EepyBird Planning Mentos & Diet Coke Geyser in NYC on Saturday (7.7.7) July 5, 2007
Posted by Nalts in : Diet Coke, Mentos, YouTube, advertising , 2commentsThanks to help from a friend at Coke, the Atlanta-based company will be turning out at the NYC Meetup with EepyBird (the duo made famous for their elaborate displays of Mentos & Coke fountains. They will showcase a geyser display at about 1:30 EST at Washington Park Square (near NYU). It’s part of a number of different informal events that will roll out in the coming days. Visit www.youtubemeetup.com for more details. You can also call 866-YTMEETS to reach people and find out where the crowd has landed.
Raw-Pork Worms Only Like Real Coke May 26, 2007
Posted by Nalts in : Diet Coke, Online Video, Video, Viral Video, popular videos, viral videologist , 5commentsYou’ve seen the videos showing how soda poured on raw pork evicts lots of tiny worms. Well in this double-blind, placebo-controlled “Raw Pork and Coke” experiment, we learn why it works for some but not others.
Seems to get the worms out, you need to ensure that you have a) cheap pork, and b) real Coke. The worms don’t do cheap soda. Not their thing.
8 Wishes for Online Video January 20, 2007
Posted by Nalts in : Blogs on Video, Diet Coke, Killer Video, Making Videos, Mentos, Online Video, Revver, Video Advertising, Video Business, Video Sites, Viral Video, YouTube, advertising, google video, metacafe, popular videos, vlogging , 15commentsPaul Sanchez — biker, video junkie, PR machine, blogger, and maddman — has started an 8-wishes “tag chain” thingy. He’s asked me and other bloggers to post our 8 wishes and pass along the task to others. Parenthetically, Paul’s first wish was granted, as he recently interviewed Kinkos founder Paul Orfalea.
So let’s be clear that if I really had 8 wishes, they’d be focused around my wife and family, world peace, end of poverty and injustice, etc. However I’m focusing these strictly on online video.
- Amateurs develop niche audiences that can economically sustain themselves. That’s what this blog is about. Many of us make videos for fun, but would love to jump into it full time. Currently there are really only two ways to do that. Develop a tremendous following such that advertising (via sites that share ad revenue) sustains you. This is proving to be very difficult so far. The alternative is to develop serialized content and attract one or more sponsors. We’ve done a couple videos for Mentos (Sneaking Mentos into Theater and the recent Team Mentos with MediaMogirl). It would take a lot of these to cover my mortgage, but it’s a good start.
- Online video channels will compensate creators. If you had asked me a year ago, I would have almost guaranteed you that community would form around sites that shared ad revenue. This isn’t happening as fast as we all hoped. YouTube does not share advertising with creators, and sites like Revver, blip.tv and Brightcove are only effective if you have your own audience. None of these sites draws traffic like the big boys. Metacafe has both ad sharing and traffic, but it’s fierce competition to get seen.
- Advertisers will hasten their shift from interuption marketing to engagement marketing. Instead of building campaigns that push product, I hope they’ll more deeply engage in social media. The EepyBird Coke deal is a great example. Coke paid the comedic duos, and then drove views via Google Video. Advertisers are starting to realize that the the 60-second spot is dead, and they need to let go of scripted messaging to be viable in a demand-driven content world where they can skip ads.
- Online video accessible via any box. I hope that in 2007 we see more power to the explosive collide of television and online video. YouTube and Revver have deals with Verizon, and there is no shortage of models that bring online video to cable, television, media centers and portable devices. The more this happens, the easier it will be for content creators to find audiences and audiences to find niche content.
- Niche channels form. There are many of us that create content that is not necessarily mass market. But there are groups of people that love specific niches. YouTube facilitates this connection via subscriptions. In the past week I jumped from 400 subscribers to about 1200 on YouTube and these are people that have self-identified as being interested in my style. Others can RSS my content, but there’s no easy way to turn on the boob tube and surf some of my videos. I hope there will be soon.
- The letter V will be removed from the alphabet. You have to have a stretch wish.
- The networks will support an online-video show. This will provide mainstream visibility to online-video creators that have interesting content but can’t sustain their own show. We’ll see an SNL-style show that features an assortment of short clips from regular content providers. I want to be one of ‘em. Remember how the Simpsons got its start as a segment of The Tracy Ulman show.
- My 8th wish is for 8 more wishes. Is that allowed?
Wanted: New Marketing Skills for 2007 January 5, 2007
Posted by Nalts in : Diet Coke, Future of Online Video, Online Video, Video Advertising, Video Business, advertising , 11commentsThere’s a fairly new skillset required of marketers as sponsored, user-generated video takes shape this year. Historically, marketers are trained to listen to the customer, shape the messages, and manage the agency to achieve “reach, frequency and single-minded propositions.” Rinse. Repeat.
