Comments on: Sponsored Fun or Selling Out? Comedy Duo On Road Trip for Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz.

By: Will Video for Food » Alka Seltzer Viral Campaign Taps YouTube Weblebrities, Cewebrities

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:31:09 +0000

[...] and Link’s Alka Seltzer road show (see previous post) hit Philadelphia recently, and it didn’t take them asking more than once to convince me and [...]

By: Bobby Jennings

Bobby Jennings — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:49:05 +0000

Wow, this is a great post. I’ve met and spoke with Rhett and Link and they are smart, funny, talented guys. As I’m from Wicked Awesome Films, I’m all about comedy. And sponsored or not, I laughed out loud more than once watching this video. Clever, of course. But funny? Damn straight.

-Bobby J.

By: Mark Schoneveld

Mark Schoneveld — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:30:21 +0000

When are you guys going to Pat’s or Geno’s?? I wanna join!

By: Slater

Slater — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:09:45 +0000

As good as it gets, on so many levels…

I, for one, say nice job on those guys… They do maintain the balance of “adver” and “tainment” very very well..

By: sukatra

sukatra — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:18:27 +0000

I liked it, and didn’t pick up on the advertising til the last minute, but that didn’t bother me, because the background music and melody were so cool.

By: RF-1

RF-1 — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:53:21 +0000

Rhett & Link are money $$$.

By: NutCheese

NutCheese — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 02:16:45 +0000

I think buffets should be required to have a vomitorium

By: jischinger

jischinger — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:22:13 +0000

I think they hit it – they pleased everyone. The fans, the sponsor and I think they stayed true their creative brand of comedy. I don’t know if I feel this way because I expect to see more online people doing/incorporating ads to make a living or if I’m just rooting for these guys. I thought they struck the right balance. Will there be naysayers? Always, who cares!

ps kevin will your love never die?

By: Rhett

Rhett — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:29:16 +0000

Great post, Nalts. This whole thing could not be articulated better. You got it right in so many ways…

To answer a few of the questions you raised:

1. We’re happy with the compensation…let’s put it this way: it gives us hope that we might be able to make web videos for a living.

2. Yes, I’m sure it dilutes our image to one end, but from a purely artistic standpoint, we actually think this video HELPS our image on Youtube. Because of the support, both financially and logistically, that we received for this series, we honestly feel like it’s our best work. In fact, a good number of fans have said, “You guys have really hit a groove with this new series…you’re doing great stuff AGAIN.” If the content sucked, or was even just okay, this series could be web suicide. But people are loving the content and dealing with the branding…so far.

The thing that we’ve repeatedly voiced to our core followers is this: we wouldn’t go on a 21 location road trip across America on our own. We wouldn’t have made this series apart from sponsorship. So, there is no scenario that exists where we do something of this scale without branding…once people buy that, they are much more willing to cheer us on.

All that being said, it’s a tough spot to be in. The better this series does, and the further it reaches outside of our small but aligned fanbase, the more criticism we’ll get for selling out. But it won’t be fair and balanced (have you thought of working with Fox News?) like your critique is. You were able to see through the branding to the content, and you found yourself enjoying it. Unfortunately, I think that perspective is still pretty rare.

Thanks again, and we look forward to you killing us in Philly.

By: Marilyn

Marilyn — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:49:33 +0000

Pretty clever video actually. But is it selling out if you are up-front about it? Isn’t that what you REALLY want to do with your life, Nalts – sell-out to the highest bidder?