These things just happen. I hear a strange noise rising from my work colleague’s computer, some muffled shouting and the sound of a heavy wind and then I hear it again and once more again.
“What’s that?!” I ask, concerned about the content and the fact that it’s not even 9.30am. He calls me over and says the classic YouTube set up line, “Have you seen this?!” He’s clearly not that impressed but wants a second opinion. I lean over and wait for the magic.
I firstly hear a man screaming “Benton! Benton! BENTON!!” and then repeating “Jesus Christ!” after he realises he’s out of the chase and the dog couldn’t give one. I then see a herd of deer sprint into view and towards the road that splits Richmond Park. Benton I assume is the smaller beast giving chase.
My work colleague informs me that this footage has blown up over the internet and then adds, apparently, it was the credit card comedian Stephen Mangan who originally posted it.
My first visit to Facebook of the day sees a shared like to Benton and Richmond Park as the opening story in the stream, my TweetDeck then flashes “watch this…” ”Hilarious…”, and after scanning the national media news for inspiration for today’s blog post, I find the Guardian have already published an article about the footage.
It has already been adapted to fit into the narrative of An American Werewolf in London and I’m sure this won’t be the only one.
The speed at which these mildly amusing clips spread via the internet and social media is incredible, and a dream goal for any advertising agency looking for the next oligarch Meerkat or drumming Gorilla.
Going viral, is word of mouth on a 90 foot unstoppable digital wave’s scale. But for now as a mass of awareness, all this 47 second clip has sparked is a name debate…
