Got the chance to talk to Andy Plesser of Beet.tv on camera at the NewTeeVee Live conference in San Francisco couple weeks ago. Pretty excited to see we made the cut! Thanks, Andy!

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Tags: beet.tv, andy plesser, mark schoneveld, xlntads, video, advertising, consumer generated

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

The lovely Irina Slutsky of Geek Entertainment TV interviewed me here at the NewTeeVee Live conference, and I got my 5 seconds of fame. Sa-weet! I gotta hand it to her, though, she could only pick a handful of folks to interview from the 500+ attendees of the conference. I’m glad I was one of them! Thanks, Irina! Hope to be on the show again soon.

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Tags: newteevee, newteeveelive, geek entertainment tv, getv, video

[from L to R: Yuri Baranovsky of Break a Leg TV, Irina Slutsky of GeekEntertainmentTV, and Steve Garfield's hand/Nokia N95 of Off on a Tangent]

There are a ton of people here at the NewTeeVee LIVE conference in San Francisco. I’ve had some really great converstations with some cool people, and got filmed on a couple of excellent tech video blogs. I’ll share as soon as they’re up. Stay tuned!

Check out come of the coverage of the speakers and panel discussions over on the NewTeeVee blog.

Tags: newteeveelive, newteevee, video, conference, media, tv, new media

We’re getting a lot of Nalts Love this week! He mentions us a couple times over on his blog Will Video For Food. First, he calls this very blog as one of the ‘must read‘ blogs about video on the web. Thanks, Nalts!

Then, in a post detailing “The Advertising Agency’s Five Stages of ‘Online Video’ Grief“, he took some time to write up a great summary of the panel discussion he lead with Neil at the ad:tech conference last week. Here’s a list of five simple steps to getting up to speed on viral video advertising:

1. Pay attention to social media, industry changes and viral videos that help market. There’s a lot you can learn from positive and negative example. If you catch your agency staff watching online videos at work, don’t stop them (unless it’s porn). Find out what they’re watching and why.
2. Hire someone who understands this medium. At first it might not feel like headcount you can justify, and you may want to find a subcontractor or consultant. But as a product director myself (yeah I’ve got a day job) I’m going to look elsewhere if I don’t believe your agency has a clue about the impact of online video. Nothing makes me giggle like an agency that boasts that they are pioneers because they made a brand page on MySpace or Friendster, or had a viral video that got viewed ten thousand times.
3. Begin to experiment with lower cost and adaptive forms of video content. The next time you do that “big shoot,” get some footage you can use in other forms. It could be as simple as footage from a decent high definition camera, but be sure to arrange the rights with your models and the shoot’s director (who will probably grow quite irate at this prospect).
4. Pitch your client on doing something experimental online — before they find someone else with a more robust and compelling story. Don’t stop with online-video ads — try creating entertaining content that subtly markets. There is no shortage of inventory for paid promotion, but that’s just one arrow in your online-video quiver.
5. Partner with amateurs who have existing audiences and online “street cred,” and they’ll keep you from doing anything that will be repulsive to skeptical online viewers who have ADHD and love the power of stopping ads and lambasting blatant promotion. If you’re brave, approach some online-video “weblebrities,” (like top YouTubers or amateurs that have had success on other sites). This is a lot of work, so if you want a more turnkey approach hire a specialist to manage it (xlntads, for example, is brokering relationships between big brands and promising amateurs).

Of course, we’d emphasize #5!

Tags: nalts, advertising, xlntads, video, viral, blogging, adtech

Web2NewYork caught up with our acting CEO, Neil Perry after a little Q&A about XLNTads. Neil was in New York leading a panel discussion about consumer-generated advertising at the Ad:Tech conference. Have a look:

Tags: xlntads, adtech, video, advertising, neil perry, web2newyork

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

LoveMyPhilly on Vimeo.

Who doesn’t love a little retro commercial action now and again? And look! Philly Cream Cheese has uploaded a bunch of their old commercials to video sharing sites and even has it’s own blog, Love My Philly! Sa-weet. They’ve even got some great recipes for the holidays. Hey guys, maybe you’d like us to make you some new adds? After all, we are based in Philly!

Tags: marketing, kraft, philly cream cheese, love my philly, advertising, retro, commercials, video

Our buddies (and super XLNTads creators) Nalts and Brett Slater of Slater’s Garage got to try out a couple of Google’s new ‘gPhones’. Here’s the awesome vid they made about the experience:

Tags: android, slater’s garage, nalts, gphone, google, phone, video, funny

I absolutely love the creative genius that is The Common Craft Show. Of course, I love anything that’s simple and elegant, yet awesomely powerful. Take note, you don’t always have to have actors, a set and expensive props to make a compelling message. Common Craft is inspiring us all by making brand messages in the form of papercraft cutouts. Their videos are straight-forward, digestable and entertaining nuggets that both educate and promote brands. For example, here’s a spot they made for Google Docs:

Awesome, right? And because it’s Halloween, how can I resit sharing this amazing vid about zombies!?

