Nudes Still No-Go For iPhone but Booze Apps No Problem

Since Apple has decided, wrongly, to play moral gate-keeper over the App Store, banning any iPhone App they deem “inappropriate” for a score of muddy reasons, I think it is fair to ask why they are banning nude women but happily allowing booze brands like Absolut to promote drinking through sponsored applications.

Absolute’s new iPhone App, “Drinkspiration” is free to all and simply requires that the downloader click a box promising that they are over the age of 17.  Now, let’s forget about how worthless this is as an effective age barrier, how about the fact that the legal drinking age in the US is 21?

In truth, I don’t think Apple should ban this App, or any other App for that matter.  Instead, I am trying to make the point that Apple has opened itself up to a world of criticism now from all  sides.  If they ban the App they are unwanted gatekeepers and if they allow it then they are aiding in the corruption of America’s youth.

Maybe Apple will someday relinquish their role and let adults decide what they want to see in the App store but until then I hope Apple gets nothing but grief for every decision, pro or con, they make in regards to Application approval.

Alloy, Teen.com Might Have the Right Stuff for Web Series

Alloy, a company best known for its wildly popular YA titles include “Gossip Girl” looks to be turning it’s back on traditional TV and starting it’s own portal, Teen.com, and launching a number of original web series.

We’ve certainly seen other companies try to go it alone in the online world and fail while others hang on by a thread – a big reason for the high rate of attrition is that, without the marketing power and investment one gets in traditional TV, the original web series, good or bad, are simply not on enough people’s radar for the show to gain significant traction.

Where Alloy has a huge leg up on the competition – aside from owning very popular underlying content in the form of their book series – is that they have a big marketing plan directly aimed at their target audience:

Mr. Morgenstein said there were plans to promote “Private” across Alloy’s properties, including the in-school TV network Channel One, the teenage-oriented online clothing retailers Alloy and Delia’s, and a network of in-school billboards and advertising space, all of which are aimed at the show’s intended audience of girls 13 to 16, whose greatest goal, according to Mr. Morgenstein, is to be famous.

As long as the content is realitively entertaining, and an early look at Teen.com’s “Haute and Bothered” was encouraging, there is every reason to believe the shows produced by Alloy for Teen.com might be some of the first truly talked-about web series.

LINK

Will “The Bannen Way” Be the Breakthrough Webseries?

We are all still waiting for the first legitimate webseries hit.  While we have seen some standalone videos go on to be viewed by tens of millions, there has yet to be an original webseries that has truly caught the attention and imagination of a substantial audience.  The web has yet to see its “Friends” or “Lost.”

Of course, this has not been due to a lack of trying.  Both major studios and independent producers have sunk significant time, effort and money into a slew of well-intentioned, and in some cases well-made, original webseries.  So far, not a single one has caused a real stir.

This year we should be seeing a lot of action in this marketplace and Sony’s Crackle.com seems very excited about their entry, the independently produced “The Brennan Way.”

The trailer looks great, even if it does feel and sound a bit like USA’s “Burn Notice” but the show lacks any real name talent.

Check it out here.

My fear is that, even if it is very good, unless Sony invests real money in promotions it will die on the vine like some many of it’s predecessors.  Without marketing support it will never reach the critical audience size needed to create national buzz.

And that is the next big goal for webseries producers.  Not a few million views.

Old Jews Telling Jokes and Now Making Deals

A few months ago a truly charming webseries launched called “Old Jews Telling Jokes.”  In an initial stroke of marketing genius, the series is exactly what the title promises:

Now comes word that the series is going out wide on home video:

First Run Features has picked up domestic home video rights to “Old Jews Telling Jokes,” a Web video series created and directed by Sam Hoffman from Jetpack Media, the Internet production company created by GreeneStreet Films.

“Jews” has registered more than 1.5 million video plays since the series launched Jan. 30. It also was a top 10 video podcast on iTunes for several weeks.

What I love most about this story is that it proves that anyone with a truly good idea and some authenticity can be recognized and rewarded all thanks to the incredible democratic powers of the internet.

Now, I’m not totally sure what home video rights are worth these days but considering that this series has such a broad potential audience of older folks it wouldn’t be surprising if First Look was able to turn a profit on DVDs.

LINK

The “Rihanna Bruised” Picture Bait – Chris Brown Beat Down

I kind of love Sean Percival’s posting of this fake Rihanna all bruised up with photoshop:

BUY THE SHIRT!!!

NOW GET THE T-SHIRT!!!

Chris Brown Deserves a Beat Down

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Dear Honeyshed – Hate to Say I Told You So, But…

Well, it’s official – Honeyshed, the QVC for Generation Why, is officially no more.  According to AdWeek the site is shuttering due to a lack of new funding from Publicis.

I was skepticle but willing to wait and see back in March but by November I was feeling even less positive about what was a pretty bad idea given poor execution.

