Category Archives: Mentos

advertising, Blogs on Video, book, Diet Coke, google video, Killer Video, Making Videos, Mentos, metacafe, Online Video, popular videos, Revver, Video Advertising, Video Business, Video Sites, Viral Video, vlogging, YouTube

8 Wishes for Online Video

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Paul 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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. The letter V will be removed from the alphabet. You have to have a stretch wish.
  7. 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.
  8. My 8th wish is for 8 more wishes. Is that allowed?
book, Making Videos, Mentos, popular videos, Video Advertising, Video Business, Viral Video, YouTube

Mentos Sponsors Video Creators to Move Beyond Mentos Geysers

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mentosy.jpgThe good folks at Mentos were kind enough to sponsor my “Smuggling Mentos Into Movie Theater” video (see it on Revver here). Mentos provided modest funds to offset my time and production costs, and more importantly provided me with a big ol’ shipment of Mentos. I’m eating them at 9:35 a.m. as I type. They also sent that 6-foot foam Mentos roll, and the kids are using it ways you can only begin to imagine.

As I wrote earlier, I think this is smart marketing (even if I take off my admittedly biased creator hat for a moment, and think like a marketer). Rather than creating ads and trying to post them everywhere, they’re asking creators to come up with something clever. And they’re moving beyond their 15 minutes of fame with Mentos Geysers to support creativity that brings to life the quirky personality of Mentos. The product team gave me total creative freedom- asking only that they’d have an opportunity to see it before it posted to ensure it wasn’t offensive or totally off target.

I worked with MediaMogirl on a much better video that will post in coming weeks. It will embarrass my parents, but it’s all in the spirit
of fresh fun.

advertising, Blogs on Video, book, Future of Online Video, Google, google video, Killer Video, Making Videos, Mentos, Online Video

Top 10 Viral Video Moments of 2006

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Given that 2006 was the Year of Online Video, we’d be remiss not to look back at the special highlights of this year.

This is not another “top viral videos of the year” list. Goodness knows there are hundreds of those. Instead we’re looking at the moments that changed the industry or perception of it. Our editors debated literally for minutes on this list, so we’d appreciate your additions in the comments. We’ll revise accordingly. It’s actually just me, but I’m using a royal “we.”

  1. gootube1.jpgGoogle buys YouTube for $1.65 billion. Huh? The absurd market cap that YouTube commanded despite low income and pirated content demonstrates the value of you, dear online-video viewer. There’s a race to own your little eyeballs. The moment made us uncomfortable because it flashes us back to the Pets.com era, but it validated the video space to mainstream, and taught people the power of community.
  2. lonely.jpgLonelyGirl15 revealed as an actress. Don’t believe everything you watch, folks. This was a sobering moment to millions of people living parasocial relationships with Bree via her YouTube videos. Some celebrated it, and moved to LonelyGirl15 where she serves her videos via Revver. Others groaned because they felt she violated the “realness” of the YouTube community. There are still ‘Tubers that dissect each of my videos to prove they’re fake. People, I did not really steal my neighbors Christmas tree. It’s called story telling, idiots, and you can say what you like about LonelyGirl15 but it’s undeniably a story people want to experience.
  3. eepy.jpgDiet Coke & Mentos. If you aren’t familiar with this movement, please turn off your computer and return to your couch. This was fascinating mostly from the corporate reaction. Mentos jumped right in and supported the video creators with sponsorship on Revver, contests and special partnerships. Coke distanced itself initially, and then eventually embraced it too late. My favorite remains the Pepsi Girl by Davideo.
  4. People started making money from online video. Don’t trust me? Listen to NPR’s report on it. EepyBird makes more than $35,000 on a few Diet Coke & Mentos Experiment videos. A comedy duo made more than $35,000 via Revver (a site that shares advertising revenue) from a series of videos showing elaborate fountains of exploding Coke. Later they would get a 6-figure deal with Google & Coke for a sequel.
  5. me-copy.jpgTIME magazine names consumer-generated media the “Person of the Year” in 2006. Hello, mainstream media — this video sharing thing isn’t a fad. It’s profoundly changing the way we consume media, interact and consume advertising. Perhaps the funniest part of this article was the instant response by bloggers, vloggers and video creators. Each decided we were individually the Person of the Year. Except me. I’m above that petty behavior.
  6. Michael Richards goes on racial tirade at The Laugh Factory. This was upsetting, but a reminder of the accountability power of video. Would that have made international news had someone not caught it on tape? It spawned instant spoofs like “The Lost Seinfeld Episode.”
  7. chronic_narnia.jpgThe Lazy Sunday Rap (Chronicles of Narnia) by Saturday Night Live goes wild on YouTube. NBC reacts by sending a 15-page “cease and desist” instead of basking in the free publicity of the ailing show. And it later partners with YouTube. Now the network is even exploring running dress rehearsals online. The sheer number of horrendous knockoffs of this video reaffirms that it was a paramount moment of 2006.
  8. Net Neutrality movement grows. I don’t really understand this, but I think it’s important. Here’s a video on it.
  9. Public Relations firm busted for making Al Gore Penguin spoof. DCI Group was exposed by the Wall Street Journal for secretly funding a video about global warming and Al Gore.
  10. buggs.jpgAnd lastly, my favorite! Marketers give a giant “Lennie Small (Of Mice & Men) squeeze” to viral video, crushing its lil’ head in adoration. Countless big brands did Lemming dives into viral video by creating such hits as Tea Partay by Smirnoff, GM’s flying cars, as well as some additional case studies. Then there were the ailing video contests and viral commercials we didn’t forward like advertisers promised their clients. People, let’s resolve to make 2007 better on the viral video advertising front. Please read 7-Deadly-Sins of Viral Video Advertising.

