Category Archives: Killer Video

advertising, Blogs on Video, book, Killer Video, Making Videos, Online Video, popular videos, Viral Video, viral videologist, YouTube

The Power of Blogs for Video Viralization (MacBook Air Parody Case Study)

January 17, 2008 Nalts 7 Comments

As I mentioned in my recent eBook (“How to Become Popular on YouTube Without Any Talent“), Obama-Girl creator Ben Relles taught me about the power of blogs to get a viral video to a tipping point. Candidly, I’m usually too lazy to go searching for blogs that might like a video, and kinda hope they’ll find it on their own. But Gizmodo (a very popular blog) recently posted about my “MacBook Air Obsessed With Thin.”

Back story: this short parody of a Mac ad (see original post) took about 20 minutes — from idea to upload. So I decided to invest another 5 Googling a few Mac blogs, and sending them the video’s URL. I had to move quick because the Ambien, at this point, was bringing me down like a tranquilized elephant with a dart hanging from his neck.

This paid off. I would have forgotten about my little self-promotion binge (I’m prone to “black outs” after my post-Ambien activities). But this morning I noticed the Mac parody had 40K views already, which far exceed my number of subscribers (27K) and what I’d normally get by being the 3rd-highest rated comedy of the day. Paranthetically, my antecdotal feebdack suggests the video has some innate viral elements because a) my wife liked it (rare), b) I got a call from my advertising agency about it, and c) the CEO from Xlntads sent me an e-mail about it.

Still, a little “blog gasoline” on the “viral spark” is well worth its time.

Is it working? Google your video’s unique title to see if there’s uptake. Also, 0n YouTube, you can select “links” under a video (it’s easy to miss), and see if any individual site is tossing a lot of traffic your way. I don’t usually notice a lot of activity here, but I do recall finding an Asian porn site throwing my “HappySlip on eBay” video a lot of views).

Today it shows that 12K of the 39k views were coming from Gizmodo. I couldn’t recall sending them the URL, but it appears they posted about the video and credited Cult of Mac (I suppose I had sent the video to Cult of Mac before Ambien shut me down completely). Oddly, Gizmodo reports 6000 people reading that post, but I’m seeing 12,000 coming to my video via Gizmodo. Huh? YouTube usually drastically under reports the inbound links.

Are you paying attention or glazing over this in an ADHD fog? Let me summarize with the “least you need to know”: if you do a video that has viral potential, find some bloggers who might be interested in the story.

Don’t spam bloggers, but send them a personalized, relevant note and connect the video to their readership so it doesn’t look too self pimpin’. And I wouldn’t advise this tactic unless you’re fairly confident they’ll get a chuckle over the clip. It also makes a big difference if you’re a regular reader of their blog and can demonstrate that. I’ll confess I wasn’t a regular reader of Cult of Mac, but now I’m hooked.

Killer Video, Online Video

Cambridge Who’s Who: Is it a Scam? My Story on Video.

January 16, 2008 Nalts 19 Comments

The other day I had the funniest adventure dealing with Cambridge’s Who’s Who. I chronicled it in this absurdly long (10 minute) video. I really thought this video would die a quick death even though I had terrific fun making it (and I watched it four times, giggling like a grade child in Church).

Much to my surprise, it’s now the second highest rated comedy video of the day on YouTube. I imagine that rating is from sympathy votes because people like a “scam” exposed. Certainly it’s not the production quality, as I shot it in one take using a cheap camera with horrible pixelation.

Here’s a nice blog post that explores the validity of the Cambridge “Who’s Who” offering, which boasts a free listing. After a lengthy interview, the “mark” is told they “rank,” and asked if they want the $600 or $800 package. It’s a rather bazaar experience. Here’s the official site of Cambridge, which according to the telemarketer has 25 million visits and 250,000 “members.” Hmm.

The kicker is that my credit card had maxed out (as I chronicle in this follow-up video) so I was spared the charge. But I can’t help but wonder if other people have had positive experiences with Cambridge, or if people feel as suckered as I would have felt had my Mastercard not exceeded its balance.

One of my favorite things about online video is the accountability it can provide consumers. Can scams continue if people are brave enough to admit to being duped, and broadcast it to others?

advertising, book, Future of Online Video, Killer Video, Making Money, Making Videos, Nalts, Online Video, TechCrunch, Video, Video Advertising, Video Business, Video Sites, Viral Video, viral videologist, vlogging, YouTube

Sales of My Free eBook Skyrocket Due to TechCrunch Coverage

January 4, 2008 Nalts 6 Comments

Well, you loyal WillVideoForFood.com readers, please reserve your front row seats, because the auditorium may be filling with some TechCrunch visitors. They actually crunched about my eBook. Here’s my original post about the book, titled “How to Become Popular on YouTube (Without Any Talent).” Here’s my video reaction to the coverage.

