ChaosScenario

The Internet is the new Second City

You've no doubt heard the story about how the "South Park" guys Matt Stone and Trey Parker got their start - they created a short animated video as an interactive Christmas card for a FOX TV exec. (you know the one - Jesus battles Santa for the rights to Christmas) and that exec. passed around the Christmas card to a few friends, and those friends passed it around to a few friends and so on and so on. Then Comedy Central offered Stone and Parker a chance to create a TV show based on that short clip.

Well, a couple recent and semi-recent things I've heard about 'Saturday Night Live' brought that story to mind recently.

I heard a while back how Fred Armisen (he's Prince on 'the Prince Show" skits they do, as well as drummer "I'm Yust Kidding" Ferencito and other characters i.e. some of the most off-the-wall bits you've seen on SNL recently) went from drummer with the Blue Man Group to cast member on SNL thanks to the strength of an underground video HE had put together ("Fred Armisen's Guide to Music and South By Southwest").

The latest issue of "Wired" magazine gave one of it's "Rave Awards" to 'The Lonely Island Guys' - SNL cast member Andy Samberg (you may recognize him from such SNL (or Youtube) shorts as "Lazy Saturday" and "Young Chuck Norris") and SNL writers Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Toccone.  The three of them have been working together since 2001, and, as Wired put it, have "cultivated a massive following online by posting hilarious self-produced TV spoofs, wacky rap videos and videogame remixes on their Web site." SNL heard about it, and has picked them up to produce digital shorts like "Lazy Sunday" and "Young Chuck Norris" i.e. some of the funniest stuff you've seen on SNL recently.

What I found interesting here is that none of these people came up to SNL the usual way - via Second City in Chicago or Canada or the stand up trenches of New York City (I've read Jay Mohr's book. I know the score) but rather, they threw their stuff out on the Internet - and SNL came to them.

It reminds me of a former co-worker of mine from the Dallas Morning News who spent a year in Hong Kong working for a newspaper there simply because (as he told the story to me) he had posted his resume to the Internet and somebody in Hong Kong was looking on the Internet for someone with newspaper graphics experience. (Much like the time I posted something to the Internet about my deadly clown-fighting skills, and then was contacted ... but that's a story for another time. And place.)

But the point I'm trying to make is this  ... what was my point again?

No.

Wait.

The point I am trying to make is this - the democratizing power of the Internet isn't just a myth. Talent rises to the top. If you do something that excites people - enough people - you WILL get noticed. The distribution channels are in place. DIY is alive and well, and getting stronger all the time. We are all our own brands. Be good and people will notice. - Harley Jebens

Podcasting Sponsorship for Travelocity

In my latest article on ClickZ, I talk about our recent efforts to help Travelocity explore the world of podcasting. The article ran on Tuesday of this week, and I've received a ton of feedback about it from readers. Podcasting is growing quickly as a marketing platform and people are eager to learn how it works. As I point out in the article, "how it works" is relatively undefined. With the exception of a few networks which are aggregating podcasts and offering some standardization, it's really something you have to negotiate on a case by case. Either way, we're really excited about podcasting as a platform. Check out the article here. - Pete Lerma

Earn cell phone minutes by watching ads

I think we saw this coming and it looks like Virgin Mobile is the first one to do it. The program called Sugar Mama, allows people to earn extra cell phone minutes by watching ads and answering questions to prove they saw the ads. They've already got Pepsi, Microsoft's Xbox and the Truth campaign on board. The article is described in detail in this New York times article (registration required). It's the first program of it's kind in the US. Watch for other carriers to follow, as well as the addition of free or discounted services (like mobile video or cell phone internet access). Still, the ads had better be engaging, or it won't last. - Paul Herring

Can soccer save the world?

I'm a recent rabid fan of soccer. Never played but have really gotten into since I started coaching my daughter's team. As I've learned about the game, I've also learned how it's truly the one sport the entire world enjoys, however, we enjoy it a little less here in the US. Soccer doesn't get the attention of football (American) and basketball and so doesn't get the advertising dollars. This hasn't kept those promoting the sport from going online. Nike's sites is a great example of the power that this medium can have.  Each week the site is updated with new video segments, which are also put on YouTube. This week ESPN got into the game with a great campaign featuring U2. This ad really strikes at the heart and shows the true power of the game:

Pulling a country out of civil war, that's the power of the game. ESPN has a great site where you can see the other spots. I've yet to see these ads on television but I see it spreading all over the blogoshpere and elsewhere. - Paul Herring

All Hail the Amazonians!

Kudos to Amazon for experimenting with the use of video. They hired a mainstream comedian to host a show, "Amazon Fishbowl with Bill Maher," which will air twelve episodes over the summer. The pilot show is available directly on Amazon.com, but it does not appear that Amazon is supporting podcasts for the time being, which I think is a mistake. People like being in control of how they consume their media, but I still have to applaud Amazon for the effort to bring new, interesting content to their substantial audience.

I just hope the effort isn't wasted. Amazon and Bill Maher both say they hope the left-leaning host steers clear of politics, but by the time the first interview (with Stephen King) was finished, I found myself saying, "Okay. I get it. You don't like Republicans." It's one thing to make an edgy show, which is admirable. It's another thing entirely to alienate a good 30% of your audience.

It's too early to say whether this will be successful in terms of audience size, but with a sponsor like UPS already locked in for the pilot, this opens up new advertising avenues for marketers that we have to consider. - Cam Beck

Unprecedented Video Growth

According to comScore, in their first ever analysis of online video habits, online video viewing grew 18% between October 2005 and March 2006. Overall, the numbers are impressive. The gender split is very even, with about as many women and men watching online video. In fact, according to Clickz, "the report's biggest surprise is that people from all ages and walks of life are eating it up."

The most impressive statistic I saw... males 18-34 watching a whopping 140 minutes of video on average every month! - John Keehler

eBay and Yahoo!?

This just in, there are rumors that Yahoo! and eBay may be in merger talks (via MarketingVox and the New Zealand Herald). Why the merger? According to J.P. Morgan, ""A combined company would have the leading position in auctions, communications, payments, graphical advertising, audience reach, and geographic breadth." What this means to me is that Yahoo! would have the largest purchaser of search terms and eBay would get access to one of the largest online media providers. It should be interesting, especially if they decide to create new customer and advertising options based on the two companies. - Paul Herring

Exposure and engagement

In an advertising agency, these terms are used every day. They are used so much that I think a lot of people forget what they mean. I recently read an iMedia article covering a speech by Esther Franklin, Starcoms director of strategic planning. This phrase in the second paragraph caught my eye and caused me to write this post, "When you think of engagement, it's easy to get wrapped up in the tactics. For example, you might consider a viral video here, a catchy community website there. But if you're focusing at that level, it's easy to lose sight of the overarching strategic goals, and if that happens, your tactics could fall flat." Ouch. How many times have we been in meetings where we are quickly try to come up with cool tactics without thinking about the big picture.

She goes on to describe a continuum where exposure is at one end, experience is at the other, and in the middle is engagement. Exposure is the easy part. The real challenge, as she puts it is to "ensure that we are contributing to memories that have a positive and meaningful relationship to brands". In order to do this she suggest that we "deliver the brand at places and times when consumers are likely to be paying attention...and will develop a positive brand association." Easier said than done for sure, especially when it's difficult just to integrate offline and online. However, it's a struggle that we need to take on, which means that instead of just coming up with 'ideas' we need to understand the customer, their life and then develop touch points that can create engagement. All the ideas should be created within this framework. Read the article for yourself and remember it in your next brainstorm. - Paul Herring

To tell the truth, in Levis

Levi's in Singapore has launched a pretty cool site that allows people to "tell the truth" by submitting text, audio or video comments. Similar to other campaigns, it's brings out the voyeuristic and show off tendencies in all of us. I think this site is really well done. People definitely are submitting a lot of text. However, there are a lot of video and audio updates as well and I think they tend to be the most interesting.

I'm not clear how this connects to the Levi's brand and product, outside of the details deep inside the canned pieces. Compared to a lot of customer generated content campaigns, this one seems to be most likely to hit a home run. - Paul Herring

(via Adverblog)

Google break up videos

Google is doing more and more partnership marketing. We've seen them partner with the release of the Da Vinci code movie, Nike and their soccer campaign, and now promoting Jennifer Anniston's new movie, The breakup.

It's really about time Google got into this game, in my opinion. They have great tools, a terrific audience, and it doesn't seem to be too blatant. It's not on their home page or really, as far as I can tell promoted on other areas of their site. I like the execution of this campaign because it's simple. I'll come back and check to see if there are any other videos of marriage proposals gone wrong, etc.  (via Google Blogoscope) - Paul Herring