Tags: common craft, advertising, video, messages, papercraft, google docs, branding

Everyone wants their vids to go viral these days, and the good people at Tubemogul are giving away a great white paper called “Web Video Marketing - Best Practices” to help all you producers get on the viral bandwagon. Tubemogul has some awesome tools, too, so don’t forget to check out what they’re offering video producers. They say:

“Secret Formula” - .5C + 15.M + .20T + .15P = Success

Alright, we admit that an exact formula may be a bit over simplistic, but when it comes to deciding how to allocate time and resources on a video intended on marketing something virally, the weighting of these four components should follow closely to something like this: That’s it. Write down the formula above on a cocktail napkin and you have the code cracker for getting people to watch and forward your video. The formula above says that creating a video is a weighted function of four components:

50% C = Content and Production - this is storyline, style lightning, production, etc.
15% M = Metadata - the text title, keywords, descriptions, and categories that help people find your video
20% T = Thumbnail - the packaging which draws people in when displayed on the page
15% P = promotion - just good old fashioned marketing

Speaking of viral, have you seen this!? What genius! Reminds me of Zack Scott’s “ChocoBana” commercial he made for us!

Tags: tubemogul, video, marketing, viral, trends, tools, resources, energy drink

It’s been pretty hectic around XLNTads-land these days, and I’ve neglected to put up my promised weekly post ‘Creative Inspiration‘. Okay, kids, here’s something from waaaaay out there. Check out these awesome vintage commercials made by conceptual American pop artist, Peter Max back in the late 60’s and early 70’s. How’s that for some creative inspiration, huh? Awesome.

[Thanks, ViewersLikeYou!]

Tags: creative, inspiration, advertising, ads, video, peter max, psychedelic, art, pop

And we’re not surprised!

First, there’s the big news flying around the Interwebs today about Google’s plans to integrate YouTube videos into it’s AdSense program. Lots of people, like marketing guru Jim Kukral think it’s a great idea. So do we!

Then, more good news, according to research sources quoted by Silicon Alley Insider:

• Video ads growing faster than ad execs expected.
• Video ads still account for only a tiny percentage of overall web ads but are expected to be the fastest growing category for the foreseeable future.
• Auto and entertainment categories strongest, with good growth in consumer products, technology, and fast food.

Tags: youtube, advertising, adsense, google, news, video, xlntads

Bob Garfield speaks about advertising as a product and how it will evolve in the digital age. Experience Matters comments:

…by and large, what Garfield is tapping into is the fact that many agencies haven’t re-configured their “Ad factories”. Billing models and structures are still based on producing advertising-like objects and rely heavily on keeping bodies as billable as possible. Media buys have up until recently been a predictable model. Buy spots for Ads. Make a profit. Lather, rinse and repeat.

Be sure to read on. David Armano lays down his rough draft of ‘Digabilities‘ - essential abilities for thriving in the digital age. I love ‘em!

[Hat tip to AdPulp]

Tags: xlntads, bob garfield, advertising, digital, future, digabilities, video

There’s a long thread on the Yahoo! Videoblogging Group today about what they are calling the rise of the ‘Middle Class’ of video creators. The discussion arose from this ArsTechnica blog post about independent musicians in the Web 2.0 era. Video blogger Jay Dedman wonders, is it now the time for independent video makers to stake their claim in the middle of the visual media industry?

At XLNTads, we answer with a resounding YES! We believe that the ready access to professional-grade digital media tools allows a very low barrier to entry into the video industry. We’re banking on it. The core principal of our business is that creative people live everywhere and that those people can utilize their skills to make amazing creative advertising for brands while putting money in their pockets. Whether they use the XLNTads community as a launching pad to a career in creative, or they just want to make fun videos and take home some money doing it, this market is big and getting bigger by the day.

XLNTads is guided by our videomakers. We understand how this medium works. That’s why we actively seek great videobloggers and prolific YouTubers to be involved with our community. We know they’ve got production chops, they’ve got built in audiences, they’ve got the power to start viral trends, and they are super self-motivated and creative. We believe the best of these creators will come up with grand slam ideas for our brands and deliver current, relevant and smart video creative. The creators win, the brands win, we win.

Tags: videoblogging, arstechnica, jaydedman, community, xlntads, web2.0, media, prosumer, creative, advertising, making money