Or maybe TechCrunch didn’t write about me, and it’s a weird dream. I’m kinda sleep deprived. But if it’s a dream, then so is this post. So at least I’m not at risk of embarrassing myself by claiming something that… never mind.

Sales of my free eBook have tripled almost instantly. Naturally I promised TechCrunch a return link, because you know how desperate they are for inbound links. Mike Arrington’s always e-mailing me with this “can’t pass reciprocal link deal,” and I’m like… “find your own audience, dude.”

So if you have popped by for the standard 8-second “do I care about this site?” determination, take off your shoes, subscribe and stay a while. I’m Nalts. These are the other people reading this blog. They’re a little more quiet than me, but they’re here alright.

We cover online video trends, personalities and websites. We tracks interesting “viral video” case studies. And we reviews how marketers and agencies can leverage this visceral new online-video medium to engage people relevantly and promote their brands. Oh, and we occasionally self promote ourself. But at least we’re transparent, right? We don’t usually use the “royal” we, but we’re sleep deprived, remember?

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book, Future of Online Video, Killer Video, Making Videos, metacafe, Nalts, Online Video, popular videos, Video, Viral Video, viral videologist, vlogging

New Weekly Show Featuring 50 Interesting Online-Video Personalities in 2008: The Bubblegum Tree Show. Yey!

January 4, 2008 Nalts 2 Comments

Had enough of horrible big-media interviews of your favorite online-video “weblebrities”? The same questions over and over? The 7 hours you spend, as a video creator, meeting with a television network, only to find your interview has been reduced to a 12-second soundbite?

Well it’s time for The Bubblegum Tree Show! Yey! (See trailer).

It’s my new weekly show that will feature 50 of the most interesting (not necessarily the most popular) online video personalities in 2008. There is, of course, no shortage of shows that feature online-video creators. In fact I also do one for Metacafe called Metacafe Unfiltered. And then there’s Veoh’s Viral.

But this one’s different. You see, there’s bubblegum. The interviewed guest will be chewing gum, and send it to me at the end. Next, the gum will be affixed to the official “Bubblegum Tree,” which eventually will be populated by dozens of pieces of chewed gum (each beside the name of its weblebrity chewer). The show is designed to be fast, quirky, informal and interesting. The balance I’m trying to establish is making it cheeky, but giving people a real glimpse of the creator’s personality.

What’s Barats and Bereta like when they’re not doing sketches?
What’s the person who did Obama Girl about, and is he really as intimidating-looking as his profile picture?
Is WhatTheBuck really gay, or is it an act?
What stupid question will Spencer (the kid from “Farting in Public“) ask the victim?

Subscribe now (only 25 elite subscribers as of this post), and be the first to catch the premier. Who will be first? CharlesTrippy? MarkDay? LisaNova? We’re after all of them. And if you’re an interesting online-video personality with a fat talent agent, send them our way via “bubblegumtreeshow dot com at g mail.” Because before long getting booked on The Bubblegum Tree Show will be like trying to get your book on Oprah (a woman who has a television show).

advertising, book, Future of Online Video, Google, Killer Video, Making Money, Making Videos, marketing, metacafe, Nalts, Online Video, popular videos, Profit, Revver, TechCrunch, Video, Video Advertising

“How to Become Popular on YouTube (Without Any Talent)” – A Free eBook

January 4, 2008 Nalts 73 Comments

Thank you, dear readers, for your help finalizing this version 1.5 of “How to Become Popular on YouTube Without Any Talent.” Honestly, if I look at this document another moment I’m going to boot. If you’re looking for my real book, “Beyond Viral,” published by Wiley & Sons in 2010, please click here.

(Warning- clicking the image to the right will cause you to download the book, which is annoying but probably what most people expect).

This post marks the official release of the book. You can download it (for free) by clicking this link, which will open the 30-page PDF: “How to Become Popular on YouTube (Without Any Talent), version 1.5” by Kevin Nalts, WillVideoForFood.com. If you post the PDF on your own blog or website, please keep that title, and my name and URL. You might want to list this post’s permalink, since it will point to future downloadable versions.

While you’re waiting for Adobe to open (insert “car rusting” joke here), I hope you’ll RSS this blog so we can keep each other current. If you’re a YouTuber and haven’t subscribed to my videos, visit YouTube.com/Nalts, then select the orange button labled “subscribe.” Okay- enough self promotion for one day. I’m going to take a nap.

