Tag Archives: canada

Hungry Dog Tease (voiceover comedy)

Here’s a hungry (and very viral) dog and his owner discussing items in the fridge. The dog, of course, is desperate for food. The owner teases him to the point of howls. The brilliance is the simplicity and dual voiceover, which has a timeless appeal… a bit Honeymooners even.

Found some Maple bacon… I know who’d like that. Me.

Then I saw some beef. Steak… juicy… ate that too.

But I went back… put together some chicken, cheese, cat treats… then I gave it to the cat.

Here’s a playlist of similar videos from Klaatu42, the creator whose name is Andrew from Nova Scotia, Canada.

We salute you, Andrew. Of course we believe Jack the Dog’s consumption of my book holds great promise for him too.

 

 

 

Officer Bubbles Sues YouTube Commenters

Watch out folks. “Officer Bubbles” (Toronto police constable Adam Josephs) is suing not just the people behind YouTube video parodies of his anti-bubble threat (example from a 2-day old account “MisterOfficerBubbles” channel that’s soon to vanish), but commenters as well. According to this post, Josephs is suing Todd “pussymcfats” Mara (age 33 and father of two) for more than $1 million for spoofing the original clip.

The original video, posted in July 2010, showed the constable warning an anti-G20 protester (nurse Courtney Winkles) not to blow bubbles at him. TheRealNews clip then attracted parodies, remixes and comments.

For a full background see The Toronto Star’s coverage of “pussymcfats” and “thepmocanada” (both accounts are closed). The Star reports that Josephs is suing and that, “Josephs suggests the cartoons and comments are “false and devastatingly defamatory” for implying that he is a narcissist, among other things.”

The entire event sounds quite familiar to me for reasons I’ve been advised not to express right now. But let’s just say that Josephs is unlikely to improve or recover his tarnished image through the lawsuits, and the parodies are likely covered by free speech and satire. Even if Josephs manages to win or settle for a trivial amount, it won’t likely cover the cost of his attorneys or the increasing damage of the drama.

Would you rather be known as the police officer who became perhaps legitimately frustrated when bubbles were blown in your face, or the guy who tried to sue people who commented on parodies and found it amusing? I think I speak for most employers in saying I’d hire the former, but not the latter.

Watch what you say in the comments, friends. The Canadian Mounties are watching.

“Viral Video is Dead” Echos in Canada & Beyond

Nalts speaking in Toronto

If there’s one thing more fun than speaking to hundreds of marketers before a giant video of yourself like a “Rolling Stones” concert, it’s to read Twitter “tweets” after you speak.

By searching #mweek and @nalts after my talk on Wednesday, I learned what “stuck” with the Toronto “Canadian Marketing Association” audience. Canadians are nice, and apparently quite addicted to Twitter. They surprised me by almost making me sound intelligent in the quotes they shared.

Here are two of the things people most RT’d (aka retweeted, which here means posting on Twitter or sharing someone else’s Twitter post).

  • Viral is dead.
  • An impression isn’t an impression unless it makes one (see TechVibes coverage).

Marketing Magazine led with this article titled “Marketing Week Begins with ‘Viral is Dead’ Declaration.” IT Business was struck that a “viral is dead” statement woud come from “a person who owes his fame and fortune to tons of viewers on YouTube.” Then there’s the Canadian Star, which captured one of the most important points I hoped to make:

But advertisers don’t have to spend millions making YouTube videos, like the Evian Roller Babies, in hopes they go viral, Nalty said. The ad features digitally animated babies rollerskating to rock music. Instead, they can use existing YouTube stars, like Fred Figglehorn, the teenager with the annoying high-pitched voice and the online following bigger than Oprah’s TV audience, Nalty said. Fred makes a six-figure income from advertisers on his YouTube posts, Nalty said.

Certainly there’s a robust future of incredible clips that will gain “viral” fame. But my point was that marketers should not waste time and money investing in clips with hope that they go “viral.” It’s rare for a commercial clip to be shared wildly, although Evian’s babies is a recent exception.

Instead, I encourage marketers to chose the more efficient and guaranteed approach of partnering with online-video weblebrities. These individuals have large, recurring audiences and fans. So their sponsored videos are far more likely to travel the web and be seen by millions. I showed the Hitviews case study on Fox Broadcasting as proof. Two of my Fox videos alone have surpassed 1 million views each, which was half the targeted views of the campaign (for “Fringe” and “Lie to Me”).

I was encouraged to speak with a number of creative directors (or former creator directors) that seemed excited about the prospects. I had feared that they’d feel threatened by an online-video “weblebrity” creating videos that aren’t as easy to control. But they seemed to appreciate the idea of giving a popular creator a creative brief, and some room to tailor the message to his/her audience and style.

Here’s the deck, though most won’t make sense without context. Steal away. Spread the word.

But remember two things above all. US/Canada border guards require passports, and don’t care to be videotaped even if it’s on a Hello Kitty Flipcam. Trust me on those.

Best YouTube Song Parodies

I just discovered this OneProduktionFilms playlist of YouTube song parodies (ones created mostly by YouTubers — not repurposed television song parodies).

Below are videos of my two favorites Jon Lajoie (who I want to be when I grow up) in “High as F*ck.” And the classic “YouTube is My Life” by Church of Blow.

Like my favorite film comedians — Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Chevy Chase — these guys have that combination of wit and low self esteem that goes together like chocolate and peanut butter.

But I suppose my favorite actor/comedian would be the appearingly more stable Charles Grodin. He can say more with a blank stare than most can in a monologue.

Speaking of Grodin, Hughsnews asked his viewers to tell us what movie star would play certain YouTubers in a film, and someone said Grodin. I felt good about myself for about 10 solid minutes.

Tom Hanks FatOther suggestions for Nalts included:

  1. A burrito
  2. Nathan Lane
  3. Jim Carrey on weak sleeping pills
  4. Larry Linville (Frank Burns)
  5. Charles Nelson Reilly (Match Came guy)
  6. Neil Flynn
  7. Billy Crystal
  8. Mike O’Malley
  9. Tom Hanks (no I didn’t post that through a sock account- maybe that guy was thinking about the beginning part of Cast Away).


Southpark on Monetization of Digital Content

Kyle from Southpark puts it well in this 30-second clip from “Canada on Strike.” The clip’s called “The Promise of Future Revenue.” Thanks to Jan for finding it.

Kyle Southpark Canada StrikeBoy I’m sure glad that’s over with. Me too. Yeah, but you know I learned something today. We thought we could make money on the Internet. But while the Internet is new and exciting for creative people, it hasn’t matured as a distribution mechanism to the extent that one should trade real and immediate opportunities for income for the promise of future online revenue. It will be a few years before digital distribution of media on the Internet can be monetized to an extent that necessitates content producers to forgo their fair value in more traditional media.

In this part of “Canada on Strike,” the Southpark folks meet some YouTube weblebrities (the cliche one-hit wonders). There’s something pervursely symbolic to see all of the Internet stars — laughing baby, sneezing panda, gopher, Chris Crocker, Chocolate Rain, Tron guy, Numa Numa — end up in a bloody mess on the floor.