• by Jonathan Blum , January 3, 2008

Ozzy Osbourne might not be the only one whose brain has been affected by a blizzard of chemicals. Advertisers suddenly see the marketing upside in online (though slightly borderline) personalities. One of YouTube’s earliest celebs, Brooke Brodack, or “Brookers,” created a self-produced clip for auctionnetwork.com, a Tulsa, Oklahoma-based online auction site. The ultra-basic video, which features Brooke lip-synching to an Ozzy track, is promoting the Osbourne memorabilia auction “Ozzy’s Magical Glasses n’ Stuff.”

The deal garnered Brodack a solid five figures, according to Corey Weiss, vice president at Palisades Media Group, the Los Angeles-based advertising agency, and brings a new level of authenticity to marketers. “Using artists like Brodack, who are passionate about a brand, brings instant credibility to the product that professional endorsements just can’t,” says Weiss. “Brodack really digs Ozzy’s stuff.  Can you say Tiger Woods really likes a Buick? I doubt that.” 

Other marketers are also testing the video pitchman waters. Fellow Web star Justine Ezarik, known as iJustine, was recently hired by xtrain.com, an Addison, Texas-based video online training site, to create a promotional video to sell training services.

Not only are these campaigns potentially effective, but they are also cheap. CPMs will run about half what top level Web video inventory is fetching. If the viruses catch the dearth of talent might reach epidemic proportions.