Multimedia studio Electus on Wednesday announced eight new online video series -- including one from Kevin Smith and Ralph Garman -- to add to the one it announced previously for its new pop-culture-focused YouTube channel, LOUD. Smith, an actor/filmmaker, and Garman, an actor, comedian and radio host, have partnered with Electus to bring best-of clips of their weekly podcast show Hollywood-Babble On This Week to the new YouTube channel. Hollywood-Babble On This Week features the co-hosts discussing living and working in Hollywood, including their interactions with other actors and directors, as well as entertainment news and any projects they are working on themselves. Electus, a multimedia studio owned by IAC and Ben Silverman, a former top network TV programming executive and Hollywood producer, is positioning LOUD as a video hub for edgy series featuring celebrities and other entertaining personalities. Other series slated to launch on LOUD on July 2nd are:
Online video platform provider Kaltura has added Groupon as the latest client to use its software and additional paid features to create its own video portal, according to an industry report. No -- Groupon is not building a database of marketing videos. Rather, TechCrunch reports that the daily deals giant has decided to build an internal video platform that will be used for communicating with its more than 12,000 employees across various field offices. The idea is that rather than send out company-wide emails, Groupon will instead handle internal communications with video, using Kaltura’s software. Kaltura provides video distribution services either through a hosted solution that exists in the cloud or through software integrated into the customer’s data centers behind their firewall. The latter offering differentiates Kaltura from other video platform providers like Ooyala or Brightcove. Separately, Kaltura announced today that it has set its sights on expansion in Europe, and has set up a London sales office. Former VP of Strategy Leah Belsky, now assumes the European GM position. The company has hired about 20 new employees to sell and support its products in Europe.
The automaker, which by now could probably publish a textbook on social-media launch strategies for cars and crossovers, is starting up a new social-focused campaign for the new 2013 Fusion, the third-generation of the vehicle. "Random Acts of Fusion" features TV host and producer Ryan Seacrest. Said Jim Farley, Ford group VP of marketing, in a statement, “Combining social media, entertainment and unexpected consumer experiences will allow us to connect with audiences through every type of media, introducing Fusion’s profile larger than ever.” The campaign, like "Fiesta Movement" and "Escape Routes" before it, uses consumers as evangelists to talk about Ford vehicles to peers through social-media platforms. The new effort for the 2013 Fusion also uses radio and broadcast media. Central to the plan is that Ford will use a fleet of around 100 of the new Fusions for short-term loans to 1,000 or so people chosen for their personal stories. And unlike the earlier social-media driven efforts for Fiesta and Escape, Ford is aiming to give a much broader range of people -- not just influencers -- an early taste of the new Fusion, per Crystal Worthem, manager of Ford brand content and alliances. The company on Tuesday launched a video on its Facebook page featuring Seacrest, who explains that after 1,000 people sign on to watch the video, the program moves to the next level, where the nuts and bolts of the campaign are revealed. Says Worthem, “Consumers will have to work together to unlock the story, and as the program evolves, will have a chance to see for themselves how Fusion is able to transform the lives of the people who drive it.” The company says the effort will star “personalities from consumers to celebrities as the program crisscrosses the country introducing the all-new Fusion to millions.” Worthem tells Marketing Daily that Seacrest was the perfect choice for the program. "We have had a relationship with him by way of ‘American Idol’ for the past couple of years. So he has been working with us and delivering the Ford message for a while." She adds that his core fan base and those Ford is trying to reach with the Fusion campaign are aligned. Ford will do more with Seacrest as he has gone from host to producer to owning a cable production company. "The opportunities to work with him are endless," says Worthem, adding that Ford will do a lot of product placement and integration of the Fusion in TV shows and movies, as the car is visually striking, and much different the previous, second-generation Fusion.
The rapid adoption of second digital video screens continues apace.In just the last 12 months, Nielsen says smartphone penetration has risen 34%, with tablets increasing 400%, and Internet-connected TV 25% higher. Gaming console growth has climbed 1% in the last 12 months.Steve Hasker, president of global media products and advertiser solutions for Nielsen, released the data at its Nielsen Consumer 360 event.All this means big hurdles, but also opportunities. Nielsen's Cross-Platform Ratings are intent on measuring second-screen viewing. Hasker says the company's next move is to double its panel size to 20,000.On a panel at the event, Peter Seymour, executive vice president of strategy and research, Disney Media Networks, said Disney just follows the consumer. “There are situational and age differences," he says, according to NielsenWire. "If kids are watching video in the back of the car, we empower them with mobile video.”John Spadaro, senior vice president and managing director research of Zenith Media, said: “It’s really not a question of how to use a specific channel. You simply cannot succeed in a single-channel environment.”Clint McClain, senior director of marketing of Walmart, added: “I’m looking for an innovation that we can build together for the consumer. I’m willing to roll the dice -- just tell me that the customers are going to be more engaged.”Brad Smallwood, head of measurement and insights for Facebook, said: “We recognize that the future for us is very much about people developing off of our platform. Collaborations with Zynga, social TV … that’s where we see a lot of our growth happening.”
