Innovation & Creativity

Viral video — are you the expert?

February 22, 2008

It started with a simple question.  Do you viral video?

Let’s wrap up our discussion on the phenomenon of viral video and its many purposes. 

We’ve culled through the stats that show the rapid rise of viral video viewing, we’ve talked about how some companies are using the medium to just get in front of as many people as possible and we’ve also looked at the educational aspects of the medium.  In the last installment, we also talked about how some are using video simply to be heard over the din of marketing messages.

One of the other applications/goals that seems ideally suited for video is demonstrating an expertise.  While writing a white paper for your website or even sharing your PowerPoint slides will allow you to share your expertise, it lacks the emotional connection that a video can give you.

Matt Dickman, from Fleishman-Hillard, has really established himself as a social media tools expert by producing a series of videos in which he dissects a particular application or site.  In the example below, he introduces his subscribers to Utterz.

 

The beauty of what Matt has done is that he’s become our tour guide.  He makes his audience comfortable with the new tools. He explains them in language that everyone can understand and he takes the time to lay some groundwork before he dives in.

With his series approach, we also make the assumption that he knows a lot about ALL the web-based tools out there.  Does he?  I don’t know, but he’d sure be one of the first I would ask. He’s proven to me that he’s an expert in this field.

How could you use viral video to spotlight your expertise in a way that’s both compelling and something people would want to pass onto their friends/peers? 

How could you use viral video to showcase your skills if you wanted to be the on-air talent?  How about if you didn’t?

Other posts in this series:
Do you viral video?
Viral video – are you looking for a lot of eyes?
Viral video — are you trying to educate?
Viral video – are you trying to be heard over the noise?
Viral video — are you establishing yourself as an expert?

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A day inspiration and creativity

February 21, 2008

Here’s the sign of a good conference or meeting for me.  If I walk out buzzing….feeling like I can’t wait to try one of the new things or tell someone one of the stories, or check out one of the mentioned references — that’s a well spent day.

I suspect there will be a whole lot of people feeling that way on March 27th, as they leave PSFK conference in New York City.

Picture_4

Check out the incredible list of speakers, including Greg Verdino, Steve Rubel and Graham Hill, among others. 

If you think the speakers are impressive, scroll down a little further on the site and check out the attendees.  Imagine spending a day learning from and meeting from the likes of them!

I’m sure there’s room for you, if you can get into the city.  It looks like it would be well worth the effort.

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Want to get creative?

February 19, 2008

Creativity Want to get your creative juices flowing?  Try one of these tactics:

View the problem/product/desired result from a different seat on the bus:  In other words, how would a 6-year-old child view it? A librarian? Truck driver? College student? Someone who uses a wheelchair for support? By putting yourself in many different people’s shoes, you can begin to see the situation differently.

Do a 180: How would the product talk about itself? Or describe how it works? It sounds crazy, but again, sparking creativity is all about thinking differently. What would the competitive product tease your product about? Who knows what you will uncover?

Personify it: If your product or service was a person, who would it be? A man? A young girl? How would they behave? What would their personality be like? What would be their favorite book? Movie? What are they afraid of?

Get out: Most people brainstorm and try to spark their creativity in the same work environment that they are in every day. One of the best ways to inspire some new thinking is to be in a new place. Go to a park and take a walk. Go play at a toy store. Visit a museum. Play a kind of music you would normally never listen to. Stimulate your senses.

Ask why: Make an assumption about what you are working on. Then ask why. And answer it. Then ask why. And answer that. Then ask why. And so on. See where it takes you. Then, when you cannot go any further, make another assumption and do it all over again.

Play: Have a paper airplane contest. Create a putt-putt course in the office. Play charades. Sometimes you have to give yourself permission to be creative, and being playful is a great way to bring that part of you to the surface.

Okay….your turn.  How do you get creative?

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What is an ooVoo?

February 13, 2008

Drewgavincomposite1 One of the best things about today’s technology is that the world is a much smaller place.  With free tools like skype and even the taken for granted e-mail, we can stay connected to the world.

ooVoo takes that to a whole new level.  Video conferencing with up to six people.  All you need is a webcam, a headset with a mic and the free download of ooVoo (both mac and PC).

