am

    I want his job…

    [Reply]

  72. mle said on May 29th, 2008 at 8:38 am

    great find. it should be a nintendo ad for sure!

    [Reply]

  73. JD said on May 29th, 2008 at 8:39 am

    I quickly realized that $90 for Wii Fit was well worth it the first time my wife played the hula-hoop game. Thank you Nintendo!

    [Reply]

  74. Warenwirtschaft said on May 29th, 2008 at 9:25 am

    They seem to have funny jobs in this company. Where can i apply?

    [Reply]

  75. Link Snitch said on May 29th, 2008 at 9:50 am

    She isn’t the hottest thing, but you can get hypnotized by the movement of her hips for sure.

    [Reply]

  76. Best Videos said on May 29th, 2008 at 9:51 am

    lol.. what’s the purpose of this detectiveness ? :D
    time to change your job :mrgreen:

    [Reply]

  77. TheMystical said on May 29th, 2008 at 9:57 am

    Meh! She stills has her shirt on.

    [Reply]

  78. Goran Website said on May 29th, 2008 at 10:26 am

    I think that Wii has developed its own unique target audience that “games” like playstation and Xbox did not even think about. Its brilliant.

    [Reply]

  79. Goran Website said on May 29th, 2008 at 10:32 am

    I agree, some yoga movement would be great.

    [Reply]

  80. Marko said on May 29th, 2008 at 10:56 am

    I’m more impressed by the detective work and research then the actual video. Nice work Shoe.

    [Reply]

  81. mj said on May 29th, 2008 at 11:30 am

    Nice find. That girl looks pretty awesome by the way.
    When I first read the headline I thought it would be some guy putting the controller in front and pretending to do his girl…

    [Reply]

  82. shoemoneyisdumb said on May 29th, 2008 at 11:34 am

    wow brilliant detective work, it even says they guy is from a marketing company. how did you find this out!

    [Reply]

  83. Georgia said on May 29th, 2008 at 1:41 pm

    Don’t you know that sex sells. Men all over the world now will buy the Wii because it might, just maybe, get them laid.

    [Reply]

  84. Apoorv said on May 29th, 2008 at 2:02 pm

    Worrrrr, Nice find ShoeMoney :D

    The Girls Nice :p JK

    [Reply]

  85. Mark said on May 29th, 2008 at 2:03 pm

    What most people missed is that Tinsley Advertising company paid Shoemoney for this fake “busted” post, which is generating even more buzz and views.

    [Reply]

  86. Brian breslin said on May 29th, 2008 at 2:12 pm

    haha, thats awesome. I went to high school with the girl in the video.

    [Reply]

  87. Paul said on May 29th, 2008 at 2:35 pm

    Good investigation skills, great marketing skills!

    [Reply]

  88. Seo Dee said on May 29th, 2008 at 3:16 pm

    I spoke with the guy on messenger and he said that it wasn’t for WII, it was just a test video. He also said that the videos been featured on tv and he’s been interviewed all day. It’s rockin digg thats for sure!

    [Reply]

  89. ANONYMOUS said on May 29th, 2008 at 3:22 pm

    Meh, I did all that then asked her how it was going, and got a response:
    http://i31.tinypic.com/w80v1w.jpg

    Sounds like she just had a long, weird day.

    [Reply]

  90. Mike Huang said on May 29th, 2008 at 6:29 pm

    Too bad I sold 2 of my Wiis’ when it was in demand :(

    -Mike

    [Reply]

  91. Terry Tay said on May 29th, 2008 at 8:25 pm

    It’s amazing what the media goes after for an interview now a days.
    ~Terry

    [Reply]

  92. Apoorv said on June 1st, 2008 at 9:38 am

    The 3rd Picture is Awesome :D

    [Reply]

  93. Urban Wear Addict said on June 3rd, 2008 at 6:15 am

    She is pretty hot.

    [Reply]

  94. Web Design said on June 4th, 2008 at 3:44 am

    So they are together, nice ad anyway

    [Reply]

  95. Web Design said on June 4th, 2008 at 3:45 am

    2 replies? :D

    [Reply]

  96. Web Design said on June 4th, 2008 at 3:47 am

    He was showing us his detective skills! ;)

    [Reply]

  97. Web Design said on June 4th, 2008 at 3:49 am

    Yeah that’s right but how about the numa numa video? Nothing sexy in it haha

    [Reply]

  98. Web Design said on June 4th, 2008 at 3:50 am

    She has been working out too much :D

    [Reply]

  99. Web Design said on June 4th, 2008 at 3:52 am

    This has no sense imo, crazy for what?

    [Reply]

  100. Web Design said on June 4th, 2008 at 3:54 am

    That’s a great example of how viral something can go!

    [Reply]

  101. Web Design said on June 4th, 2008 at 3:56 am

    Google rules over the www and this won’t change anytime soon imo

    [Reply]

  102. Web Design said on June 4th, 2008 at 3:59 am

    At least he is honest, nintendo got free ad. thanks to him.

    [Reply]

  103. Web Design said on June 4th, 2008 at 4:00 am

    The wii and the girl too? j/k

    [Reply]

  104. Web Design said on June 4th, 2008 at 4:04 am

    I bet she wasn’t like in the video the time you knew her

    [Reply]

  105. Web Design said on June 4th, 2008 at 4:05 am

    Haha everybody think same.

    [Reply]

  106. forumistan said on June 10th, 2008 at 7:03 pm

    Hot girl and nice video…

    [Reply]

  107. Donald Trump said on June 11th, 2008 at 5:11 pm

    she’s hot.. but her dude looks like a midget in the 1st pic..

    [Reply]

  108. Sam said on September 17th, 2008 at 10:34 am

    They’ll be on the Tyra Show today. Here’s the preview:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kwI6fewGUE

    http://tyrashow.warnerbros.com/TyraMediaPlayer/player.html?=promos/4009

    [Reply]

  109. Fark said on September 30th, 2008 at 8:53 am

    You should be earning money doing skip trace work for a collection agency or get a private detective license. This thread would read nicely on a resume.

    [Reply]

  110. Nintendo erklärt virales Marketing - Kein Coder said on May 29th, 2008 at 1:55 am

    [...] einer dieser Irren, die am Veröffentlichungstag gekauft haben, und ich bereue nichts), aber was Shoemoney da ausgegraben hat, ist sehenswert - nicht (nur) wegen des Inhalts, sondern auch, weil es ein [...]

  111. Vid-Biz: CBS, Wii Girlfriend, Daily Show « NewTeeVee said on May 29th, 2008 at 11:43 am

    [...] to be created by ad agency, but creator says nope, it’s a personal video. (background: Shoemoney; Creator’s denial: YouTube) (See LizM’s coverage of the fake Lego [...]

  112. [...] just another viral ad - albeit a somewhat edgy one for otherwise child-friendly Nintendo. Shoemoney lays it all out: The first clue to me was the username on YouTube: [...]

  113. Wii Fit HoopGirl! | otakian.com said on June 1st, 2008 at 11:41 pm

    [...] found an interest article on shoemoney about an ad campaign for the Wii Fit… is it really an ad campagin!? This Wii Fit HoopGirl is [...]

  114. [...] View more pics here. [...]

  115. [...] buen trabajo de investigación hizo el dueño de Shoemoney, quien comparó al novio de la muchacha con un empleado de la compañía, mostrando la obvia [...]

  116. [...] Nintendo Wii Fit workout girl.  I really thought this was a genuine video done by ordinary people, but Shoemoney revealed otherwise. [...]

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