As the online ad market looks more like the Nasdaq, publishers must decide whether to build their own ad exchanges. Just the latest to take the plunge, Hearst Magazines this week debuted a private exchange, which it put together with the help of Pubmatic. Hearst Digital Media currently represents a portfolio of more than 25 digital brands, including Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Seventeen and Good Housekeeping. According to Kristine Welker, chief revenue officer of Hearst Digital Media, the decision to go private was all about quality control and exclusivity. “The private exchange will [let us] deliver on the growing complexities around digital media buying within the protected environment of our quality brands and premium content,” said Welker. What’s more, the product allows Hearst to market its ad space by audience segment, noted Philip Wiser, chief technology officer at Hearst Corporation. Thanks to Core Audience (formerly Red Aril), the Hearst Audience Exchange also features its own data management platform (DMP) -- which the company is portraying as a cross between an ad server and customer relationship management platform. With the inclusion of the DMP, Hearst is hoping that its exchange can lure more media buyers with the promise of added value. Hoping to reduce their reliance on third-party ad exchanges -- which have been criticized for driving down CPMs -- publishers have had to take matters into their own hands. Late last year, Hearst rival Condé Nast debuted its own private ad exchange -- after testing it with a select group of advertisers, including eBay and Macy’s, with the help of Admeld, which Google bought last year for $400 million. Last July, NBC Universal also tapped Admeld to launch its own ad exchange. As the time, NBC said the exchange would give clients direct access to premium display ad inventory, which could be targeted at scale across the NBC Universal Audience Platform, NBC's own digital ad network. Still, the amount of online ad dollars being channeled through RTB systems remains small relative to total ad spending. Last year, the total was expected to reach $1.1 billion -- then double to $2 billion, this year -- according to IDC analyst Karsten Weide. To better compete against other “supply-side” ad platforms, PubMatic just recently raised a $45 million round led by August Capital.
Established advertising titans are gobbling up new digital shops to keep current. How are you keeping current? You might be planning your integrated second-screen campaign as of this writing, or “going mobile,” or deciding if your app market has reached saturation. You might be thinking of gamification, a newer digital word which translates into turning real-life situations and products like consumers goods & services into a game: making it fun. There are more than half a billion people worldwide playing online games at least an hour a day, so… how do we cash in? 5 million gamers in the U.S are spending more than 40 hours a week playing games -- the same as a full time job! Games are respectable, games are generating billions of dollars and hours depositing players on the digital shore who will venture into the sea of whatever you are selling as long as you make it fun enough. Video games are hot right now. You might have heard of Machinima.com, the YouTube video gamer channel which, as first reported by AllThingsD, recently closed a $35 million funding round led by Google… The new financing comes as Google’s YouTube has been investing heavily in bringing in all sorts of new original programming. As Paul Rossi of The Economist Group said to me as he studied my business card: “What is machinima exactly?” And he looked at me in full knowledge that I wasn’t a 15-year-old boy. It is a good question. Machinima is film done on a game engine, that is, machine cinema. The audience for machinima.com is a highly targeted segment of the population that is predominantly male and 14 to 30. So the site’s programming reflects this, whether in its popular zombie webseries “Bite Me” or the animated “Seven Brothers” by John Woo, which is done not in screen capture, but in motion comics. Machinima.com is for that coveted section of the population, and their programming reflects this demograhic. Happy Hour delivers funny films from the many game engines for some fun stuff. It's no surprise, given the enthusiasm for game culture, that YouTube’s biggest entertainment destination outside of the music companies’ is a game channel for gamers, featuring games, with videos about games, and trailers galore. The audience size is just so huge that sponsors such as Warner Bros have committed millions in support of this channel as well; they want their trailers seen on here. Inside Gaming is the machinima.com newsletter, which offers a lot of information on this space. Machinima as a genre means a lot more, though. Ars Technica recently broke the story that Valve's Source engine will make its big-screen debut in a movie called "Deep," set in the post-apocalyptic landscape of World War III, where the remainder of mankind huddles in abandoned ship hulls and struggles to survive $18.7 million -- the film's budget -- is a huge one for a game engine film. Machinima as a genre is also called real-time animation because everything you see on the screen while watching machinima has been captured as it occurs. The fact that a game engine can allow you to craft story, with nuance, drama and humor, means that those who have a sure handle on this craft will be called upon increasingly for much lower budget, very targeted & higher concept film making. We are culivating and investing in new digital frontiers which have become part of our daily lives. Finding ourselves affected by a new focus isn’t scary or strange when we use the philosophy of what works. Fun is usually amongst life’s true rewards, and what people want to be a part of. I guess that’s why it’s called “fun & games.”