To create some buzz, ooVoo is doing a pretty cool thing.  MyooVoo Day.  (Check out Mack’s comments on the event.)

For this week, they’ve lined up some marketing and blogging gurus and each of those folks is hosting a 1-2 hour chat with people just like you (the complete list here).  Big names on this list…so check it out!

Best of all, for each session being held — they are donating $1,500 to the Frozen Pea Fund in support of Susan Reynolds and breast cancer research.

Okay….so we’ve got chatting with smart people about marketing.  We’ve got supporting Susan and fighting breast cancer.  We’ve got cool and FREE technology.  I’m so in!

I e-mailed my Age of Conversation cohort, Gavin Heaton, and said….who cares if we’re not famous or even that smart like the rest of the hosts — let’s see if we can host a session! Fortunately the guys at crayon (the genius behind the campaign) lowered their standards and let us in.

What are you doing Saturday the 16th (or Sunday the 17th if you’re in Gavin’s neck of the woods) If you think spending 15 minutes with Gavin and I would be fun….sign up here.  4 pm EST.  8 am Aussie time.  Compare your timezone here.

Thanks to my friends Scott Monty and Greg Verdino for bringing this opportunity to all of us.

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Viral video – are you trying to be heard over the noise?

January 27, 2008

Noise It started with a simple question.  Do you viral video?

Let’s continue our discussion on the phenomenon of viral video and its many purposes. 

We’ve culled through the stats that show the rapid rise of viral video viewing, we’ve talked about how some companies are using the medium to just get in front of as many people as possible and we’ve also looked at the educational aspects of the medium.

What other objectives can viral video answer for marketers?  One of the most challenging aspects of marketing is the sheer volume of noise out there.  You have to be able to shout pretty loud sometimes to even be heard, let alone hold someone’s attention.

One of the most cut-throat and competitive market places out there has to be book publishing/selling.  Unless you’re a marquee name, you’re pretty much on your own.  Publishing houses will provide a little support but speaking from personal experience — most of it is on you.

Imagine it. You’re an author.  Say you’ve written one book before.  You’re hardly a household name.  You’re ready to launch your second book.  You going to plan (and pay for) a book tour?  I know…how about creating a website?

That’s where Jay Nussbaum (teacher, lawyer and novelist) found himself, as he was about to release A Monk Jumped Over A Wall.  He was going to do the book signings, press releases, websites etc.  But he wanted to do something more.  And boy did he.

Nussbaum decided to create a video that he thought would create some buzz far beyond traditional book marketing. 

"I began work on my novel in 1987 and, with 20 years invested in this book, I decided early on that, if I wanted the book to succeed, I would have to think out of the box.  After all, my first novel, Blue Road to Atlantis, had received great reviews, but it didn’t get enough reviews to get noticed.  I didn’t want that to happen again. 

And so I did something that, to my knowledge, no novelist had ever done before:  I dramatized an entire scene from the novel and posted it on YouTube (as well as various other media sites such as break.com, dailymotion.com, etc.) as a short film.  Other writers have done very simple, 2-minute "trailers", but no one has ever done anything remotely like this.  The film, entitled, "Nymphomercial" is very funny, and is quickly becoming something of a sensation on college campuses nationwide."

Take a look and see what you think.  And despite the video’s name…it’s PG-13.  No actual body parts showing. 

The question of course is….did it work? 

Well, I’ll bet more of us know Jay Nussbaum’s name than most relatively new novelists.  And by watching the video we probably have a pretty good sense about if we’d like his book or not.  It’s not his goal to get all of us to love his work.  Just to let those of us who might love his books to know about them.  And to do that, you have to get noticed.

I also think it is safe to bet that Newsday probably wouldn’t have written about his book, had he not reached beyond the traditional marketing methods.

Was it a safe choice?  Hardly.  How many remarkable products/companies stay in the safe zone?

How could you use viral video to shout over the crowd and be heard in a remarkable way?

Other posts in this series:
Do you viral video?
Viral video – are you looking for a lot of eyes?
Viral video — are you trying to educate?
Viral video – are you trying to be heard over the noise?
Viral video — are you establishing yourself as an expert?