Along comes viral video. At first, marketers sit on the sidelines. They watch. Then they decide to get in the game, and they have agencies produce faux viral. In some cases it takes off, but it mostly fails. The next evolution involved partnerships between creators, brands and new media channels. Recently Coke did a promotion on YouTube where it paid ‘tubers to make short Christmas videos (no mention of Coke required) and send them to friends. They also sponsored EepyBird in another Mentos/Coke video, and paid them reported 6-figures and put significant media dollars behind it.
So what’s next? Yesterday I spoke with a product director of a well-known consumer brand. He wants to sponsor videos that mention his product, and he’s ready pay a fee for the video. We’ve been communicating for months and he approved my first video with some minor changes yesterday evening. Then MediaMoGirl pitched him and his boss on a new idea we’re planning to shoot this weekend. Let’s just say it involves me wearing spandex and leave it at that.
Here’s what struck me about the way these two marketers were handling our conversation. They stepped back and exhibited an incredible faith in our creativity. They didn’t push us to insert brand messages, and they didn’t even treat us like an agency. It was like watching a parent give a child some room to be as weird as they wanted. The feedback we received was subtle. All they really wanted from the video is for it to appeal to their target market, and have full transparency that they sponsored it. The VP stepped off the call to FedEx a box of product to MediaMoGirl to use as props. I was blown away by this dialogue.
At Johnson & Johnson I took some classes by former Procter & Gamble guys that taught how to manage and lead creative agencies. They made you spend a night creating a commercial, and then have it deconstructed by the class the next day. You got to feel how feedback (good and bad) is received, and you’d never, ever manage the creative process the same way again.
In 2007 we’ll inarguably see more consumer-generated content. Unless marketers “buy their way” to the game, they’ll have to embrace it with some faith. Instead of squeezing it to death and forcing messages, they’ll have to let the creators take them slightly off message. I’m going to argue that’s a fairly new skillset for an agency, much less a traditional marketer.
Coke & YouTube Team on “WishCast” vGreetings December 8, 2006
Posted by Nalts in : Diet Coke, YouTube , 2comments
Want to send someone a holiday video right from Famed YouTubers like Geriatric1927 or Renetto?
Coca-Cola is sponsoring a viral video “wishcast,” through which you can send a YouTube video (some are personalized by creators, and others are classic Coke ads). To my knowledge, it’s the first large-scale combination of eGreetings and videos… hence the name vGreetings. See YouTube.com/wishcast for more details, or visit CocaCola.com.
When I initially learned about his, I was expecting some of the YouTubers to be hawking Coke. Instead, they were given freedom on their message. And, of course, you can send some of the vintage Coke ads like the animated polar bear.
Although nothing beats falling asleep next to the fire by the soothing songs of Renetto. Is it just me or does he go unnaturally long between blinks?
Too bad Coke didn’t ask me. I’d have given them my “Scary Santa.” I think it would have been popular with the parents trying to terrify their kids.
Coke Embraces Mentos Fad for the First Time October 24, 2006
Posted by Nalts in : Diet Coke, Mentos, Revver, YouTube, google video , 17comments
In a marketing decision that always perplexed me, Coke spent the better part of this year distancing itself from a cultural wave involving its product… the geysers resulting from mixing Mentos mints and Diet Coke. The Mentos team jumped on it almost reflexively — running ads behind the famed www.Eepybird.com ads via Revver and initiating a Mentos Geyser contest on YouTube.
In a surprise move, Coke has stopped running… and has even embraced the Diet Coke and Mentos wave. Coke announced a new “Poetry in Motion” video contest behind a teaser video of EepyBird’s next experiment. The trailer for EepyBird’s “Extreme Diet Coke & Mentos Experiments II” video (due October 30) can be seen on Google Video, followed by a video ad that has an embedded hyperlink taking viewers to this Coke contest site. The contest is in prelaunch mode, but will invite individuals to submit videos that involve ordinary objects turned into something interesting.
Pictured here are the creators of EepyBird, Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz. The experiment II looks like it will be a visual feast far surpassing their original work. The duo– who made a small fortune via Revver — are now serving their videos at EepyBirdy Google Video with a Coke promo and hyperlink. Presumably they’ve cut a handsome deal with Coke (I’m guessing it approaches six figures since they made at least $50K on Revver from the first experiments).
