Volkswagen is launching "Think Blue," a campaign intended to set a new tone for the automaker around green mobility and the idea that the automaker is thinking beyond the car. The program is, in some senses, similar to BMW's recently announced program with New York City's Guggenheim Museum to cultivate a holistic thought-leadership program. But Volkswagen's effort includes a new relationship with a different modern-art museum, located a bit downtown and on the other end of Central Park: the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). The effort is timed with the inauguration of the automaker's new plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., which VW says is one of the greenest automotive factories in the world. It presages "Blue Motion," which (like BMW i, BMW's own urban mobility sub-brand) will be a new-technology division devoted to developing and producing alternative transportation products. Volkswagen's new multi-year program with MoMA, "International Discovery," includes an exhibition of contemporary art at the museum's PS1 facility in Brooklyn, sponsorship of MoMA's online education program, and contribution of two video works by artist Francis Alys. The company will also sponsor a series of installations in the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden. In a statement, Jonathan Browning, president and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, said, "Think Blue" is about taking a holistic approach to sustainability that includes manufacturing at one end of the spectrum and art and culture on the other. "On the one hand, the new Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga demonstrates just how eco-friendly and resource-saving automobile production can be today. And on the other, we are seeking to intensify our dialog with art and society on key issues of the future through our cooperation with MoMA," he said. From a media perspective, the effort starts with print ads, online publicity and billboards around MoMA and the new plant in Chattanooga and then a national corporate "Think Blue" campaign. The company said in a statement that the "Think Blue" name is intended to evoke the "Think Small" VW slogan from the 1960s. The automaker says the two efforts are connected, as "Think Small" was meant to tout the Beetle as a car that democratized auto mobility while "the challenge of the future lies in making efficient and sustainable mobility accessible to everyone." As part of the effort, the company is running a long-form animated video on YouTube that elaborates on the holistic idea of "Think Blue" and the viral nature of ideas in urban settings in general. The video, in shades of blue, features images of people going about their lives in a cyanic metropolis. The animation, set to music, has the people trailing thought and speech balloons -- initially random, but as the video progresses and more and more people interact, the buzz becomes about conservation. The video employs hieroglyphs both for the balloons and for objects that show things like CO2 emissions from cars, and peoples' thoughts and conversations about recycling, waste, and conservation. At one point, viewers see a mother and daughter strolling the sidewalk. In the girl's balloon is an ice-cream cone. Then she sees water spilling from a gutter spout and she and her mother "converse" about water conservation. A kid's paper airplane lands on a woman's desk in an office building and inspires her to turn off fans, open windows and use less electricity. Volkswagen teased the "Blue Motion" sub-brand with the reveal of its XL1 concept at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit earlier this year.
TiVo continues to amass digital video services -- this time Hulu Plus -- to keep its time-shifting service top of mind. TiVo Premiere has added Hulu Plus to its 3 million TiVo subscribers, who also have access to Netflix, Blockbuster, Amazon Instant Video and YouTube services. TiVo subscribers can get Hulu Plus for the same price point as broadband users -- a $7.99 subscription fee per month. However, the new offering will not be available to those TiVo services via cable system operators' set-top boxes. The Alviso, Calif.-based TiVo continues to tout viewers who increasingly are streaming video. TiVo says numbers increased to 41% in the fourth quarter of 2010, with TV programs per user going to nearly nine episodes in the last three months of 2010. That's up from 37% -- 6.41 programs --- streamed in 2009. Tara Maitra, senior vice president and general manager of content services and media sales for TiVo, stated: "I've watched with great admiration as Hulu has built an impressive business by offering up some of the world's greatest entertainment content on demand." The TiVo-Hulu Plus connection has been a long time in coming. Last September, TiVo announced it would be offering Hulu Plus. In addition, the marketing of TiVo-Hulu Plus has been activated, running in Best Buy stores.