Here’s the book on Skribd for easy access.

Here’s a free 2-page synopsis of my book, “The Prophet of Online Video.” If you want to use this outline and write your own book, go ahead. I’m so not writing for a while.

Killer Video, Making Videos, Online Video, popular videos, Viral Video, YouTube

YouTube Is My Life (Destined for Feature)

December 24, 2007 Nalts 24 Comments

I don’t think there’s been a video in 2007 that I’ve watched as many times as this recent discovery, “YouTube is My Life.” Seriously. I think I’m up to 19 views.

It’s by ChurchofBlow (aka WeepingProphet). His real name is either Jeremiah McDonald or Bernard Smith, and he’s a former film student based near Boston. (Parenthetically this is the first Google result if you search “Kevin Nalts real name… stalker! :). As he waits for his career to take off (and I’m quite confident it will), he has worked in the coffee industry among other places. Here’s the musician behind the most excellent score.

I’m on a mad campaign to get this featured by YouTube editors because it’s just perfect. Clever, well produced, fantastic cameos by some YouTube weblebrities (TheHill88, MarkDay and Sean Bedlam). It’s a totally addictive song, it’s well lit, the sound effects are fantastic, the acting is dead pan, the humor is intellectual, the camera movements are thoughtful, and the stop-animated finger puppets are just plain cute. It’s a great example of what an amateur with talent can do with scarce resources.

Here’s another one we seem to be watching some what obsessively (Farting Elves from JibJab).

Killer Video, Making Money, Making Videos, Viral Video

Web Junk Alumnus, Patrice Oneal, Puts Out Edgy DVD

December 22, 2007 Nalts 4 Comments

Remember VH1’s Web Junk, which sometimes didn’t suck? Comedian Patrice Oneal, whose “I don’t give a shit” attitude was the most endearing part of the show, is now making online-video shorts with NYC Studio “For Your Imagination.” The DVD includes such favorites as “Cockfights,” “Last White Man Alive, “Dyke Punching” and “Child Labor.” For more see www.patriceoneal.com.

“The sheer popularity of the web series, and the fact that his fans have been asking for this format, made this DVD release the next logical step in our partnership with Patrice,” said Paul Kontonis, For Your Imagination’s CEO. “Plus there are other ways for a web series to make money without having to wait for a sponsor to write a check.”

“We’ve all been working very hard on this show and I’m happy to have an outlet for all of the things that VH1 wouldn’t let me say,” said Oneal.

We won’t admit to watching, but we will.

book, Killer Video, popular videos, Video, Viral Video

Case Study: Human Flip Book Promotes Sub Shop

December 7, 2007 Nalts 5 Comments

150 t-shirts.
Hours of ironing images and taking carefully placed photos.
9 hours of an intern posing in them.

The result? A human flip book (TheHumanFlipBook) to promote sandwich restaurant, A sub restauran, Erbert & Gerber, hired Colle & McVoy to produce the viral video, and the “making of” is as fascinating as the promotion (and, smartly, includes the finished product). Almost 400K views since its September launch. Without knowing the price, I think its fair to assume it was a good buy for Erbert & Gerber — pennies per view maybe?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AulVwjcnJhI[/youtube]

Blogs on Video, book, Future of Online Video, Google, google video, Killer Video, Making Videos, Online Video, popular videos, TechCrunch, Video, Video Sites, Viral Video, Web 2.0, Yahoo Video, YouTube

Even My Boss Knew About This Video

December 5, 2007 Nalts 4 Comments

It’s not often my boss mentions YouTube, and I usually try to avoid eye contact when he does. But at today’s staff meeting he mentioned that a friend from a former employer had a YouTube video called “Here Comes Another Bubble” by The Richter Scales. It’s a wonderful satire on the absurdity of web 2.0 which, indeed, begs for another bubble burst. It’s done to the music of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”

No sooner had I forgotten about his Bubble video did I discover that it trumped me on the “highest rated video of the day on YouTube. And I had actually done a storyboard for my “iPod Angel & Devil” video, which involved makeup, script, and a wicked amount of editing time (parenthetically this iPod video was born out of my frustration about overlooking the free AT&T phone by signing up directly with AT&T instead of Mac, and a quote that popped out of my mouth in a meeting this week: “I just paid $400 to eliminate jealousy.”).

Kudos to the Bubble video, which will be one of the seminal viral creations. If I’m going to be beat I’m delighted to see something this entertaining (versus musical montages of funny cat photos). This was cleverly written, jampacked imagery, and self depricating (it depicts a blog post with “another lame web 2.0 music video”)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi4fzvQ6I-o[/youtube]

Will Video for Food