As online content creators it has become our mission to destroy people's desire and need to actually read books. Just kidding, my Mom is a librarian and I love reading but as John Burbank of Nielsen Online says in the video posted below; online video viewing is on the comeup! Also TV watching is not being cannibalized as much as once thought. A campaign that includes both TV and online video can  produce shock and awe.

    I've been meaning to write about this for awhile. The Seattle P.I. has gone totally digital, and this is just the beginning of a massive shift of newspapers to a digital format. There is something nostalgic about turning the pages of a newspaper. It's musty smell and the noise it makes when you shake it out to read the inside articles are admittedly more personal than the droning sound of a double clicking mouse. As we move further and further along the digital path conventional newspapers just cannot keep up with internet in terms of providing up to the minute news that we crave in our negative attention span society. Many of the headline news stories I read in newspapers I had already read the day before from an online news source. In today's world no one has time to read things twice (though we would be much better off if we did and would hopefully understand a lot more of the issues).
    With advertisers recognizing this digital shift it has left ALL newspapers struggling for cash flow, and they are all high on the economic endangered species list. The scary part for newspapers is we are not even close to reaching the potential that online news can offer. With the ever changing enhancement of hand-held devices the ability to read online news on the go will continue to grow. I hate to say it but in ten years the greatest use of newspaper will be for packing boxes and wiping off windshields.
    Luckily this does not mean that newspaper people will be the one's out on the street corner wiping said windshields. As conventional newspapers continue to shrink the demand for higher quality digital news reporting will be needed. There will of course be casualties, but good newspapers have set a standard that people want in news reporting and in order to maximize the digital news phenomenon these reporters and staff will be the part of the foundation.
     My hope is that with this transition we will not lose the personal and local unity that newspapers provide. Though it was never what you bought the paper for, the small local stories were always what I ended up liking the most. On your third cup of coffee maybe you didn't read the whole LifeStyle Section, but you could persuse through and come up away with something that bonded you a little more with the Seattle streets we walk each day. It made the world seem a little smaller and I hope that the digital version of newspapers can continue this bond.
      Let us not totally mourn the death of the conventional PI, in the long run I believe they will be ahead of the game. If they can keep their quality up and gain momentum in the digital news format they have the opportunity to be a shining example of what a digital newspaper can become.

                   

I recently came across a great article* in Layers Magazine that detailed demographic information for the top online video sites in the US. Many of the sites were mentioned in my previous post, while some were new and worth mentioning

Since the article wasn't available online, I thought I'd post here. RedGrey regularly posts client work to all these sites and more as part of our media planning services.

YouTube (YouTube.com): Biggest of all video distribution sites
Avg Traffic: Nearly 70 million monthly uniques; 74 page views/person; 0:55:52 minutes spent on site.
Demographics: Surprisingly, the audience only slants slightly younger; roughly even male/female; relatively less educated.

MySpace (MySpace.com): Primarily a social networking site, but video is widely used
Avg Traffic: 12.5 million monthly unique visitors; 23 page views/person; 0:07:03 minutes spent on site.
Demographics Only slightly younger; even male/female; relatively less educated.

Revver (Revver.com): This site employs an ad sharing revenue system similar to Google AdWords, but for video
Avg Traffic: 8+ million monthly uniques; 16 page views/person; 0:08:07 mins on site.
Demographics: Slightly more male; age relatively older.

Veoh (Veoh.com): Focus on full-screen online video for broadband users.
Avg Traffic: 3.6 million monthly uniques; 30 pages viewed/person; 0:41:29 minutes on site.
Demographics: slightly more male; even age.

Metacafe (Metacafe.com): Popular worldwide distribution. Quality over quantity distinction.
Avg Traffic: 3.5 million monthy uniques; 15 pages/person; 0:07:10 mins on site.
Demo: Almost 3:1 male to female; relatively even education and income.

Yahoo! Video (video.Yahoo.com): Sleek, entertainment-oriented video site (not fully integrated w/rest of Yahoo!'s community destinations)
Avg Traffic: 3.2 million uniques/month; 4 page views/person; 0:03:16 mins on site.
Demo: Slightly more male; slants older.

blip.tv (blip.tv): Publisher-friendly video sharing and distribution site
Avg Traffic: 1.3 million monthly uniques; 3 page views/person; 0:02:43 mins spent on site.
Demo: Slightly more male; higher education and income.

Vimeo (Vimeo.com): Hip, user-generated content
Avg Traffic: 1.3 million monthly uniques; 5 page views/person.
Demo: 2:1 male-to-female ratio; high income and college educated.