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Visual eye candy for your Monday

January 21, 2008

Dizzy Enjoy this web-based treat.  And, if you speak Dutch — you might want to order something for yourself!

What a great use of design and technology.

A hat tip to my dad for sharing this with me!  He says after reading my blog for so long, he’s now "attuned for interesting media."

At least someone is listening! 🙂

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Ten things you didn’t know about Toby & Liz

January 5, 2008

So here’s how this went.  Toby (Marketing Diva) and Liz (Successful Blog) got tagged by Shel Isreal.  They decided rather than share 10 secrets about themselves, they’d create 10 things about Shel that Shel didn’t know.

Then, Toby tagged 10 people, including yours truly.  So I decided to continue along the vein that the ladies started.  So, without further ado, here are 10 things you didn’t know (and neither did they) about Toby and Liz.

Picture_13Toby:

On Tuesday nights, Toby (in a fabulous black wig and hot red dress) sneaks down to Atlanta’s infamous Kitty Kat Lounge, where she performs as the torch singer, Lulu Larue.  She actually is on the piano when she sings.  Totally true.

In 1998, Toby was awarded the blue ribbon for her peach cobbler at the Georgia State Fair.  Totally true.

Being the genteel Southern lady that she is…Toby actually outfits herself in a hip hat and some shades to get into her Diva persona.  Totally true.

Toby is a trained dog whisperer.  In French.  Totally true.

When asked what her favorite swear word is, Toby demurely replied, "pooey is what slips out when I’m REALLY mad."  Totally true.

Liz:

Picture_12 Being the connected and sought after Chicago socialite that she is, Liz has Oprah’s super duper secret cell phone number.  When Oprah calls Liz…her special ring tone is the theme song from the Color Purple.  Totally true.

Liz has not slept a wink since 1987.  This explains her "can’t be humanly possible" output of work and the fact that if you comment on her blog, she will always comment back within 16 seconds.  Totally true.

If you haven’t spoken to Liz on the phone, she has a very husky, Kathleen Turneresque voice.  But you can hear her…she’s the official voice of Maxim magazine.  When you call to order a subscription, it’s Liz who says, "what free gift would you like with that, Tiger?"  Totally true.

Liz can actually trace her family tree back to Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the printing press.  Totally true.

For fun, Liz filled balloons with whipped cream and drops them from her condo’s balcony on unsuspecting passersby.  Totally true.

As you might guess…I am not brave enough to tag anyone.  Let the tomfoolery end here.

Update:  So much for that plan.  Within a nanosecond, Steve added to the tomfoolery.  Read about my secret life.

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Are you an elf or a scrooge?

December 6, 2007

Picture_15 No, I’m not really polling you about your pre-holiday state of mind.  (I won’t ask if you don’t!)

But this holiday season, you can fashion yourself as an elf, scrooge or even a chipmunk! Viral marketing campaigns that allow people to add their own voice or picture and share them with  their friends is all the rage. 

Check out these interactive campaigns. 

Feeling the season? Turn yourself (or a friend) into an elf.  (check out this crazy elf!)

Feeling a little bah humbug about the holidays?  Turn yourself into scrooge.

Remember sucking helium from a balloon?  Turn your voice into a chipmunk’s.

Love football this time of year? How about doing your own victory dance?

So here’s the real question.  These campaigns drive a lot of traffic to your website.  They’re sticky, funny and very viral.  Are they about branding?  Does it make you want to buy stuff at OfficeMax or drink CokeZero?  Or see the new movie?

Do you think certain products, services or companies can benefit more from this sort of campaign?

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Logo re-designs — a good idea or bad?

December 5, 2007

Picture_12 It seems like a lot of companies are getting antsy about their logos.  Whenever that happens — they get a bug to "update" their current logo.  Sometimes that’s a great idea.  Other times, a bit of a disaster.

Chrys Bader of Clever Cookie has gathered up many of the most recently revised and put together his own critique.

A logo revision is such a fine line.  A company’s logo is one of their biggest assets.  But, over time some of them begin to look a little dated.  But the general feel/look of it should be timeless.

Head over to Clever Cookie and then come back and tell us which logo revision do you think hit it out of the park…and which one struck out?

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