What did I miss?

Diet Coke, google video, Mentos, Revver, YouTube

Coke Embraces Mentos Fad for the First Time

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eepybird.jpgIn 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.

Killer Video, Making Videos, Mentos, Online Video, popular videos

Videos We Need More Of. Videos We Need Less Of.

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It’s time for WillVideoForFood’s first ever “videos we need more of” and “videos we need less of” awards.

Videos We Need More Of:

  • Candid moments of celebrities
  • 2-minute comedies (especially based on workplace life)
  • Comedic soundbytes on current events
  • Girls fighting (but no getting hurt too bad)
  • Harmless prank calls
  • Newscasters losing their cool off air

Videos We Need Less Of:

  • Rambling teenage girls
  • Lip synching
  • Cats crapping on toilets
  • People hurting themselves. Unless they’re girls fighting and don’t get hurt bad.
  • Mentos & soda
  • Dancing
  • One photo every day for 12 years

What did I miss?

Killer Video, Making Videos, Mentos, Online Video, Revver, Viral Video

Halloween in August and GarageBand O.D.

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Have you noticed the annual Halloween stores have begun to open? How do these companies survive with 2-months of sales a year? Oh. 95% margins, that’s how.

Anyway… it starts with buying an “old man” mask… which kinda begs for a video.

…Then the candy river begins to flow.

On the musical scores: I splurged on Mac’s Garage Band “Jam Pack” Rythm and Orchestra loops. You’ll hear Rythm in the first video and Orchestra in the second. They’re $100 each, so I’ve been hesitating. But what finally got me was when I was watching my kids play an online video game and I heard part of the exact tune from Mentos Jet Pack (and you’ll see the commenters are acknowledging the use of Garage Band). Here’s hoping that the choices of the new loops keep my videos somewhat distinct for a few months.

To tie these two subjects together (Halloween and GarageBand), I’d say Garageband loops are a lot like candy corn. The first handfulls taste great and then you reach a point where you can even think about either without getting a little ill.

copyright, Making Videos, Mentos, Online Video, YouTube

LucasFilms To YouTube: Put ‘Fan Films’ BACK On

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Thanks to a comment by TK42one, we’ve picked up on this post by Rebelscum. Seems YouTube pulled some fan clips, and the Star Wars fans raised it with LucasFilms. Here’s the announcement from LucasFilms:

Lucasfilm has been informed that YouTube recently removed from its site several fan-made Star Wars spoofs and parodies. We would like the fan film community to know that this was not done at our request. Apparently the action was taken by YouTube as a result of a misunderstanding of a request to remove an item containing material taken from starwars.com without our permission. We have asked YouTube to restore any works that they inadvertently removed.

Very “Mentos*” of LucasFilms. Very “Non NBC**” behavior here. Sure- don’t let people steal your stuff and make money. But if they want to use a tiny clip and you get free promotion… go with it.

peacock_cleanup.JPGDefinitions:

  1. * Mentos: adj. The act of celebrating viral videos and swimming with the undertow instead of fighting your way to the shore only to drown.
  2. ** Non NBC: adj. The act of not sending YouTube a C&D because your SNL skits are getting millions of views and you’re not making money. Or ignoring the multiple requests for permission to use the TINIEST clip of The Office to show how funny a kid thought it was.

P.S. Did you notice how I sided with YouTube on the YouTube v. NBC issue? A good blogger has balance. I’m not mad at them today.