Worldwide IPTV video providers will continue to see big growth results -- as opposed to older cable and satellite TV providers, which have been slowing down. Subscriptions from IPTV (Internet-Protocol TV)-based companies -- telco companies -- will almost double in three years to 70 million from 30 million at the end of 2010, according to SNL Kagan. Keys to the medium's growth will be IPTV video-on-demand service, as well as a continued push by both video programming retailers and TV networks for TV Everywhere deals, which IPTV companies can benefit from with consumer authentication. SNL Kagan says there has been a big IPTV adoption rate over the past six years -- a 92.4% compound annual growth rate. Western Europe continues as the biggest IPTV market and will hit 26.7 million homes by 2014. China is next, rising to 12.4 million subscribers by 2014. The U.S. and Latin America are the third-largest territories, respectively. IPTV video service revenues will more than double in three years -- growing to $27 billion in 2014 from $12.9 billion in 2010. This will make up a 11% share of all global subscription-TV revenues; in 2010 it was at a 6% share. Five telco operators accounted for 44.3% of the global IPTV subscriber base at year-end 2010. "Although IPTV presently accounts for just 6% of the world's pay-TV subscribers, the platform is fueling hyper-competition and video service innovation in major markets globally," stated Julija Jurkevic, media and communications analyst at SNL Kagan. "Telcos often provide the spark igniting consumer interest in multiscreen services, HD and VOD," she adds, "generating parallel support for investment in next generation broadband networks."
Online video platform Brightcove has struck a deal with video syndication firm 5min Media to make its premium video content available to sites that use Brightcove's technology. Acquired last year by AOL, 5min boasts a library of 250,000 mostly how-to videos across various categories, including home, food, health, fashion/beauty, travel and auto. Its content partners include Hachette Filipacchi, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Hearst Corp. and IGN Entertainment. Last month, it added 2,000 videos from celebrity and lifestyle-oriented Web publisher Sugar Inc. Under its latest deal, Brightcove Pro and Brightcove Enterprise customers can publish 5min material directly through those platforms. "For many publishers, creating a steady drumbeat of high-quality, impactful content is an ongoing challenge when it comes to their online video strategy," stated Brightcove President/COO David Mendels. "Together with 5min Media, we are giving thousands of customers around the world instant access to premium content that can also easily be monetized, making it easier for these organizations to expand their video initiatives and reach new audiences." Brightcove already powers video on AOL. For 5min, the deal could help expand its audience of some 27 million monthly viewers across a network of hundreds of sites. Americans overall streamed 14.7 billion videos in April, the most to date for a given month, according to new data from Nielsen. The U.S. online video audience hit 141.4 million viewers that spent an average of 4 hours, 31 minutes watching content during the month. AOL ranked sixth among top Web video providers with an audience of 12.6 million in April, up 12.6% from the prior month.
In need of some good news, AOL's network of sites saw visitors stay about 5% longer in April, according to new data from Nielsen. From home and work computers, Google remained the most-visited site in the U.S. in April, with 150 million unique visitors. While 194.8 million Americans went online in April, overall Internet use was down 2.4% from March. Still, YouTube increased U.S. visitors month-over-month, with average visitors spending 2.9% more time on the video hub in April. The site hit an all-time high that month, as their U.S. viewers consumed 8.7 billion streams: up 7% month-over-month. Partly due to the fewer days in April, U.S. consumers spent slightly less time online -- 3.8% less time, on average -- and visited fewer unique sites compared to March. Yet despite the slight monthly decline in time spent, Nielsen estimates that Internet access at home and work grew to 244 million individuals in the U.S. in April. Wikipedia managed to leapfrog over Apple to become the eighth-most-visited site in April -- even with questions about the dedication of its contributors. In addition, Americans streamed 14.7 billion videos in April -- the most streams ever in a month, according to Nielsen. While the number of videos streamed increased, however, total viewing time actually decreased during the period. There were 141.4 million unique U.S. video viewers who spent an average of 4 hours, 31 minutes viewing video over the course of the month, per Nielsen. AOL Media Network and The CollegeHumor Network saw the largest month-over-month increase in unique viewers -- up 13% and 11%, respectively -- placing them just ahead of Hulu, which was the sixth top video brand in March. New to the list of most heavily used sites with double-digit gains in streams from March were Dailymotion -- up 61% -- AOL Media Network - up 31% -- and Megavideo -- up 25%.
