Anybody using the internet regularly must have noticed the recent explosion in online video. It seems that everybody is getting in on the act, using the technology and the near-universal availability of broadband to add moving pictures and sound to liven up all manner of otherwise dull web pages.

I’m a big fan of video, and expect to see much more of it in all kinds of communications in the very near future. But I have to acknowledge that not all of it is very good. This is the new frontier of the internet, and naturally there are examples of truly awful footage out there.

But - joy upon joy - there is also the occasional gem. A few months ago I highlighted the absolutely rocking PCR song from Bio-Rad as an example of brilliant marketing. I still love it.

And now I learn of a contender to the crown: Eppendorf has issued its riposte to Bio-Rad with It’s Called EPmotion - a sort of hip-hop ballad dedicated to its eponymous lab technology.

With great canniness, Eppendorf is making full use of the potential of its video venture. It has made the music downloadable as an MP3 and as a ringtone, has published the lyrics, and even produced a wallpaper gallery of the best scenes from the video. Good for them. I should also add that the video features a welcome return of the Crabman

If you simply have to sing along, here are those lyrics:

Pipetting all those well-plates, baby, sends your thumbs into overdrive
And spending long nights in the lab makes it hard for your love to thrive

And it’s called epMotion (whisper: ‘cause you deserve something really great)
Girl you need epMotion (whisper: yeah girl it’s time to automate)
It’s got to be epMotion (whisper: no more pipetting late at night)
Only for you epMotion (whisper: girl this time we got it right)

So, who wins the battle of the lab technology music videos? Eppendorf (above), or Bio-Rad (below)? Any other examples out there?