Imagine being a digital-savvy, YouTube-era content-marketing guru working for "two old media guys who like newspapers." Then you'd know what it's like to be Bladimiar Norman, SVP Marketing, The Weinstein Company, the opening keynote during Day Two of the Video Insider Summit at the Mohonk Mountain House in upstate New York. The "old media guys" Norman was referring to are Bob and Harvey Weinstein, who aside from loving newspapers, are some of the savviest and most successful marketers of movies. That said, Norman says he still spends a lot of time agonizing over "what size is the type" in Weinstein's …

Bladimiar Norman, SVP Marketing, The Weinstein Company just presented at the Video Insider Summit this morning up at the Mohonk Mountain House in upstate New York. Yes, I just referenced his quip about how he leveraged content about "Silver Linings Playbook" fans sharing their own heart-wrenching anecdotes about mental illness to, "sell tickets." But there's another indicator that goes beyond that bottom line one: the way that marketing, and those movies, can be used to elicit uplifting social movements. You just heard the "Silver Linings Playbook's" playbook, but Norman said keep your eyes -- and hearts -- out for "Fruitvale," …

Bladimiar Norman, SVP Marketing, The Weinstein Company is showing the playbook for his studio's award-winning "Silver Linings Playbook." It starts with $14 million -- how much it took to make the film -- and it ends with $140 million (the current box office receipts to date). In between, Norman said there were some fundamental challenges, because a) "It looked like an indie and anyone outside of New York and L.A. didn't want to see the movie;" and b) "the film deals with mental illness and prescription medication and grief and loss." Not exactly the formula for Hollywood endings, right? At …

I misheard what Media Behavior Institute's Mike Bloxham said during his presentation, and according to MBI's data, the weekly reach of video consumption on tablets is now 6%, not the 16% I reported earlier. Even so, it's still the fastest growing platform for video consumption -- up 133% year-over-year.

Apparently last year's Video "NewFronts" failed to do just that, according to a panel of agency executives hosted by Media Behavior Institute's Mike Bloxham at the Video Insider Summit Friday. "Keep it short and I want to be inspired," said MediaCom's Adam Potashnick. "Show me something I haven't heard about." Hill Holliday's Guy Rancourt said some of the presentations last year were interesting but without "a lot of follow-up," let alone "deep and meaningful engagement." Other advice from the panel: make pitches actionable and provide a lot more granularity to go along with the sizzle.

NewFronts? It better be new. "Keep it short. I want to be inspired. I was to see something I haven't heard about," says Adam Potashnick, senior partner, group account director of Mediacom, speaking at MediaPost's Video Insider Summit.  "It's one thing to get out excited about things like original programming," says Francois Lee, senior vp and group client director, MediaVest USA. "We need to see some granularity." Moderator of a panel about the newfronts at the upfronts, Mike Bloxham, executive director of marketing for Media Behavior Institute summarize much by saying there needs to be "more meat on the bone" …

With the video NewFronts coming up later this month, a panel of agency and video executives addressed the question of whether a separate digital event, apart from the upfronts, is still needed. The consensus among the five panelists was: “yes.” Online video still needs its own forum for showcasing its programming and potential before the traditional upfront season begins in May. Chris Senio, a sr. director at MEC Interaction, said the NewFronts coming first forces the broadcast industry to focus more on the digital side and collaborate with the agency on new initiatives. With video still at a nascent stage, …

Define irrelevance. Mike Bloxham, Executive Director of Marketing at the Media Behavior Institute, defines it as "talk about the upfront without talk about the Newfront." The Digital Content NewFronts originated as new media's version of the traditional upfronts, but, as content increasingly transcends platforms, everyone's getting in on the Newfront fun. As such, Bloxham is asking a panel at MediaPost's Video Insider Summit whether media companies should hold separate and distinct presentations. Adam Potashnick, Senior Partner and Group Account Director at Mediacom, said it comes down to the company, and how they want to present themselves to the market. That …

Mike Bloxham, moderator of the "NewFronts" panel at the Video Insider Summit up at the Mohonk Mountain House, put some new dimensions around online video consumer. Bloxham, of course, is executive vice president of the Media Behavior Institute, which measures just that sort of thing -- how people actually consume media. The good news is consumption of online video is growing fast -- It's up 25% year-over-year among adults 18-64, according to MBI's data. The bad news, is it's still a relatively low percentage of overall video consumption. On average, 34% of adults 18 to 64 consumed online video at …

Asked during the Q&A session whether cost-per-completed view could become a key metric for online video, panelists indicated any “cost-per” model eventually gets backed into a CPM as the standard for media-buying. Carat’s Wolff said the agency doesn’t care about completions, valuing more the initial exposure. Tremor’s Randy Kilgore noted that with pre-roll ads, a lot of people watch all the way through just to get to the content, limiting the value of completions as the basis of payment. “It’s a good metric, but not 'the’ metric,” he said.