Posts filed under 'Advertising'
Posted June 5th, 2008 by Kristin
So my highly esteemed colleague Scott IMed me a link this morning to a YouTube video, Interactive Card Trick. At first I got caught up in the trick, which I proudly recognized was one I had fallen for in an email my sister Kim sent me last year. As you probably already know, Scott didn’t send it to me because of the trick, and of course, he already knew how the trick works. (I have an annoying tendency to be slow on the uptake.) It’s the interactive component that makes this simple video noteworthy. Just think of what that means for videos we create with our clients moving forward. Awesome creative possibilities!
Posted December 28th, 2007 by Kristin
On December 13, ad agency Arnold announced the start of “a viral video series which gives the agency’s perspective on current trends, happenings and important issues in the world of advertising.” They call it Arnold On.
It amuses me that they’re calling it a “viral video series.” A viral video is one that is passed along from user to user (usually because it’s funny or really cool). However, it’s immediately apparent how un-viral the Arnold On videos are, without any regard to the content. There is no “send to a friend” or “forward” functionality. You can’t embed the video on your blog or profile page (not that I imagine the demand to do so is high). Users are instead asked to keeping coming back for updates, which for now involves going to www.arnoldworldwide.com and finding Arnold On under the Our Agency section of the nav. Sure… that’s likely to get tons of repeat traffic.
What should they do with Arnold On? For starters, turn it into a video blog. Allow and encourage comments and feedback. Give it a unique url and/or feature it more prominently on the website. Oh, and if they want it to be “viral,” make it easy for users to pass it along. Duh.
Posted August 24th, 2007 by Char Lyn
Have you noticed the new features on YouTube? I love the new beta page—it’s cleaner and just feels better in my browser. Today I noticed that they’ve also added forward and back navigation buttons to the recommended videos at the end of each clip. The forward button also has a timer feature that lets you know when the presented clips will change. I’m thrilled about these nav buttons since I can never mange to click on an interesting video before it is replaced by a new one. They’ve also added thumbs up/down buttons to the comments to help filter out the drivel, which I greatly appreciate.
Successful Web services like YouTube have learned that they have to continuously improve in order to stay relevant. But, they also have to earn revenue. In addition to other improvements this week, YouTube has rolled out a new advertising format that overlays the videos like a news ticker at the bottom of the video. Its use is very limited right now, and I had to watch a number of videos before I found one with the new ads. The blogosphere is voicing its opinions about these ads in posts like these on Profy, CyberNet News, and Jaffe Juice.
According to Mashable, Google is making the ads optional for the content owners. If these ads survive the current maelstrom of mostly negative reaction, Google could potentially use the format to make revenue from the extremely popular embed feature, which currently allows people to put ad-free clips directly on their blogs and Web pages.
Corporate America has capitalized on the platform by sponsoring vloggers, posting their commercials, and buying banner ads. The new ad format may increase commercial use of YouTube and water-down the user generated content, but as the largest video community on the Web, it will continue to get the eyeballs marketers covet.
Posted August 21st, 2007 by admin
Heavy.com, providers of such online video hit series as “Superficial Friends” and “Behind the Music that Sucks” has today announced the public beta of its own ad network, The Husky Network.
According to the press release, Heavy will be wrapping video players, such as YouTube or Revver, with branded skins and selling them on a CPM basis. According to the screenshot below, Heavy will be dropping a big static pop up on your page with a hole in the middle for the video to play in.
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