Neil had an article published on the popular marketing website iMedia Connection today:

8 Secrets for Viral Video Gold

As a brand marketer, you have wisely decided to tap into the ever-growing online pool of consumer talent for consumer-generated video production. But now what? Where do you start?

Before you dive in blindly, it is vital to understand the nature of this new creative world. Consumer-generated video production has evolved to engage the prowess of independent, semi-professional and professional videographers. These can be the guys who do video montages for weddings and bar mitzvahs, but in their spare time, they create high-quality, low-cost video productions. Often, their hobby turns into a desire to grow their expertise and eventually land a full-time job as a commercial producer.

This group of semi-pros is joined by boutique creative shops that are also tapping into the success of consumer-generated video production. They are often trying to break into securing gigs with big brands but haven’t yet had success breaking down the barriers-to-entry imposed by marketing departments and big ad agencies. One of the keys to consumer-generated video success is to listen to and take into account the varying motives of consumer ad creators and videographers to maximize the potential of the channel.

read more…

Tags: imedia, neil perry, viral, video, advertising, how to

Normally, I don’t write about other people’s video contests, but this one I couldn’t resist.

Yesterday, TechCrunch blogged about a young man who made a pretty awesome video for a McDonald’s jingle contest. He made it to the finals, and only then someone found out that he is the same guy who a dozen or so years earlier had held up a McDonald’s at gunpoint!

Well, here’s something that’s so ridiculous it couldn’t be made up. McDonald’s teamed up with MySpace to create a new jingle for the 40th anniversary of the Big Mac. The original song (two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce…) was created back in 1974. Over 1,000 user created songs and videos were submitted - the winner’s jingle becomes the official Big Mac song and will be featured in a McDonald’s Big Mac TV commercial.

Enter 29 year old Tamien Bain, who held up a McDonald’s at gunpoint when he was 14, was convicted as an adult and served 12 years in prison.

I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry, but one thing is for sure. This dude knows how to make a pretty bangin’ video! And he also just discovered a new way of making a video go viral.

Big Mac Chant

Tags: video, contest, mcdonalds, viral

One of my favorite blogs on the web is NewTeeVee.com. I read it every day (and so should you!). They always have great coverage of the online video world as it evolves and changes.

Today, they’re launching their new Station that will be highlighting awesome new videos that people are talking about. You’ll never be out of the loop on all those crazy viral vids anymore. Plus you can throw your two cents into the mix.

One of the things I’m most excited about is that they decided to include a Commercials tab in the channel where they will be showing off some of the latest, greatest viral ads. Hopefully we’ll be seeing some of your work there, soon!

Tags: newteevee, commercials, video, viral

Okay, this is a little heady, but we think it’s a pretty cool thing to share with you because we really feel like you guys (our community, our blog readers, our clients) are part of this revolution. Pardon me for being a bit evangelical about it, but this sort of thing sure gets us excited!

Listen to Clay Shirky - author, teacher, consultant, Internet evangelist:

Tags: clay shirky, web 2.0, internet

Today, one of the biggest and best blogs on Earth (and one of my daily reads) Read/Write Web posted a long piece on YouTube ’stars’ and how they, and others, can parlay their fame and video skills into business. It’s a pretty basic primer on the things we know, but the writer did include a long bit at the end about prosumer video makers doing the commercial thing. They didn’t mention us by name, unfortunately, but I wrote this response:

We’ve built a whole business around the idea that there is a huge (and growing) market of semi-pro and freelance video makers who are more than talented enough to tell brand stories. We’re putting their work in front of our major brand clients like Anheuser-Busch and Nestle to great praise. I definitely believe that this kind of content has great potential because people have a thirst for creation. And they’re only going to get better.

I believe in the future, you will see a creative class of videographers who make money from several revenue streams. They’ll make video ads for their neighbor’s restaurant, commercials for Nestle through sites like ours, video blog segments for their friend’s band and comedy skits for their YouTube Partner channel - making money at all of them.

It’s the rise of the multi-faceted media maker.

What are your thoughts? Can it be done? Are we heading in the right direction?

Tags: video, xlntads, commercials, business

Today is the deadline for The Amazing Pitch II and we’d love to see your series pilot in on the action! We have some awesome entries already, but you still have a few hours to get yours uploaded.