Google Video (video.google.com): One of the first video sharing sites to offer ad revenue sharing w/publishers
Avg Traffic: 436,000 monthly unique visitors; 3 page views/person; 0:02:34 mins on site.
Demo: Unavailable.

Viddler (Viddler.com): Newer site with cool features like comments tied to a particular time in the video and automatic webcam sync.
Avg Traffic: Unavailable.
Demo: Slightly more male; college educated.

Facebook (Facebook.com): Another major social networking site with over 100 million users. 4th most-trafficked website in the world.
Avg Traffic: See above.
Demo: Wide-ranging and segmented.

Online video does a great job of not just furthering a business objective. It also exposes your personality and art to others who may not otherwise see it. A good video can inspire you just as much as it inspires others, so take advantage of it!


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* Rod's Top 12 Video Distribution Sites, Page 89, Layers Magazine, November/December 2008

It's true: posting the right video on your website will improve your search rankings, increase your conversion rate, and reduce costs over time.

But it's not the end of the story. In fact, well over half of what makes a video successful happens AFTER it's been produced.

In addition to displaying your video on your own website, make sure you leverage other online video sites to reach a much larger audience.

Whether it's news to you or not, YouTube isn't the only game in town. There are a host of other online video sites that have different, more segmented, audiences worth reaching. In fact, some of these sites are known to have more sophisticated viewers than YouTube, making the content space more valuable to you as an "advertiser."

Best of all, uploading to these sites is entirely free!

Here's the list of video sites to consider when making your video content "live":

YouTube - http://www.youtube.com
Google Video - http://video.google.com
Yahoo Video -     http://video.yahoo.com
Vimeo - http://www.vimeo.com
Viddler - http://www.viddler.com
Veoh - http://www.veoh.com
Wonder How To - http://www.wonderhowto.com (Instructional)
5 Mins.com - http://www.5mins.com (Instructional)
HowCast - http://www.howcast.com (Instructional)
Blip - http://www.blip.tv
Flurl - http://www.flurl.com
BoFunk - http://www.bofunk.com
Flixya - http://www.flixya.com

Whether you've shot and edited your own video masterpiece, or paid a production company or agency to professionally produce one for you, a video in isolation helps no one. For the advertising investment to be realized, you need to display your content in as many places as possible, tag it with the right keywords, and use social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook to direct viewers to your media online.

When deployed correctly and intelligently, online video is one of the most persuasive tools in an advertiser's toolbox.

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Questions or quotes? Contact me at: jeremyd@redgreyconcepts.com

I've recently started using Twitter. Or, as the web-savvy would say, I've recently started "Tweeting."

I have to admit that at first i thought Twitter was utterly useless, and much more of a distraction than a tool. however, as i've expanded my network and started following people in my professional field, i've found it to quite valuable. Here's why:

One of my favorite quotes about marketing/advertising is from a book called "The Cluetrain Manifesto." It reads:

"Markets are conversations;
and conversation is fire.
Therefore, marketing is arson."

Twitter allows you to search the millions of conversations people are having online the same way google allows you to search information. So, if you want to learn about the migratory patterns of bottle nose dolphins, google it. But if you want to learn what people are saying about a product or service right now, search for it on twitter. you'll be amazed what you find.

For example, i just twitter searched "Blackberry Curve," and saw that someone named MarinaMartin recently said, "i have a problem in that i check email on my blackberry even when my computer is open to gmail."

Is that something blackberry should build an ad campaign around? surely, no. but is it a valuable consumer insight? of course. if you're trying to visually tell the story of how addicted people are to our blackberry's, i think this would do the trick. and it didn't cost me a focus group to discover it.

It's all about who you follow, and what sort of information is valuable to you. here's a quickstart guide to Twitter. I wish I had read it before i started Tweeting myself:

• Download a desktop application to run twitter. I prefer TweetDeck, which can be downloaded here: www.tweetdeck.com
• Using TweetDeck, use the Search function to search industry relevant terms to track who's talking about things you care about. For example, every time somebody makes a tweet including "Rich Media Advertising", i can see who that person is and follow them if i like what he/she has to say.
• Perhaps most importantly, check out twitterpacks.pbwiki.com/. This is a great site to help you find Twitterers based on a variety of groups, such as location, industry, interests, company, etc.
  

Lastly, once you get all set up, don't forget to say something!

Oh, and be sure to check out twitter.com/RedGrey_Jeremy!!!

Recently I've been volunteering at the MIT Enterprise Forum of the NW (www.mitwa.org), whose mission is to promote the establishment and growth of innovative technology companies through educational and entertaining programs.