I’m surprised that Grobe and Voltz aren’t more dynamic in this ad. I expected the improv team to show some fizz, but they’re surprisingly flat. Still- Kudos to EepyBird for extending its 15 minutes of fame, and to Coke for demonstrating adaptive marketing. The best kind.
Mentos Geyser Video Contest August 20, 2006
Posted by Nalts in : Diet Coke, Mentos, Online Video , 8comments
You have until September 30, 2006 to enter the “Mentos Geyser Video Contest.” Prizes include enough Mentos to feed you for a year. Here’s the official website, and here’s the YouTube Mentos Geyser group that features the qualified entries to date.
Here are my two entries.
Mentos Jet Pack- kids had some fun strapping bottles to their back
SaveMentosNow PSA (in honor of the actual website)
Moguls of New Media According to WSJ August 3, 2006
Posted by Nalts in : Diet Coke, Killer Video, Online Video, Video Business, Video Sites, Viral Video, YouTube, advertising, google video, popular videos , add a comment
If you want a quick crash course on the abscure talent that have become famous from online video, blogs, podcasts and the like… check out this nice WSJ article by John Jurgensen. It’s titled “Moguls of New Media.”
Highlights from the piece
Christine Dolce, whose MySpace page boasts nearly one million friends — making her arguably one of the most connected people on the Internet. A 24-year-old worked at a makeup counter in a mall, and now has a manager and a start-up jeans company and has won promotional deals for two mainstream consumer brands.
![[image]](http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/it_podcast08102005141132.gif){kind=small}
NEW-MEDIA POWER LIST
• The Wall Street Journal’s John Jurgensen discusses new media’s digital entertainers.
• See who’s who among new-media celebrities.
Each week, about a half-million people download a comedic video podcast featuring a former paralegal. A video by a 30-year-old comedian from Cleveland has now been watched by almost 30 million people, roughly the audience for an average “American Idol” episode. The most popular contributor to the photo site Flickr.com just got a contract to shoot a Toyota ad campaign.
Here are some of my favorites from Jugensen’s list of the “new-media power list” (the term “new media” died about 6 months before Web 2.0, didn’t it?)
- Tiki Bar TV (Jeff Macpherson)- the first video podcast I ever saw.
- Amanda Unboomed (Amanda Congdon)- you love her or hate her. I do both.
- Ask A Ninja (Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine)- resulted in the most tribute/ripoffs of anything else that crossed Gore’s world wide web.
- Evolution of Dance (Judson Laipply)- Will go down as history’s most popular video guy that never made a direct penny from his 30 million views. Let’s hope is new agent dances as well as Laipply.
- EepyBird (Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz)- First popular video (Diet Coke/Mentos) that actually made someone some money. Check out SaveMentosNow.com for the next evolution of this concept.
- Channel101.com (Rob Schrab and Dan Harmon)- I have to admit that I hadn’t heard of this one until the “new media” folks at WSJ pointed it out.
- Brookers (Brooke Brodack)- Seriously, Carson Daly is going to return your calls when your 15 minutes are up.
The YouTube Viral Broker, who helped many of these web celebrities capitalize on their fame, is somewhat offended that the Journal overlooked him. If you want to write Jurgensen and tell him he forgot about nalts, feel free: john.jurgensen@wsj.com.
Save Mentos from Diet Coke July 27, 2006
Posted by Nalts in : Diet Coke, Mentos, Online Video , 6commentsThee’s a grassroots effort to save sweet Mentos from the cruelty of Diet Coke. You too can help. Visit http://www.savementosnow.com/. I’m not involved in the effort, but I made ‘em a PSA when I learned about it via the Revver blog.
YouTube Rival Has Killer App (Advertising Age) July 21, 2006
Posted by Nalts in : Diet Coke, Killer Video, Mentos, Online Video, Revver, Video Advertising, Video Business, Viral Video, advertising , 2comments
Advertising Age writer Beth Snyder Bulik called Revver.com a TouTube rival with an model that’s a “kill app.” She describes the $30K profit Steven Voltz and Fritz Grobe made through their infamous “Extreme Diet Coke and Mentos Experiment.”
Revver advertisers include Microsoft, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros., and American Apparel. Larger content creators are contributing to Revver including ZeFrank and Ask a Ninja. The site’s in beta and launches officially in September.
Side note: Mentos bought out the entire inventory of ad space on the popular video. The Coke folks? They sent Voltz and Grobe one t-shirt and a diet Coke cap. Common, Coke. No wonder people are spoofing your approach to online advertising! These guys give you arguably millions in viral advertising and the best you can do is a t-shirt and cap? You guys need a bright, young, energetic online advertising guru to come remind Coke it’s not 1995 anymore.