From AdWeek:

At its relaunch in November, Honeyshed projected the site to reach 550,000 visitors a month after launch, 1 million by February and 2 million at the end of 2009.  All told, Honeyshed promised advertisers it would generate 9 million content views in that time.

According to comScore, Honeyshed drew 117,000 visitors in December before trailing off the next month. Griefer said the site drew about 15,000 unique visitors per day after the relaunch, supported by a heavy marketing campaign, but saw those numbers dwindle when it cut back on advertising.

I honestly don’t know who thought this was ever going to be a good idea but it became painfully clear it was doomed to fail when they decided to try and sell a bunch of over-priced and relatively unwanted products to a fickle and savvy audience.

So, farewell Honeyshed.  Few knew you were evert here and maybe that’s for the best.

Activision Viral Video Outed

This sort of thing just tickles me: A video was posted to YouTube containing a (pretty obviously fake) news report showing a failed assassination attempt on a Russian scientist. While obviously an attempt at a “viral” video, it was not immediately clear who was behind the scenes.

Well, if they were hoping to remain hidden they’ve failed.  What I love is how one dogged blogger found them:

I attempted to discover who is hosting the site, but all I was able to uncover was that it is hosted by mediatemple (great hosting service, but this tells me nothing). I then did several searches for content from the site: MIR 12, Nikolai  Demichev, etc and was once again unable to turn up anything.

I moved on to MIR 12’s twitter account, and finally got somewhere. The first twitter followers were all from LA. After a few minutes looking at their profiles, and doing a few linkedin, and facebook searches, I realized that the followers were comprised of employees of the LA office of ad agency DDB, and viral video seeding company Feed Co. A quick look at DDB’s site reveals Activision as a client – the most likely client to approve this type of work. Also, Feed Co has collaborated with Activision in the past, and worked on the recent Bike Hero viral, which I covered in an earlier post.

It all lead very cleanly right back to Activision, who is hoping this viral campaign will build buzz for their upcoming game.  The question is whether or not knowing who is behind the video matters in terms of marketing potential.

Oh, here’s the video:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FGsvOzB1Hk&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]

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Will Smart Marketing Campaign Win People Over to the Party?

Wired has a look at a very successful “viral” marketing video campaign for the yet-to-be-released webseries THE PARTY.

In a series of short videos released to YouTube, we meet purported superdelagate Tom Ryan, who pleads with viewers to help him make the difficult Obama/Clinton decision.

“The tremendous response that the fake superdelegate character received illustrates how quickly grassroots supporters in this heated political climate can pick up and transmit information regardless of its accuracy, in what has up until recently been a closely-fought race where every delegate counts.

“We assumed that people online and in the blog communities would watch the videos and realize that we were doing thinly-veiled satire, but that’s not what happened,” says Howard Thomas, a 27-year-old Democratic political consultant  in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and the show’s creator and executive producer.”

In this heated political season (is it really a season if it lasts more than a year?) it isn’t suprising that so many people decided the videos were real.  The more interesting question will be whether or not these same viewers will be interested enough to follow the character to the upcoming webseries once they know it is all an act.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0AT9XUihnM&hl=en]

AT&T’s Blue Room – Too Subtle?

I was taken by a post on Adverganza about a site run by AT&T called The Blue Room that features interviews with very big names in music like Madonna and Mariah Carey (ok, I said big, not cool). There is no way to know how many views the site is getting (that I know of) but I certainly haven’t been hearing anything about it…

The videos are syndicated to YouTube but as Adverganza points out:

“…it’s surprising how little play they get on YouTube. It’s not as though the interviews are that fabulous, but as one example, a Mariah Carey video put up a week ago has less than 400 views. I’m not sitting on pins and needles waiting to hear about her creative inspiration, but I was under the impression a few other people were.”

Here’s the question: Are people just not all that interested in yet another interview with these people or is it that AT&T has simple not done enough to promote their promotion.  Promoting a promotion raises all sorts of issues – like what the hell is the point of a promo if you need to advertize it…

In-show Ads, Products as Stars and Other Tests of Restraint

There’s been lots of talk about the return of live, in-show ads in a number of talk shows including Conan O’Brien, Jay Leno and Ellen Degeneres and now networks like NBC are making it clear that their new slate of webisodes will include a new degree of product integration beyond just simple brand placement.

What will this actually mean?  Well, it depends on how far they go in the name of the sponsor at the cost of the viewer.  It’s not as though modern viewers are used to being bombarded with a constant stream of corporate names and images and if those elements happen to be part of a good plotline with compelling characters people won’t care at all.  However, if the show itself is just a vehicle for the brand or the message than viewers will be turned off from both the show and the sponsors.

A bigger question might be whether or not a brand well-integrated into a show will still have the desired effect of driving sales…