Were y'all aware that an organization called The Innovation Center For U.S. Dairy exists… and that it is AWESOME? Its minders are out there innovatin' and inventin' and proselytizin' and whatnot, fighting Big Nutrition wherever it would seek to deprive schoolkids of their constitutional right to pizza. In fact, they've got this one initiative where they're just slapping cheese on everything - fish, coffee cake, nectarines, you name it - and being all like, "Yo, who's getting his RDA of calcium now, beee-yatch?" They don't merely tolerate lactose; they celebrate every stealth-sugary kernel of its being. Or not. Even by the standards of industry-advocate groups, which aren't exactly known for their duende, the Innovation Center For U.S. Dairy comes across as dry and wonky in its every public utterance. Which is why I'm thrilled, and a little bit confused, to announce that a public-facing campaign that the organization has something or other to do with - DairyGood.org, which seeks to lift the veil that shrouds the dairy industry's promotion of nutritional dairy goodness - actually gets the online-video thing right. I learned about the campaign via a banner ad on my favorite liberal/Marxist daily check-in and was curious enough about the premise to click through. What I discovered was a sprinkling of muted rallying cries ("dairy farmers have a long heritage as responsible stewards of the land, air and water") and information that shouldn't be news to anyone who places food into his mouth on a semi-regular basis, much less anyone who plies his trade in the dairy biz ("milk and milk products deliver nine essential nutrients to children and adults, promoting good health and well-being throughout all stages of life"). Little of the info conveyed elicits a reaction beyond "yup, they covered that in third-grade health class" or "what a bold rhetorical stroke, steering clear of the debate over recombinant bovine growth hormone." But I found the site's news page moderately enlightening, mostly for the old-fashioned way that it frames its arguments. I'm sure the Innovation Center could've hired a brand-tested director to give its videos a commercial sheen and a self-anointed social media expert to beam them to the overconnected masses. Instead, it just plops a bunch of clips on a single page and hopes the viewer has the intellectual wherewithal to process them. It's a compilation, basically; no real strategy is involved, though it likely took some small amount of insight to pick the brainy academic person over the hemp-cloth'd self-sustainist. What we get, then, is a professor weighing in on the challenges of feeding our growing population; Lauren Bush Lauren noting the increased awareness of issues related to food security; folks from Feeding America and the National Dairy Council talking about a joint initiative to prompt Americans to reach for milk rather than Four Loko; and a bunch of dairy farmers plain-speaking about their work, families and unabashed love of cows. Nothing here will go viral - and that's probably the point. The Innovation Center might want the awareness booster shot a flashy campaign often administers, but mostly it wants its audiences to understand its agenda and empathize with the plight of American dairy farmers. By resisting the temptation to gussy up an issue and profession that needs no gussyin' - up, down or otherwise - it achieves both those goals. In terms of effective advocacy, any number of organizations and consumer brands can learn from the straightforwardness of the DairyGood approach.
A few weeks ago, Wellesley High teacher David McCullough gave a much-discussed commencement speech that went viral. McCullough didn’t say anything earth-shattering, but did remind the newly minted Mass.-based Class of 2012 that in our culture, kids begin to believe in their coddling-manufactured greatness, that they can’t lose at anything, and are meant to be stars. All of them. So, in that vein, here’s a little missive for the incoming class of video content providers: Content platforms trying to become big Hollywood players are Not That Special. Companies specializing in content platforms do not all have to be content producers. Sure, the lure of being a big-time Hollywood player is strong (Isn’t being a player that can get into every L.A. restaurant the most special of all?), but sometimes a content distributor is meant to be a content distributor and can excel at the highest level in that form, as a level playing field for others’ content. What’s really driving Amazon’s entrance into the production business? Didn’t anyone pay attention to what happened when AOL bought Time-Warner? Treating your customers as Not That Special will cost you. Did Netflix ever recover from its let’s-make-our-core DVD-business-harder-to-access move? Or, even worse, the Netflix DVD copy of the Warner Bros. film “Inception” has 15 minutes of unavoidable previews. 15 minutes! It’s only a matter of time before this becomes a widespread customer-satisfaction issue and catches up with Netflix. Treating IPO company executives as All Too Special will cost you. Case in point, the IPO for Facebook. Does anyone really think that giving a company a cash infusion with no shareholder rights to hold its executives accountable is a good idea? As egos inflate, this will happen more and more. I suspect it has a lot to do with how Steve Jobs, who did think he was All too Special (read Walter Isaacson’s wonderful biography) was kicked out of Apple in its early years. But, that typical deal also allowed for him to come back when the company faltered, and ultimately made Apple an even better company. Creating shows to appeal to what you think is a dumb, Attention-Deficit-Disorder audience is Not That Special. For this one, let’s quote McCullough himself: “Develop and protect a moral sensibility and demonstrate the character to apply it. Dream big. Work hard. Think for yourself. Love everything you love, everyone you love, with all your might. And do so, please, with a sense of urgency, for every tick of the clock subtracts from fewer and fewer; and as surely as there are commencements there are cessations, and you'll be in no condition to enjoy the ceremony attendant to that eventuality no matter how delightful the afternoon.Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.” In other words, maybe you’re Not That Special -- but your content, commitment to your core business, and customer service should always be That Special.