For years, consumers have been inspired to get into photography by Hollywood. Canon USA is now attempting to send the inspiration in the other direction, enlisting Academy Award-winning director Ron Howard for a marketing campaign that will use still photography to inspire a short film. "It's really something we came up with for people to inspire others to create things through our products," Rob Altman, manager of camera and video marketing for Canon USA, tells Marketing Daily. "We want people to use their cameras to inspire others." The new effort, "Long Live Imagination," breaks this week with a television commercial featuring Howard. The video showcases fantastical imagery, such as a giant astronaut walking a diamond-encrusted dog down a city street, firefighters floating in the air and buildings walking on mechanical legs. The video quickly reveals the action is taking place outside Howard's apartment window as he's looking at photographs. "Imagine inspiring a Ron Howard production with your photograph," says a voiceover. "He's got a terrific reputation in the industry and appeals to a wide audience," Altman says of Howard. "And so do we." Photographers, from amateur to professional, are then encouraged to submit their own photos based on one of eight themes (Setting, Time, Character, Mood, Relationship, Goal, Obstacle and Unknown). "Those are the key elements of a film," Altman says. "When you think about every good movie you've seen, they each have elements from those categories." The photos will be submitted through Canon's dedicated YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/imagination, which was built specifically to be passed on through social media channels such as Flickr, Facebook and Twitter. "The main thing we're expecting is to get out the word virally and through social media," Altman says. "In today's world, where image is such an important part of communication, that's what this [campaign] is about." Howard, along with Canon experts and members of the Project Imagin8tion community, will narrow down the submissions -- eventually choosing one photo from each category to become the basis and inspiration for a short film, executive produced by Howard and shot on Canon products. That short film will have a premiere in New York City later this year, which the photographers behind the photos will be invited to attend.
It's lawn mowing season again, and one can bet that most marketing efforts in the category will focus on ease of use, which makes perfect sense if you think about it (Ideally, one could mow a yard by snapping one's fingers twice.) Still, a new digital-only advertising push from yard equipment manufacturer Cleveland-based Troy-Bilt is taking a different approach both in medium and message. The company is talking about the quality and technological savvy that goes into its walk-behind mowers with a campaign focusing on a series of online videos. The effort is, in fact, Troy-Bilt's first campaign to rely solely on digital media. The campaign, by Cleveland-based Marcus Thomas, uses paid-search and banner advertising to drive traffic to Troybilt.com/howwearebuilt, which features four 90-second films shot at the company's testing facilities. The videos describe Troy-Bilt's manufacturing standards, product testing, and side-by-side performance comparisons with competitor Toro. It supports a broader, emotional TV effort, "I [Heart] Saturday." The digital campaign showcases a new line of mowers. Last year, the company introduced Tri-Action technology -- a three-part system that creates a cleaner grass cut -- on push and walk-behinds, which this year is expanding to self-propelled mowers. One video shows how the company does stress tests on a mower's deck, the area that covers the rotating blade and how a smoke-flow test lets the manufacturer optimize the way it cuts grass and deposits the cut blades. "To you, it's Saturday. To us, it's an obsession," says the ads. Tag: "How we're built." The effort also has mobile advertising and point-of-sale elements, while smartphone links (MS tags) drive traffic to similar, mobile-optimized videos. Online ads on outdoor- and home-oriented sites like Discovery, HGTV, and Weatherbug are part of the push -- while mobile advertising targets weather, travel, news, sport and business content. Troy-Bilt is also running point-of-purchase marketing programs in about 1000 Lowe's stores nationwide. Marcus Thomas Senior Account Manager Lauren Ganim said the effort addresses a market that is evolving toward Gen X and Y consumers who are more interested in technological innovations than mere comfort. It also aims to challenge category leader Toro. "[Troy-Bilt] came to us and said they want to go head-to-head with competitors."
I'm often asked to offer predictions about what the online video landscape will look like several years from now, which I always respectfully decline to do. Our industry is so dynamic, with new players emerging daily, it's relatively impossible to offer meaningful forecasts more than 12-18 months away. However, a smart colleague recently challenged me to use this space to do just that, in light of the increasing ubiquity of video across multiple devices and the resulting fragmentation of audiences. Perhaps the time is now right to look at the progress we've made as an industry over the last six or seven years and put a stake in the ground for 2013. Right or wrong, it will be an interesting exercise two years from now to examine our younger selves' vision of the future. · At least 50% of online video ads will be built at runtime. Today, an automotive dealer association can book a campaign to run across multiple DMAs with the call to action being different for each market. Of course, this requires creating and encoding a different end-bumper for each DMA. However, companies have already begun to roll out technology that allows marketers to incorporate the user-specific messaging on the fly, without going through the manual process of shooting multiple executions. The potential for this technology is impressive: advertising can quite literally "speak" to the user at a highly personal level, within the bounds of good taste and privacy. · Measuring campaign effectiveness by click-through rate will (finally!) be replaced by post-campaign studies and real-time analytics. According to BrightRoll's 2011 Video Advertising Report, the content of which was largely obtained by surveying digital agency buyers, 96% of respondents agree that research provides value to clients, but only 35% say they are conducting research of their own. In 2013, we as an industry will once and for all shed the notion that CTR is the right metric, and instead marketers will hold media sellers accountable for true campaign performance, asking questions like, How did online exposure influence brick-and-mortar purchase behavior? What is the true eCPM of a campaign when factoring in earned media (that the paid media was responsible for seeding)? Does this "female-skewing site" really deliver women? · The device won't matter; a consistent user experience across platforms will. In fact, the "device" will essentially disappear, and all that will stand between users and their content is the presentation layer of the software. It won't make a difference if users are consuming video on their PCs, tablets, phones, televisions, or refrigerators (and we will be consuming video on our smartfridges) -- only two things matter: 1) recording the ad impression and 2) associating the view with the content it ran during for fair attribution purposes. And in what is sure to delight sellers, cross-platform media will all be bought by the same sight, sound and motion agency-buying teams. It's fun to enjoy a mental margarita and imagine a utopian video future. To be fair to folks who are more "Battlestar Galactica" than "Star Trek," there is, to be sure, plenty to fret about as well -- the potential for a challenging regulatory climate, consumer rejection of disruptive units - but by setting our collective sights on an industry that rewards innovation (as opposed to simply newness for its own sake) and growing real marketer value, we stand a solid chance of making our future selves proud.
"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them," are famous words from Shakespeare. The same can be said for companies. The company I am referring to is Netflix. It has achieved greatness. I have been a loyal customer for longer than I can remember and I have only good things to say about the service. I have not, for a single day, lamented the demise of Blockbuster. Further, the company's proactive shift from DVDs to streaming will go down in business annals as an exemplary case study of how to boldly cannibalize your core business in the face of change and undertake a disruptive path into the future before someone else does it to your detriment. The recent report from Sandvine that Netflix is the single largest source of web traffic in the U.S., and announcement from the company adding Miramax as a streaming content partner are just examples of Netflix forging on. While all these are great things, Netflix is also having greatness thrust upon it. With recent subscriber numbers, Netflix is being touted as the largest video subscription service, beating out Comcast, the pay TV behemoth that itself has been a pioneer in the evolving video landscape. These statistics, plus Netflix's earlier bid for original content, beating out HBO for the "House of Cards" original series, have some calling Netflix a cable killer. Not surprisingly Reed Hastings, Netflix founder and CEO, has backpedaled on this notoriety. Aggressively going after original content (and other premium content) is one thing, but being heralded as the big cable-killer is quite another. Netflix is not ready for that mantle yet. It has enough on its hands that should be higher priorities. While Netflix's move into streaming may be driven by necessity, this also puts the company on a more level playing field with scores of other established and new online video services, including the likes of Hulu (and Hulu Plus) as well as the payT V industry's own TVEverywhere initiatives. Netflix's traditional business had higher barriers to entry and greater economies of scale, providing it a more defensible position than the streaming business offers. Netflix has been very smart in recognizing that, despite its advantages in its traditional business - where by the way, there was no direct competition, other than a feeble attempt by Blockbuster to unsuccessfully try and replicate Netflix model - it needed to slowly harvest that business to fund its streaming model. At the same time, its competitive advantages in the new world of streaming are more tenuous. With everything migrating online, whether one is a pay TV operator, content producer, OTT service, or another, various industries are on a collision course. Netflix is not a fragile upstart, but it has far less firepower than established pay TV providers, both in terms of the depth of its pockets and the bargaining power with content providers. On the other hand, it has agility, good leadership and tremendous customer goodwill on its side (the e last of which is largely absent, if not entirely missing, for most pay TV operators.) Becoming a larger irritant to the big guys is not something Netflix needs at this precarious stage of its transformation. At the same time, the traditional pay TV industry players are on pins and needles, given the overall disruptions that are taking place in the video industry, and all the talk about cord-cutting and cord-shaving. The sleeping giants may be restless, but best not to awaken them prematurely. No wonder Hastings is going out of his way to ameliorate the issue with his cable industry counterparts, but the damage may already be done. It will be interesting to see how the game gets stepped up on both sides.