Over 55.000 people have already seen this video about the street sign exchange in the US. A lot of them believe it, others don´t. You want to know what the deal is? Read on…
Anyone who’s ever been to the US has probably seen those yellow XING road signs on practically every street corner – yes? Well they’re pretty hard to miss.
So now take the following ingredients: Work for a company called XING. Throw in a large amount of US XING road signs. Mix together with some creativity, an obvious pinch of wordplay and a country where anything is possible. Bake for 1 hour in a preheated oven. The result is a future that doesn’t exist – but we filmed it anyway:
XING protects its brand name XING on a global scale and the International court declares that all road signs across the US have to be replaced from XING to CROSS. It would certainly have put us on the map – that’s for sure. Moreover so many people tend to interpret the word Crossing in the name XING, which put the icing on the cake.
One of the first websites to write about the video was Sichelputzer.de which was followed by compliments from the Twidox blog – thanks Twidox – you’re not so bad yourselves 
The Blogosphere was not quite sure whether the video was a fake or not. Sloganmaker had a theory about the creative agency behind the video – sorry to disappoint you Sloganmaker but you’re far from the truth.
So in a nutshell it was fun shooting this video, we’re glad that (most) of you liked it and we could bring a smile to your faces. And for those of you who haven’t seen it yet – enjoy!
Link to this article:
http://blog.xing.com/2009/02/us-street-sign-change-from-xing-to-cross/trackback/
XING´s official twitter account
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Viral videos are _so_ 2008.
They just sent a link to this video in their newsletters. I thought it was fake, because the speeches of the people interviewed didn’t seem quite natural enought to be real. But had it been real, I would have cancelled my membership right away, knowing that Xing is not a word they invented and that the company name came after all the other Xings in the US and China and who knows where else. I mean how could you ever be arrogant enough to take a name, that’s been out there for centuries, have it protected globally and then expect the rest of the world to change their road signs, state names or even their own names! Nice publicity gimmick, just hoping it won’t miss the target!
nice gag – btw. in the US they use periods not commata for numerals such as $2.2 bn
So if I understand you correctly, your blog indicates that this is supposed to be a joke?
Very bad joke if you ask me as I certainly did not get it and still don’t find it funny even now.
You don’t create any plus points with anyone in my view with such total rubbish and certainly does not reflect your company in a positive light…!
I think I will cancel my membership as in setting up business relationships I want to be associated with a platform which reflects a credible approach – xing does not do that in my opinion. On your blog I can see I am not the only one to feel that way.
The long-established doctrine of Prior Use would protect the US (and therefore US taxpayers like me) from having to change the signs, so we need not worry about that.
With that in mind, it’s a fun joke IMHO. The world is full of jokey videos like this, they’re part of the public dialog. Remember Obama Girl? And speaking of Obama, how about that vid of him speaking (in Swabian) to the Jahresversammlung der Eigentümer WIlhelmstr. 48?
Uh . . . Uh . . . Hey! I was “This Close” to dumping my long(Little-used) XING membership!
Glad I searched to find this explanation – or am I/ In these perilous days, This kind of off-color “fun” has very unnerving effect. How will does the real XING corporate mind think about their public?
Worth a moment of careful consideration, don’t you think?
On the other hand, it’s been a long-standing issue with places where Americans visit, work, and interact, that our arrogance and snobbery are well-known, if Not well-received.
Perhaps We the Sheeple, who elected to office this time around, what is fast proving to be the world’s worst government on record, are simply too well-deserving of this “Gotcha!” joke; Just maybe, folks.
An extremely bad joke indeed. Embarrassingly bad. So it’s a hoax, but such a bad one that I’m still considering cancellation of my XING subscription.
In poor taste, not funny, and out of touch with the users. Gosh, who thought this one up?
It seems to me that you are quite proud about your video. Unfortunately you missed the chance to create a positive message with this video for your company and for you image. The basic idea I think was quite good to use the Xing signs in the US for your concept. But how cool would it have been if you would have shown how famous your company is and that already in every state throughout the US and at many (famous) street corners your company is mentioned. This idea mixed together with some REAL creativity could have produced an amazingly impressive statement blended possibly with some funny elements to produce positive emotions to the viewer. In a time of so many negative news reports flooding in every day your “Joke” will not be understood by many people, especially because it looks to real. Now that I know that the video is a fake and I cooled down, I will continue to use your great service.
I only have 2 words to say: ”BAD TASTE”
I liked this video..a funny gag…I was reading comments of other people over here but, some
did not liked this one …i don’t know why??