I'm co-leading the volunteer team responsible for putting the panel together and selecting a moderator for the event, which is Jan 14, 2009, from 5:00 - 8:30 pm at the Bellevue Hyatt. The moderator will lead the discussion, with well-informed panelists chiming in on our topic, which is a timely one:

MIT TECHNOLOGY FORECAST: Successful Advertising in 2009 and Beyond

The event will look to answer a lot of the questions advertisers are facing given the context of the economy:

• With so many mediums, how do I pick the right technology to hit my target audience without spending a boatload of money?
• What roles will traditional media play over the next few years?
• When cutting back an ad budget, how much is too much?

Without question, if you're a media buyer, media creator, or an entrepreneur working on the ad platform of tomorrow, this is a must see event!

And if you don't fit into one of those molds, MIT events are a great opportunity to meet entrepreneurs, investors, and corporate decision-makers in the Greater Seattle Area. RedGrey will be producing a viral video leading up to the event, and will be sure to preview it here.

Lastly, I have to say, in talking with some of the great advertising minds in the seattle area (Wunderman, ParkerLePla, Don't Blink, GoGoMo, Caliber Data, LiveClicker) AND their clients (Nintendo, AT&T, REI, Starbucks, Nike), I get the feeling that while the days are indeed dark, a new dawn readies on the horizon, and it will be brighter than ever.

So, if you're starting a new business, running an old one, or find yourself working in your garage on tomorrow's greatest technology, come to this event and learn a few tricks on how to get people's attention in a meaningful way. It will be time well spent.

Dave gets up and down in his explanation of the process behind making this month's video. If you wait until the very end you can even hear as he takes and makes the greatest golf shot in the history of mankind. To see the original video click here.

In the spirit of practicing what you preach (in terms of BEING the message, not advertising AROUND it), we've taken on a project called Take A Stand TV, which profiles the role individual contributors play in large issues relevant to our times. These individuals may not have their faces on Mt. Rushmore, but the work they do makes a BIG difference in many people's daily lives.

Our first episode (shown below), features Paul Figueroa, an anti-violence and conflict prevention specialist. Paul goes to schools, community organizations, corporations and other professional associations, teaching them how to handle tough situations at home and at work.

Paul is himself the product of an abusive upbringing, yet he decided at a young age that he had the power to affect the trajectory of his life by sticking to his beliefs. This approach, along with some other outside factors (Paul is a retired police officer) are what allowed Paul to "Take A Stand" during the key "choice-points" of his early years.

But enough from me, please watch Episode 1 of Take A Stand TV. If you want to learn more, go to www.takeastandtv.com (it's a temp blog. the actual site is under construction and will have some AMAZING features when we roll it out).

oh yeah, just in case you don't make it to the end credits ... I'm an executive producer, dave shot the interview and recorded sound, and RedGrey handled overall production and direction of the piece, with valuable input coming from co-producers Val Mohney and (host) Joel Meyers along the way.

Cool stuff!

Mad props to one of our readers (who didn't leave his/her name), who found the "Look Me in the Eye" Jordan vid on YouTube and passed it on. you will be receiving your fake iPhone tomorrow afternoon at approximately a quarter to never.

Here's the goods:



For a breakdown of each line of this commercial, please see "I Will Become What I Know I Am" blog entry below.

For the competitive types, or those currently taking a risk of some sort or another, this ad will resonate particularly well with YOU. I encourage you all to read it for a boost.

Party on.

Here's a great ad i saw the other day while watching Lebowski on hulu.com:



Had to drop a shout-out for it because i have yet to see a 15-second pre- or post-roll online video ad that didn't make me want to gravity test my computer. This little gem caught my eye.

Appealing to people online is a whole other ball game than doing it on television. It's a different aged audience, with different habits, different interests, and different expectations.

Just because people who watch online video tend to exercise a reduced attention span (sometimes, but not always), doesn't mean advertisers should attempt to say more, faster, in less time.

So, advertisers, take one thought, one aspect of your client's product, and highlight it. Don't be afraid to dive deeper into more focused issues, and to show them in clever ways.

General rules of thumb:

1) Sharing one benefit or aspect of a product/service at a time is enough, and
2) Never assume that your audience's interests are baser than your own.

This Reese's ad is a great example of that. it's 15 seconds long and one sentence. The music is a playfully cool riff off the New Order song "Bizarre Love Triangle," and the mood of the spot sums up what it's like to eat candy: so good (for your tastebuds), yet so bad (for your wasteline).

Gotta love it.