Welcome! (again)
Welcome to the extremely late February edition of Viral Intelligence. Why so late you ask? Well, in the last few weeks we've moved offices - twice. Yes, we just love the guys at Pickfords so much and wanted to hang out some more. The Rubber empire now sport a shiny new office in Bristol (Park Row) and a less shiny (but kinda cool) office in London's Soho. Definitely pop round if you're in the hood . . .
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News Round-up:
Next generation video platform launches
Veoh Networks has launched a platform it claims is "the most comprehensive platform for internet video," adding to the long list of new internet video platforms attempting to ride on YouTube's wave.
The platform was beta-tested last year, allowing video publishers to upload videos once to Veoh and automatically syndicate them to video-sharing sites such as YouTube, Google Video and MySpace. Veoh has now added syndication to Facebook, the publishers' own blogs, RSS feeds, iPods and Windows Media players.
Publishers can monitor their audiences across the major video websites from their Veoh account. To monetize their videos, publishers can choose advertising, paid content or a combination, and have the option to sell ads themselves or have Veoh sell it.
Zoo boosts visits through UGC
Emap men's title Zoo announced its online edition had enjoyed a 157% increase in traffic since switching to a UGC format.
The site, which is now styled as a social networking forum, encourages users to upload content such as videos and pictures and comment on others.
Zoo reported a 25% month-on-month increase since the redesigned site went live last October.
With results like this coming out of UGC, it's a clear message to old school publishers out there who are still afraid to democratise their publishing platforms - which is still pretty much 95% of the old-guard and their rapidly crashing share prices.
Pay per post move into videos
Much maligned blog ad network PayPerPost is to launch new ad offerings including the video capabilities.
Not a huge amount of info is available on this, however the first stories coming out of industry site ClickZ report that there will be three video ad offerings: advertisers will be able to pay bloggers to create videos about their goods and services, as well as run pre- and post-roll ads around blogger-produced spots.
In a viral marketing environment where seeding / media placement is becoming critical to get initial eye-balls, this is an interesting development. When I first heard that PayPerPost were adding video capacity I'd imagined that they may be looking to move onto the viral seeding territory - paying individuals to place content for brands, however PayPerPost seem to be stuck in a product-based mentality.
Predictions for the next year, include new services which offer a more formalised pay-per-placement service, helping guarantee eye-balls for virals - something which clients are now demanding.
YouTube shares the love
At Davos last month Chad Hurley, one of YouTube's founders, announced that video sharing mega-lith will be sharing its advertising revenues with content creators.
This moves down the same path as similar, but less popular, video sharing site Revver - who started out in 2005 on this premise.
Hurley said the idea behind the revenue sharing model was a way of "improving the content" on the site.
The most interesting aspect is how the addition of advertising into YouTube will affect its use by brands launching their virals. Will brands want their branded content sanwiched between an other brands advertising? The answer to that is probably no, however it's an indicator of how viral / the online content space is maturing into a space that looks scarily like TV.
5 of the best
January was a fairly mixed month in the world of viral. Here's a few of the month's best, and also a few other beauties thrown in.
Fresh Footwork
Virgin Money pirouettes skilfully around the tagline that ‘things
get more exciting when you say yes’ in this male-targeted but
artfully produced interactive number. A (not-unattractive) dancer
demi-pliés elegantly to some classical music and then the user is
invited to see more. He clicks ‘Yes’ and dancer continues. But after
each click the dancer turns up the heat a notch until, three clicks
later, she’s busting some moves your granny wouldn'’t’ like, growling
at the screen and doing something rather exciting with a circular
saw. Oh, and the cinematography’s good too.
First-Ever Viral Print Ad
Arch ad agency G&M Plumbing now hold the dubious honour of creating
the first-ever viral print ad. True to its name, the YouTube-posted
viral is simply two and a half minutes of a print ad. According to a
G&M spokes person, “this opens up a whole new avenue for consumers
to interact with marketing messages”. Clever juxtaposition of
seemingly incongruous formats, or just plain daft? The jury’'s out.
But you'’ll notice we haven'’t said anything about the ad itself yet.
Perhaps that'’s what happens when you’'re too clever
Juice 132 Golf Ball
This one’'s been around since November but it gets our vote because
it looks great – and because it's quite fun watching things get
demolished! Down at Nike HQ, two intense looking boffins
demonstrate the ‘juiciness’ of the new Juice 132 golf ball by
shooting them at high speed into a variety of objects, and then
filming each object being blasted into oblivion in super slo-mo. Who
knew watching a birthday cake explode over a period of ten seconds
could look so mesmerising?
Flea Market Montgomery
Possibly the best, or do I mean worst, viral to have come out of small-town America ever, Flea Market Montgomery is on it's way to becoming a YouTube hit.
This over-the-top
daytime infomercial gets a hi-octane Rave makeover complete with
acid fractals and frantic editing, all in time to bangin’
Euro-house. It's guaranteed to get your toes tapping, but are you ready to venture down to the Flea Market?
Rav 4 - Jousting
Jousting makes for a genius central idea in this fun ad for Toyota’'s
Rav 4. A bunch of goofball holidaymakers decide to hold a jousting
tournament where two Rav 4s, each carrying a nut-bar on the roof,
dressed in makeshift armour and carrying a lance, charge at each
other to a rousing, military soundtrack. The ad will appeal to the
laddish side of their male target audience and it provides a great
visual showcase for the Rav 4 as each car skids around for another
bout of jousting.
