It's been a good year for YouTube—ad world highlights included a hamster eating tiny burritos, a devil baby terrorizing pedestrians, and strangers making out.
The video site's annual Rewind supercut, created with Portal A, has now been unleashed, featuring references to those moments and many more, reenacted by an international who's who of creators native to the platform, with cameos from personalities whose audiences stretch deep into old media.
Kid President crashes John Oliver's set and Freddie Wong sits in for Conan O'Brien, while the Gregory Brothers, Rhett and Link and Bethany Mota deliver nods to hits like Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass," Nikki Minaj's "Anaconda" and Frozen's "Let It Go"—mashed up by DJ Earworm. Epic Rap Battles of History drops a bucket of ice water onto Smosh, who pass the favor on to TheFineBros, and so forth.
That's just scraping the surface—viewers from around the world will recognize countless other faces who are stars in their own right.
In other words, it's a giant ad for YouTube—the site wants to remind you it's where pop culture lives now, big or small, definitely remixed. If you want to dig deeper into the players and scenes, there are links in the credits at the end of the clip, and interviews with creators in the behind-the-scenes video. You can also go back and check out the Rewind videos for 2013, 2012 and 2011 below.
But be ready to (re)discover what the site is really about—being a total time suck.
CREDITS
Client: YouTube
Agency: Portal A
Previous YouTube Rewind videos: