Sometimes a scheme comes along that just ticks off every one of my “this is terrible” boxes.
Sprint’s new campaign for the Instinct (the phone that wishes it was an iPhone but it isn’t so it’s just lame) includes a contest whereby you insert a very ugly video of a hand holding an instinct phone into your YouTube video. In return, you will be entered to win $10,000.
This video explains:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfp1vRNo7Zk&hl=en]
Here’s the thing: we all hate this sort of product placement so why would we want to inflict it on our friends, the only people likely to be watching our videos in the first place?
Way to go Sprint! First your idiot CEO runs his email address at the end of all those ads and then never replies to email I send him and now you want me to make my own videos horrible for you?
I can’t wait for my iPhone!
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The surprisingly successful UK webseries KateModern has a cool idea for their finale. They are releasing one new episode every hour, on the hour, for twelve consequtive hours.
From Mashable:
“The program’s following has been an extensive one. Its production company, EQAL, claims for KateModern an average weekly viewership of about 1m, surpassing the popularity of virtually all other original Web-based programs, including LonelyGirl15, a show also produced by EQAL.”
It’s nice to see a show actually making a bit of an impact, even if it is in the UK. I also like seeing new approaches to releases schedules and how to build excitement online.
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While I cannot say I am much of a fan of TMZ, the high-velocity celebrity gossip/video juggernaut that began as a website and is now also a nightly syndicated TV show, their process and approach is one that many in the world of video journalism could learn from.
According to CNet, Not only does TMZ uses less expensive equipment to shoot, but the scaled back gear makes them faster and able to go where many larger news orgs cannot.
Also,
“Traditionally, the segments of a TV news show were combined and assembled onto a tape, Stephens said. The show had to be completely finished by the time it started broadcasting. It wasn’t possible to change anything once the show started being aired, he said.
“Now, we’re editing individual stories and plugging segments into a video server,” Stephens said. “It’s very similar if you got an iTunes playlist. You can start the music, but you can also push new pieces into the playlist on the fly. Rather than having to have my story finished a half hour before the whole show airs, now I actually need to finish a couple of minutes before my particular segment of the show airs.”
This kind of flexibility is handy when your top news subjects can get busted for a DUI day or night.”
So, while the high-cost traditional nightly news struggles for relevancy, TMZ is tearing it up with little regard for pretty.
Matt Mason has put together a great video that explains the Pirate’s Dilemma.
Matt say’s that there is an outside chance of some kind of TV show coming from this but it is kind of hard to see how it would be more than a great special or standalone doc.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE5QsT5tJWs]
Remember when blank CDs cost a few bucks a pop? Now, of course, their almost free. Combine that with the fact that more people are downloading music than ever before and it isn’t surprising to see CDs simply being given away by bands for promotional purposes.
Of course, there is still the issue of distribution. Distribution of hard goods is expensive. No way around that. Unless, of course, you piggyback on an existing platform.
That’s just what rising UK band McFly has done, partnering with a big paper in the UK to put a free copy of their album in every issue of the paper. Not only can the paper offer a free gift, but the band reaches thousands of potential new fans.
As TechDirt said:
“As we’ve noted in the past, this is a fantastic strategy for both newspapers and musicians. It helps both sides quite a bit, which is exactly what the band sees, noting that they just want to get more fans, and are hoping more will come see them on their latest tour.”
Cool.
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I’m starting a new series here on My Media Musings in which I highlight a particularly poor attempt to use “new media” to sell stuff.
Today’s winner is Duracell Rechargeable Batteries and their incredibly lame Museum of the Obvious.
While navigating this 3D site is actually pretty cool the videos embedded throughout the “museum” are so brain-numbingly lame as to make you angry at the wasted time and resources that went into this relatively high production value.
Each video is done in the style of old scientist demo video with a guy or a girl (or both) in a lab coat showing us why Duracel batteries are better. Are they funny? Nope. Informative? Nope. Creative? No sir.
This seems like yet another case of some ad company using a whole lot of bells and whistles to sell Duracel a heaping pile a crappy content.
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There is a commercial that, even with great use of the DVR, I have been unable to avoid and it is driving me nuts.
The ad is for the LG Shine cell phone and stars Brody Jenner and Lauren Conrad of MTV’s “The Hills,” a show shockingly popular with otherwise intelligent women in their late-20’s and early-30’s. While the idea of using them in a cell phone ad makes perfect sense, this particular ad leaves me baffled…
Here’s what happens in the ad: Lauren is staring at her own reflection in her LG Shine and talking about her hair and makeup. Brody, meanwhile, spots a couple of “hotties” coming his way so he makes eyes at one of them and after they pass, uses the reflection of his own LG shine to check ‘em out walking away. Lauren catches him and let’s him know via a text message, “OMG, UR A PIG!” Brody looks up and asks, with a boyish grin, “What?” Lauren rolls her eyes.
And the tagline? Ready… “Reflect your style”
While there is plenty about this ad that could drive one nuts, the thing that kills me is that these two people demonstrate the polar opposite of anything approaching style! What style is LG hoping their potential customers want to reflect by carrying this phone?
My guess is that the agency spent a long time coming up with that tagline (read: 15 minutes) and they would be damned if they’d let a little thing like it not matching the commercial stop them from using it.
Oh, here, you can watch the commercial for yourself:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJz_dsubWAU&hl=en]
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This is sort of the perfect web story. I mentioned “Fred” about a week ago. He is a YouTube phenom racking up 7-figure view counts on nearly every video he puts out. I wondered just who he was and whether or not he was the product of some ad house.
Well, NTV got the dirt:
““Fred” is actually 14-year old Lucas Cruikshank, and while age ain’t nuthin’ but a number, these other stats might impress you: According to Cruikshank’s rep, Cruikshank and his two cousins made a total of $14,000 on YouTube for 7 million video plays on non-Fred projects during the month of February. Cruikshank did 23 million video plays in May on his own with Fred…”
They even got an interview. Good reading.
NBC has a lot the shows that people seem to be talking about (The Office, Heroes, etc) and yet they always seem to be at the bottom of the big-4 rating pile.
Turns out, a lot of the NBC fans aren’t watching the shows on TV.
“NBC (GE) struggles in the broadcast ratings. But it has a few shows that do pretty well online. So it’s no surprise that they’d become the first network to announce they’ll start releasing online ratings for specific shows, like “30 Rock” and “Heroes.” (via SAI)
Nielsen will be handling the numbers duties and it will be interesting to see exactly how they determine viewership. It is still notoriously easy to pump up numbers on most sites through various techniques. Having an industry-wide metric that all the networks and advertisers can agree on would be a big step towards making it easier to cashify video content on the internet.
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Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick
I kind of loved this silly little article from the Daily Herald regarding the growing trend among the younger set to use email only for communicating with “grownups.”
“It’s not that suburban teens never use e-mail. When compelled to communicate with adults who – bless their technology-challenged hearts – don’t know any better, teens will resort to the technology of yesteryear.”
It made me wonder, though, if texting and instant messaging is another one of those growing generational divides. I use both email and texting with frequency (and IM if others insist, though I don’t keep that open and running at all times like most people younger than I will do). The thing is, I have never texted my parents and I know they don’t text each other or their friends. And my folks are pretty tech savvy.
So, do you text your parents?
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June 30, 2008 9:49 pm | 
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