Humorist & 'PC'
John Hodgman

The comic Demetri Martin hosts a series of skits called clearification on a website to promote Microsoft Vista, yet the promotion seems to have little to do with the new operating system.

The comedian appears in a series of skits that build on the theme of clearing out one's life, which Microsoft is betting will ignite buzz on the web, similar to what Nissan attempted last fall when it hired a little-known comic to live in a Sentra for a week, writes the New York Times. That idea was to get mentioned in web conversations, and the metrics show that it worked, according to Stephen Kerho, Nissan’s director of interactive marketing and media.

The comedian's Sentra-related exploits were tracked on more than 270 message boards, for example, and video clips of his antics were viewed 50,000 times during the first four weeks after its introduction last fall. Visits to the corporate website that originated in its Sentra section doubled in the last quarter.

From the now-legendary "PC" played by humorist John Hodgman for the Apple Macintosh, to Jim Gaffigan in Sierra Mist spots-turned-sketches, little-known personalities offer the kind of novelty and freshness that young people might blog about, link to and comment on in chats, ultimately making them a viral phenomenon among the coveted 18-30 crowd.