We’re giving away $1500 to the best video, and $500 to 5 runners-up. But more importantly, we’ll be optioning the best submissions and taking them around to our many brand partners and working deals to get your show sponsored. You could get $30,000 to develop a 6-part series!

While you’re thinking about how to polish up those final edits, I’ll leave you with a pretty wild success story I’ve been reading about today thanks to a tip from Steve Bryant at Reel Pop. Three young guys in New York made a no-budget video series last year in their apartment called “We Need Girlfriends“. After millions of views, thousands of fans and a handful of YouTube and MySpaceTV front page features, their show got bought by CBS in a development deal. Wow!

The New York Times just published a pretty cool backstory about how these guys made their show successful. It’s a fantastic read. If you’re looking for some inspiration, this is it! Here, watch the first episode:

Tags: amazing pitch, xlntads, video, series, we need girlfriends, sponsorship

[Note: this is an excerpt from Neil's article in iMedia Connection. Click through to read the whole piece.]

What’s New in UGC

Broader definition of content. Brands are looking at the channel more and more as an alternative method of getting not only TV commercials, but also 15-second online spots, one- to two-minute webisodes and any other kind of online content.

The rise of support structures. Third parties have emerged and can serve as a trusted partner to help connect brands and agencies with talented, qualified pools of creators to best fit the needs of the campaign. This can reduce UGC “waste” — video submissions that are not appropriate to the brand messaging or the constraints of the campaign.

The birth of “prosumer” communities. Consumers like UGC and are getting better and better at creating content. Videography is a vastly growing hobby. Editing and filming equipment and software have vastly improved and enabled many more creative people to participate. Extraordinary talent is emerging in unexpected places across the country. In addition, more sites have come to the scene devoted to ad creation (e.g., vidopp.com), and online video watching continues to grow in popularity.

Increased disenchantment with conventional marketing. Consumers are even more skeptical of traditional advertising and are looking for “authentic” content via word of mouth and UGC. In fact, a recent Nielsen Media Research survey indicates that 78 percent of consumers place the most confidence in recommendations from other consumers over any form of traditional advertising.

Tags: xlntads, video, advertising, ugc, cga, trends, imedia

Armed with a user-made fan video with over a million views on YouTube, McDonald’s enters the wild world of consumer-generated advertising with this brilliant little piece of work promoting the wonders of Chicken McNuggets:

We’re very excited to see one of the world’s top brands using this kind of advertisement. Sure it’s raw, but so cool and funny! This piece is getting airtime on major networks all over the country. If it’s good promotion for McDonald’s, folks, it will be good promotion for your brand, too. CGA, FTW!

Tags: video, viral, advertising, mcdonalds, funny, success, mcnuggets

Everyone wants ‘em, but are they just a fad? Christina Goodman mulls over the prospects for viral video campaigns in the future over at MediaPost. She’s fairly confident the trend will continue in light of the current user-generated video world, but does suggest proceeding with caution.

In this age where consumers have more and more choices, content and advertising are being controlled by what consumers want, how and when they want it, forcing marketers to rethink their old ways of communication. In some respects, viral advertising is a way of reaching consumers that gives them ultimate creation and viewing control — including the media platform they choose to watch it on, whether it is viewed on the Internet, or using their iPod or mobile device. Shifting focus and control to the consumer does not guarantee a promising outcome, particularly where viral videos are concerned, and marketers need to consider both the positives and negatives of launching a viral marketing campaign.

I think she’s got a lot of great points in this piece. However, I also believe that our cultural consumption gravitates increasingly to the current fluidity of media sharing and this fervent hurricane of portable video cultural conversation. The urge to inject brand messages into this chaotic mediasphere is too strong now to resist and will continue getting stronger the more eyeballs are drawn to it. The fact is ‘viral video’ is the way it’s done, and it’s no fad.

Tags: viral, marketing, advertising, video, trends

Our friends at AdPulp wrote today about Tay Zonday’s Dr. Pepper Cherry Chocolate Rain video that echos some of our thoughts on the video and how this is a vision of things to come. To wit, mining for talent on YouTube is fun! And inexpensive! My favorite line from the AdPulp post is: “Strategies are being written by the brand team and execution is being handed off to DIY consumers and culture makers. Isn’t disruption fun?”

