Gillette Gets Ripped Off By Ad Agency for New YouTube Videos

I shudder to think what some big ad agency charged Gillette for the videos on their YouTube channel.

Purportedly aimed at teaching men how to shave various body parts, the animated how-to’s are really just a platform for the Gillette products which would be fine if, instead of getting legitimately useful information we were given a touch of authentic humor.

Sadly, neither is on offer.  The advice is minimal and redundant and the attempts at humor result in more cringing than grinning.  Adding insult to injury, only the link-bait‘y “How to Shave Your Groin” has attracted over 10,000 views, with the other videos languishing under 2,000.

Since the videos are neither entertaining or helpful, it is unlikely they will ever find much of a viewership.  Gillette surely isn’t going to be satisfied by these sorts of numbers but I’m sure their ad agency will convince them it had nothing to do with the crappy value of the content itself.

UPDATE: Well, thanks in large part to lots of blog mockery, the Gillette YouTube spots have “exploded” with Groin shooting up to over 140,000 views.  Still, the other videos are failing to reach 10,000.  A combined total of less that 250,000 still can’t impress Gillette.

See for yourself:

It’s Porn Day on YouTube!

God, this is the kind of story that just makes me smile. According to ArsTechnica:

Today, May 20, has been deemed “Porn Day” by denizens of 4chan and eBaum’s World, with an organized group of users from the sites uploading video clips of explicit, adult content en masse in an attempt to overwhelm the search results. In actuality, it appears that content was prematurely uploaded on the afternoon of the 19th. YouTube has already taken some steps to fight back, but it’s disturbingly easy to find stuff you really don’t want to see, and the uploaders are changing tactics.

These sorts of mass DDoS‘esque attacks are becoming a common thing in the hyper-connected digital age.  It is now easier than ever to raise a mob (angry or otherwise) to do your bidding, especially if your bidding has a fun, subversive edge – think “No-Pants Subway Day” for instance.

I wrote about a few other versions of this DDoS-style vigilantism here.

Dating a Porn Star – Short and Sweet

The fun part of having your own blog is that you can promote your own work and that’s exactly what I am doing now.  Below is an episode of my latest foray into independent web series production.

The concept with DATING A PORN STAR is simple and, hopefully, there are enough jokes to keep it kicking for a bit.  Hope you enjoy:

Why is Olay Sponsoring History Channel Webseries

There is a kind of cute, sorta cheeky little webseries over on The History Channel’s website called Great and Telling Tales with Timothy Dickinson.

Aside from the fact that there does not seem to be any way to embed the videos (always baffling) I am totally confused by the presence of Olay as the sponsor.

Not only does being a sponsor for History.com seem to be counter-intuitive to a brand that is all about maintaining ones youthfulness, but last I checked, the History Channel skewed more male than Spike TV.

Your Original Video is Worth $1.00

Yup.  According to the exciting email I received from Demand Studios I could soon be a millionaire.  With their amazing incentive program I would only need to submit 100,000,000 videos!  Wow!

“Hello Filmmakers!

We are busier than ever at Demand Studios, creating more titles and assignments every day. As we mentioned in our newsletter, during the month of October we are rolling out a filmmaker incentive program. For every 100 videos you submit you’ll receive a $100 gift certificate to B&H Photo & Video!”

If that doesn’t get you off the couch…

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Wendy’s Blows Opportunity – Agency Blows $25K

SAI has some choice thoughts on the latest “viral” ad from Wendy’s, in which a head of lettuce eats a Wendy’s hamburger.  The only reason one might think this was not done by an ad agency for Wendy’s is that the hamburger itself looks like crap.

More surprising that the fact that it is bombing on YouTube (less than 20,000 views) is the fact that the agency in question, Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, claims to have spent $25,000 to make the spot.

While I realize a standard 30-second TV spot usually costs more than 10 times that amount, it is literally impossible to figure out where they spent $25k on the video below.  Any kid with a handicam and FinalCut could do it better for lunch money.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiAhRsJlNWU&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1]

Sorta Famous – The Weird World of Web Fame

I really feel for Chris Albrecht over on NewTeeVee as he tried to understand what the hell makes something like “Fred” happen:

“Sometimes I just feel so…out of touch. Who is “Fred” and why is he so freaking huge on YouTube? Seriously. He has four of the site’s top 20 videos this month, attracting a total of more than 12.7 million plays. Of the 16 videos he’s posted, only three have not cracked the one million-play mark (and one of those three was just added today).”

In fact, this sort of phenomenom drives everybody in the business of trying to be successful with web video content.  Why does some seemingly random kid come out of nowhere and command 7-figure viewcounts while thousands of “professionally” created videos languish in obscurity?

If you’re hoping for an answer from me, sorry.  I truly believe that “viral” video is truly that – viral.  You can’t make it happen.  Why is this kid the flavor of the moment?  Who the hell knows.  It doesn’t really matter.  It’s cool and hard to predict, like hurricanes or tornadoes.  We know they’re going to happen.  We just have know idea where or when.

Oh, here’s Fred:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEqwKNNQBwc&hl=en]