Viral Video Chart: The Best Branded Viral Videos Of August 2011

August saw the triumphant return of some familiar faces to the global ads chart – only this time bigger and better. New, more ambitious commercials featuring the stars of some of the most successful campaigns of 2010 dominated August's top 20.

Leading the way was Ken Block and his latest action-packed ad for DC Shoes. The professional rally driver's insane skills have turned him into an internet sensation, with his gymkhana demonstrations for the American sports footwear firm racking up millions of views and shares.

Ultimate Playground, released in September 2010, is the 2nd most shared ad of all time - and the racing daredevil is showing no signs of slowing down in 2011.

The latest commercial is even grander in scale and budget than its predecessors. In fact, even its title, Gymkhana Four: The Hollywood Megamercial, captures perfectly the noisy ebullience of this month's crop.

Directed by Hollywood director Ben Conrad (Zombieland and 30 Seconds or Less) and filmed at a Universal Studios back lot, the video ran rings around the opposition during August.

The video racked up almost 1.45 million shares across Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere during August, easily making it last month's most popular ad. Not bad for a video that is longer than nine minutes and with no discernible plotline.

But then Block's incredible skills behind the wheel have always done the business for DC Shoes. So much so that two other commercials from Block's four-video Gymkhana series also feature on August's top 20 (ninth and 14th), no doubt boosted by the success of the latest instalment.

Hot on his heels during August was cycling phenomenon Danny MacAskill.

Everyone's favourite bike acrobat, who scored a major hit for Red Bull in 2010 with his incredible video Way Back Home (still 9^th in August's chart), got back in the saddle last month to help promote a new Channel 4 show about urban sports called Concrete Circus.

Industrial Revolutions features the magician on wheels work his magic around an abandoned ironworks and railway yard in the Scottish countryside, where he makes the most of the crumbling masonry and train carriages.

The video was the third most popular ad last month – attracting an incredible 477,388 shares.

Kia's hip-hop hamsters also made a successful return to the global ads chart during August.

The stars of the fantastic Soul Hamster commercial, the eighth most shared ad of 2010, danced their way back into last month's chart with agency David&Goliath's latest campaign, Party Rock Anthem.

Despite only being released on August 25, the ad, which features music from LMFAO and some stunning video game graphics, claimed seventh spot, with a staggering 190,469 social media shares.

However, the biggest comeback of the month has to go to actor Christopher Lloyd, who reprises his role as the Doc Emmet Brown from hugely 80s film franchise Back to the Future for a new ad for Argentinean electronics retail brand, Garbarino.

The video features the iconic DeLorean sports car whizzing down a Buenos Aires road before crashing into a Garbarino store.

Obviously, the point is to show that Gambarini is the future – and it has certainly did the trick, with the commercial already attracting well over 83,000 shares, putting it 11^th in the chart.

However, it was not enough to make it the most successful new ad from South America this month.

That honour goes to the rather strange Brazilian commercial for the Nissan Frontier. Called 'Damn Ponies', it highlights the difference between a car powered by horsepower and one powered by cute little cartoon ponies.

Just to ram home the point, the ponies even promise to curse you if you do not share the ad with 10 of your friends.

Viewers have certainly heeded the message. The video was August's second most shared commercial.

Other new ads to make it on the top 20 last month was the latest game play trailer for video game Battlefield 3, a controversial video by Easton Baseball, a very cool ad for STA Travel Australia and a Danish flash mob by Copenhagen Phil, one of the oldest professional symphonies.

August's Top 20 most shared global ads – powered by Unruly

1. Ken Block's Gymkhana Four: The Hollywood Megamercial

Brand: DC Shoes

2. Poneis Malditos (Damn Ponies)

Brand: Nissan

3. Danny MacAskill – Industrial Revolutions

Brand: Channel Four

4. Battlefield 3 Trailer

Brand: EA

5. Ultimate Batting Practice

Brand: Easton Baseball

6. Ape With AK-47

Brand: Twentieth Century Fox

7. Party Rock Anthem – Kia Soul Hamster Commercial

Brand: Kia

8. T-Mobile Angry Birds Live

Brand: T-Mobile

9. Ken Block Gymkhana Three: Ultimate Playground

Brand: DC Shoes

10. Danny MacAskill – Way Back Home

Brand: Red Bull

11. El Delorean de Volver al Futuro en Cabildo y Juramento (The DeLorean  from Back To The Future in Cabildo, Juramento)

Brand: Garbarino

12. Move

Brand: STA Travel Australia

13. Justin Bieber and Usher Happy Birthday Song

Brand: American Cancer Society

14. Ken Block Gymkhana Two: The Infomercial

Brand: DC Shoes

15. The Force

Brand: Volkswagen

16. Evian Roller Babies

Brand: Evian

17. Most Amazing Beat Box Ever

Brand: Trace Urban

18. FlashMob at Copenhagen Central Station

Brand: Copenhagen Phil

19. The Silent Indian National Anthem

Brand: Big Cinemas

20. Racoon Mayhem

Brand: Allstate