Yes. Why yes it is! Learn more about how XLNTads is shaking things up.

Tags: adpulp, advertising, tay zonday, dr. pepper, cherry chocolate rain, xlntads, trends, viral

In one of the more painful exchanges about viral videos, a young student at Stanford and ‘viral video consultant’ began with a lengthy post on TechCrunch about how to game YouTube. People were furious, for various reasons. Next, he posted a reply in which he backpedaled on a few of the claims. Now, after all the noise surrounding these posts, he’s interviewed on CNN. I have never seen a more awkward and lame discussion of ‘viral video‘ in my life (they show Dramatic Chipmunk 3 times in a row!). But here you go, it’s news (sort of):

Tags: viral, video, cnn, techcrunch, youtube, news

Apple’s getting clever with new rich media banner ads. They’re pretty much videos, but they’re actually banner ads. Very clever. I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of this in the coming months. Both from Apple and from others as video advertising becomes more commonplace. Crazy that the YouTube clip showing the banner ad has already gotten over 30,000 views in 24 hours. Wow. Think about that for a second. Talk about viral!

[Thanks, TechCrunch]

Tags: advertising, apple, mac, xlntads, funny, innovation, banner

There’s a lot being said about where the commercial form is going. Here’s part of an article from AdAge regarding the how the advertising industry is dealing with the decline of the 30-second spot:

“It’s not about whether TV is coming or going; it’s about where are the best places to put ideas to reach consumers,” said David Lubars, chairman-chief creative officer of BBDO North America, the shop most synonymous with the splashy Super Bowl commercial. “The [30-second spot] is still a viable form; it’s just not the only viable form.”

Indeed, many marketers and their ad agencies are rethinking their approaches. Long gone are the simpler days when agencies used to “fill boxes” — two :60s, five :30’s and so on. That system has been replaced by a more rigorous, focused process. “There is this pull toward video and other media placements,” said Ann Green, senior VP-marketing solutions at market-research firm Millward Brown.

We’re actively addressing these problems with our model at XLNTads. We see the changing landscape and know how to flow with them. We’re tinkering in our workshop on cutting-edge campaigns with ultra-short spots (:05-:10 seconds), hyper-niche sponsorships and product placement deals.

Be a part of our community! Join up here. And don’t forget to subscribe to this blog to stay up on the latest developments!

Tags: xlntads, adage, future, advertising, trends, commercials

TechCrunch recently pointed out an interesting report from IBM talking about the future of advertising. I pulled this quote to share with you:

Traditional advertising players risk major revenue declines as budgets shift rapidly to new, interactive formats, which are expected to grow at nearly five times that of traditional advertising. To survive in this new reality, broadcasters must change their mass audience mind-set to cater to niche consumer segments, and distributors need to deliver targeted, interactive advertising for a range of multimedia devices. Advertising agencies must experiment creatively, become brokers of consumer insights, and guide allocation of advertising dollars amid exploding choices. All players must adapt to a world where advertising inventory is increasingly bought and sold in open exchanges vs. traditional channels…

Download the whole .pdf file here.

Tags: advertising, future, interactive, xlntads, ibm

Liz Gannes over at NewTeeVee has a great write up today about “Mastering Viral Video Advertising in 3 Easy Steps“. That’s a joke headline, though. As we all know, it’s not that simple. There is no proven formula. But what it does is a wrap of of an panel she moderated with three companies - Tubes Networks, GPS Maniac and Personality Hotels - who experimented with ‘going viral’. She writes, “Some of their spots went viral, some of them didn’t — but what did they learn?” Check it out.

But if you’re dead-set on finding the viral success formula, though, you might want to check out our friend Charles Trippy’s new DVD, “Viral Video Fever“. He’s one of YouTube’s more popular stars, and he’s hoping this DVD will help him become the Next Internet Millionaire.

Thanks, Nalts for pointing this out to us!

What’s that? You still don’t understand how to go viral? Well, first you should hook up with Gabe and Max. They know what’s up!

Tags: video, viral, trends, advertising, marketing, gabe and max, liz gannes, charles trippy, nalts