Poptent is our new community site where brands and independent video creators connect.
While we were shooting some XLNTads promotional videos over at Woodshop Films, our friend Nalts of Will Video For Food stopped over and shot a quick video for his hilarious vlog on YouTube. He needed a ‘campaign advisor’ for his YouTubian Party Presidential nomination, and Neil stepped to the plate. Have a look:
Make sure to check out Part 2, also!
Tags: youtube, nalts, xlntads, funny, comedy, video, will video for food, neil perry
Donna Bogatin gave us a nice write up on her blog. Thanks, Donna! Here’s a quote:
What is the BEST way to engage consumers with advertisements? HAVE THEM MAKE THEM THEMSELVES, of course.
BONUS: Ad creative and production costs are slashed! Such is the business model premise powering XLNTads, “run by a seasoned team of Internet marketing executives.” I met with one of them over lunch recently in New York City: Neil Perry, [acting] CEO.
Tags: donna bogatin, advertising, news, xlntads, cga, marketing
Even the most seasoned of video creators need some refreshing on production tips. If you’re making video for web, you’ll definitely want to check out Make Internet TV, the site created by the Participatory Culture Foundation that helps educate people on how to make and distribute your own content on the web. Lots of great tips and how-to’s in there, and be sure to find out more about Miro while you’re there!
Also, another great resource, one of my personal favorites for tips on making great video is the IndyMogul Blog. They write excellent stuff consitently (like this simple quick-and-dirty 30-Second Film School: 3-Point Lighting). Head over and subscribe, and check out all the cool stuff they’re doing, like this week’s Backyard FX video: teaching people how to make a BFG9000 lazer gun for $20! How cool is that? I’m sure you could use one of those for a funny XLNTad!
Gmail just held a remarkably successful campaign to create an ad entirely made up of 2-second clips submitted by the community. They got over 1,100 submissions! Have a look at the final product. It’s awesome! Great work, guys.
I believe they found success for a number of reasons.
1.) They created the final ad themselves, in the end, hand-picking only the best parts.
2.) They only asked for 2-seconds of creative based on an highly-composed central idea
3.) The concept was fun, casual and funky, people wanted to be a part of it
4.) Heck, they’re Google!
Sadly, our silly clip didn’t get in… but that’s because I made it in 3 minutes, with only minutes to spare before the deadline and an out-of-ink printer. If only I had been more proactive and entered early! Alas. I would have had my 2 seconds of fame-ish.
Bob Garfield, one of the AdvertisingAge’s main writers and critic, indeed a major force in ad world media, has been doing a series of articles on consumer-generated advertising, and he’s been profiling us! Some good points, some criticisms, but we’ll take those thoughts and run with ‘em. We’re learning more about this space every day and we’re going to be the best in the business.
They’re getting there with the continually evolving strategy, based on the advice of “creator” panelists like Kevin Nalty and the often ugly outcomes XLNTads has witnessed involving CGA pioneers in the real world. …[And] it’s not just the dynamics of video-hobbyist behavior [Neil Perry, our acting CEO, is] trying to capture. It’s also the medium’s essential authenticity.
“CGA to me is also about the advertising style. It’s about handheld camera, lowcost/lowdown production, simple ideas and simple executions. That’s what makes it so relevant and that’s what makes it feel so different from the Madison Avenue way of doing things.”
Tags: bob garfield, adage, xlntads, news, advertising, cga
Read/Write Web just posted a helpful list of some of the new tools that are popping up online to help creators make better content. We hope you’re making ads for us at XLNTads.com, but even if you aren’t yet, this is a great resource for amateur and prosumer videomakers alike. They list everything from free scripting software to using Google Maps to scout locations. Awesome.
Thanks to our friends at Cutcaster.com for pointing on their blog to this great powerpoint presentation on copyright from the Picture Archive Council of America
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Topics that are covered range from what copyright protects and the length of the protection, as well as highlight such topics as fair use, what is an infringement and what is not, and explains how the Digital Millennium Copyright Act can be used to remove infringing works from the Internet. A Must Read.
Tags: creators, copyright, issues, resources, video, content, cgm
Since we love saying that amateurs and prosumers can create creative work as good, if not better, than the pros, it’s important to nurture our community and light a fire of creativity. We’ve done a little inspiring before, but I decided I’m going to start making a weekly blog post highlighting excellent work that I find from both professional houses and amateurs alike. If you find something you’d like me to highlight, by all means, shoot me an email! mark {at} xlntads.com
The idea for this series came to me after reading this great post by our friends at the recently redesigned VidOpp who pointed us to this article on MSNBC about using YouTube to get discovered.
The success story highlights how YouTube and the Web are increasingly being mined by production companies and advertising agencies for cheap talent and prepackaged content. The trend has gained momentum as companies increasingly seek credibility with an under-25 set known for its love of low-cost and cutting edge YouTube-inspired content.
If that article isn’t inspring enough, I give you this. It’s the MTV-Award Winning video made for just over $1000 by one of our own creative talents here at XLNTads, Andy Signore of SecretSauceTV. It’s called, “United 300“.
