Welcome!
Welcome to this month's dose of joy from the world of viral and advertainment. Like the recent weather, this month's been a series of highs and lows for the viral industry with Myspace cracking down on viral whilst at the same time other publishers getting all excited about the idea. Interesting times . . .
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News Round-up:
MySpace Cracks Down on User-Added Widgets
Tila Tequila, arguably MySpace's most famous user, last weekend ran afoul of site founder Tom Anderson, who demanded the removal of a media player and online store that Tequila had added to her page to promote her music.
At issue was a widget called Hoooka that Tequila had added on her page, allowing users to hear her music, as well as buy it, the New York Times reports. Hoooka was created by a Los Angeles startup Indie911. MySpace has a partnership with Hoooka-competitor SnoCap. Naturally, Tequila turned to her blog to vent her frustrations: "The reason why I am so bummed out about MySpace now is because recently they have been cutting down our freedom and taking away our rights slowly."
MySpace angered users last year by blocking the embedding of YouTube videos on member pages. The site defends its actions by saying that it blocks third-party software, such as widgets, if they lead to the sharing and spread of copyrighted material.
Such moves have many users wondering whether, since being purchased by News Corp., the site has veered from its original stance of embracing its user community of users. "You guys used to be so cool," Tequila wrote of MySpace. "Don't turn into a corporate evil monster."
MySpace adds Political channel for 2008 US election
It's interesting to see that MySpace is gearing up for the 2008 US election by opening up a specific channel through which candidates will be able to engage with voters.
The channel will be similar to MySpace music and video channels, the New York Times reports. Called the Impact Channel, the section will include links to candidates' MySpace pages and their blogs. Voter registration tools will also be available.
In theory, joining MySpace should help candidates reach voters in the sites' younger age demographic.
In 2003, Howard Dean leveraged the blogosphere to get an early advantage in the 2004 elections, and many experts say most candidates this time will make a serious push to use social media tools to reach voters.
However, as many brands have experienced, MySpace is a double-edged sword, and could potentially do more damage than good if it's not used properly . . .
Video Growing on Publisher Sites
Some 80 percent more publishers support some form of video ad formats than did so last year, according to the 2007 online publisher survey from AOL's Advertising.com, reports ClickZ.
All surveyed publisher sites with video were monetizing it with advertising, and the most prevalent ad form is the 15-second spot, lending credence to the conventional wisdom that shorter ads work better than longer ones.
Publishers also expect to add more streaming content to their websites in 2007, primarily original content rather than syndicated or user-generated content - particularly because publishers have not yet found a way to effectively monitor such content.
Video advertising is taking market share from text link ads, which are now primarily used for direct response. Most advertisers, the survey says, are looking for mixed text/video campaigns that engage the viewer on multiple levels.
"Video has a lot of value for advertisers. It carries great emotional impact like TV, yet it can be measured and can't be skipped. That value means publishers can command higher CPMs - hence the rise of streaming content," said David Jacobs, SVP of publisher services for Advertising.com, in a statement.
PS3 buzz kicks off
It's interesting to see Sony's Playstation 3 buzz start rolling. The campaign, through TBWA, has started (as far as we've seen) via a mix of unbranded TV ads that link through to a campaign teaser microsite - thisisliving.tv - including what looks like a film trailer, and a "sign up for more" function.
As a strategy this is a great use of pre-campaign buzz, whetting the appetite of key influencers / brand advocates before the launch of the main campaign.
The creative of the campaign is also pretty spot on - which you might expect from an agency like TBWA. I love the drama of the film trailer-esque clip on the microsite - with it's teasing narrative set up which makes the viewer ask what next, compelling them to sign up for updates, and starting them on the campaign / brand narrative . . .
All super interesting + I wait in eager anticipation for the next steps of the narrative, which is due out on March 23rd.
5 of the best
Due to the mixed bag of virals that surface every month we're thinking about re-naming this section - however, for the meantime we'll be sticking with Five of the Best . . .
Sticky Tires
“How. The mother. Flipping. Heck. Does he do that?!” Chances are that’s what you said as you saw this guy do the most amazing stuff you’ve ever seen on two wheels. Yep, us too. It’s marketing agenda is pretty subtle, but for its target market is spot on.
The Ningotiators
Another humdinger out of TeamRubber Towers, even if we do say so ourselves, ‘Ningotiators’ is a fun little game for easyJetHotels.com, in which players steer a foxy little ninjette around European hotels to try and ‘negotiate’ (think Xenia Onatopp from ‘Goldeneye’) the best deal in each. Along with being fun to play, it brings awareness to the brand and extends the brand’s message of affordability to Stelios’ latest offering. Job done!
MooPhone
We can totally understand why you’re scratching your head, trying to understand why we included this one. The viral doesn’t talk about the brand or the product, the execution looks like it was knocked up in five minutes and the creative is just, well, weird. But hark! There is method in the madness: the ad is targeting early adopters, it was created by uber-geek Rob Manuel, and seeded on his techie mecca site b3ta.com. Which means the ad was written in techie language by techies for techies and posted in techie-land. Good thinking, Mr. Spock.
Goodbye Cellulite
Think gospel choirs and you’re thinking joy, positivity, attitude, and empowerment, so an all female gospel choir makes an ideal vehicle for Nivea’s ‘Goodbye Cellulite’ campaign. ‘This is a dedication to the resurrection of the sweet mother-lovin’ ass’ intones the choir leader before the choir launches into the kind of ecstatic harmony singing typical of the genre. Its bold and fun and slightly ridiculous and gets the tone just right.
The truth in ad sales
This one's been buzzing around for a while, and has to go down as an ad industry classic. Brilliantly scripted, "Media Agency" takes a satirical stab at the relationship between media buyers and media owners, and from our experience hits its target bang on. The line at the end "Massive ROI" cracks me up every time.