Tags: creative, inspiration, media, advertising, commercials, xlntads, vidopp, ads, andy signore, secret sauce tv, united 300
The (in)famous video maker and blogger, Nalts just made an awesome video full of love for us here at XLNTads. He might want to be careful with that chainsaw, though. Man, what a nut. I guess the printer was out of ink.
Tags: nalts, kevin nalty, video, viral, xlntads, advertising, funny
I just came across the WTF? Network - apparently an effort by Whole Foods Market to get some rich media content from engaged consumers to spread around virally (join the club, friends). Unfortunately, they chose one of the most annoying names ever (as Angela Natividad points out on AdRants, “The channel lives up to its acronym, and not in a super-cool way”), and they’ve only garnered 9 videos with 400 views between them all. Perhaps they haven’t put any energy into it.
I was just thinking, Whole Foods should probably just get all their hip employees to make videos about how fun it is to work for them. I’m sure they’d come up with better, funnier and waaaaay cooler concepts than these videos. At least they’d have more focus. Or, better yet, they could contact us and get the XLNTads community to get cracking on producing some really awesome ideas and content.
So far, this is the best the WTF? Network could come up with:
Tags: whole foods market, viral, video, wtf? network, advertising, cga, consumer, video, youtube, xlntads
Brett Slater of Slater’s Garage is one of the newest media creators to join up the XLNTads community. We’re very excited to have him working with us! First, he made us this great ad for our XLNT DIY ad contest:
Then he left a great comment for us on Kevin Natly’s blog while they were discussing consumer-made advertising. After praising our efforts (Thanks, Brett!), he went on to point out some excellent tips for consumer-generated advertising creators.
In a world where people (particularly the ever-important 18-34 demo) are getting more and more tuned in to the BS factor of “conventional” ads, what better way for products to be promoted than by regular folks? Like a lot of people nowadays, I’d sooner believe the testimony of a friend, or even “some guy,” than I would the stereotypical Madison Avenue-type spots that have ruled the roost for lo these past several decades… However, there are certain aspects of conventional advertising that I think still hold true in a CGA format:
1) Don’t forget to make it about the product. As a CGA creator, it’s great that your spot is funny and entertaining. It should be. But make the comedy pertinent to the task at hand — which is to promote the brand. Ask yourself sincerely: Is this about me, or about the product?
2) If you’re specifically hired to make CGA media, don’t forget, you’re making an ad… It doesn’t have to look or feel like an ad, but you do have clients to satisfy. Make sure you and the client are in agreement over who the ad should speak to, and what it should contain and/or depict.
3) Think in round numbers. 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 60 seconds. It’s just easier on everybody…
4) If you’re making CGA just “for fun,” in hopes of your idea being “picked up,” prepare to have it picked up, walked away with, and passed off as someone else’s. If the idea is good — REALLY good — someone will want to steal it. Be careful. Nothing would burn my you-know-what worse than if I did a YouTube video for sneakers, say, and then saw my idea ripped off and broadcast during a ball game 4 months later with other actors and stuff…
Looking ahead, I think one of the toughest things to do is to convince companies that this IS a viable medium through which to market their products… There are still a TON of CEO’s and other, you know, “grown-ups” who still don’t know what YouTube is, let alone its value.
Tags: natls, kevin nalty, commercials, xlntads, slater’s garage, cga, advertising
LendingClub, a web site that facilitates peer-to-peer money lending, just completed a successful consumer-generated advertising video contest. They note a couple of interesting metrics on their blog. For example the contest garnered 18 competitors and 100,000+ views during a four-week run and with an incentive of $8,000 in prizes. It’s important to note, too, the contest received some major blog coverage today, because the valuable PR gave the site an additional ROI in addition to the marketing they used to publicize the contest across Facebook and YouTube.
Here’s a look at the winning entry. It’s pretty well made. In fact, the professional filmmaker and popular YouTuber Chris Barrett created it and won the contest on a pretty good concept. I think it could have been more tightly edited, but it did get over 17,000 views on YouTube. Slyly, or perhaps smartly, he included the attention-grabbing tag ‘Paris Hilton’. That helped. Here’s an interview with the filmmaker.
If you’d like to see the other videos that won prizes, you can watch them all here.
Tags: lendingclub, chris barrett, video, viral, advertising, cga, case study, xlntads, contests
Online Video Watch pointed us to some great new featured articles on About.com that delve into the emerging rich media advertising market to how to buy video advertising online. Since that’s a big part of what we’re making here at XLNTads.com, I was excited to see the subject being covered in such depth.
The bottom line?
The online video ad market is ripe with opportunity, and it is a lot easier to begin than the buzz would have you believe. While there are arguments for and against pre-roll, whether 15-seconds or 30-seconds is the right length, or whether or not using TV assets online is the best way to proceed, one thing is clear. Video advertising is extremely effective. Don’t wait before the landscape is oversaturated to bring your brand into video advertising.
About.com has also produced a series of seven videos that discuss the market. For example, here is Harry Case, managing partner, director of media analytics and technology, Mindshare (no embeding, click through to view) bringing up some great points about consumer-generated advertising:
Tags: about.com, advertising, online, video, marketing, cga, xlntads, howto
