We are so excited to see our first nationally televised commercials on the air! We ran a couple programs for Budweiser’s Designated Driver program earlier this year. They bought two videos from Poptent creators - Rick Griffin and Bryan Law - and they’ve aired on the Conan O’brien Show on NBC this week!
You can watch both videos on their Facebook Page that goes along with the project (and become a fan while you’re there!).
I dropped Rick a line to see if he could let us in on how it’s going.
How do you feel seeing your commercial on national TV?
I’ve never had any of my stuff hit national TV, so when I heard it was going to be on the Conan Show, I got the word out via email and Twitter so my friends could watch it. Heck, I’d have bought a DVR just for the occasion if I didn’t already have one
Has this changed your career as a video producer yet?
Being able to add Budweiser to my resume is more valuable than the money I got for the commercial. Without poptent, a small-time producer like me would never have been able to gain access to a national giant like Budweiser. I feel like this will open a lot of doors for me. I can’t thank Poptent enough for the opportunity.
What’s next on le voyage?
I’ve been busy collaborating with some producers in Tampa on a humorous, reality based food and travel show. It’s getting a lot of interest from a variety of sponsors. We plan on shooting a package of of 8 episodes in 2010 and pitching to the likes of the Travel Channel, Food Network etc.
We had the whole team in the office today and went out to lunch. I snapped this photo while we were happily chatting and since we all look so handsome in it, I thought it’d be fun to go ahead and post it to the blog.
From left to right around the table that’s Jason, Drew, Neil, Ryan, Megan, Tony, Liza, Chris and Tim. Me, I took the photo, but you’ve seen my face all over the site already…
Back in 2007 we did an assignment for Zorbeez, the super absorbant cloth. Their pitchman, Billy Mays, was one of the most famous infomercial talent in the business and we enjoyed seeing all the great videos our community produced, using Billy’s style as expert inspiration.
We’re sad to see his tragic passing and wish his family and friends well.
If you’re in the Philadelphia area this weekend, why not stop by the Mashable + IndyHall Mixer! It’s promising to be one heck of a good party. Come meet the Poptent crew and some great folks from the Philly tech scene.
Details
Date: Friday, May 1st, 2009
Time: 8:00 pm till close
Location: Cavanaugh’s River Deck, 417 N Columbus Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19123 (map)
Tickets: Open Admission, 21+ only please
Why?: Meet Mashable and IndyHall, $5 drink specials and it’s a Friday night!
XLNTads was featured this month in the Association of National Advertisers’ The Advertiser Magazine. Here’s a short excerpt:
There’s an untapped space between ads produced by agencies with
high-end production houses and those created in someone’s basement. It’s
this gap that a startup company called XLNTads hopes to fill by connecting
independent or semiprofessional filmmakers with advertisers looking for
low-cost quality video content.
The company was launched in February 2007, initially to create a platform
for consumer-generated advertising. “We thought by reaching out to consumers,
we could supply brand marketers with quality video along with the extra insight
of passionate consumers,” says Tony Romeo, XLNTads’ senior vice president.
“But the realization, as we got to know the videographer community better, was
that there are a lot of independents out there who have a significant degree of
filmmaking talent.”
The XLNTads model has evolved accordingly. The company launched a
community site, called Poptent (www.poptent.net), where content creators can
showcase their wares, collaborate on projects, and connect with brands. The
company claims to have signed up more than 7,500 community members.
Companies, such as Anheuser-Busch and Nestlé, have used Poptent to post
campaign assignments for which Poptent members can submit creative. The
brands pay only for the spots they choose to use in a campaign.
A couple of things have come up that I’ve been meaning to share with you. First, Neil has an article in MediaPost called “Marketing Differently in a Recessionary Economy“. Here’s an excerpt:
…what’s a marketer to do in this recessionary economy? Go gently into that good night? Of course not! Now is the time for growth and gaining competitive advantage; now is the time to do something different.
First, you better start getting creative, in particular, as it pertains to your creative. Here’s something different — crowdsourcing. Coined by Jeff Howe in a 2006 article in Wired magazine, and blown out in his book of that name, crowdsourcing is the act of taking a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people, in the form of an open call. It is a method of generating ideas and materials from a broad spectrum of interested bystanders, and using their input to meet business needs.
Crowdsourcing can be used to develop creative to supplement your marketing plan’s needs. There are hundreds of thousands of talented creators online who are young, independent, energetic and excited about your brand. Let them take a stab at filling in the gaps created by budget cutbacks. [read more]
Next, I had the opportunity to be interviewed on the brand new Philadelphia Startup Blog. I believe we are the first company to be featured, so that’s pretty cool, eh?
If you have a moment to spare, why not throw a good ol’ fashioned vote our way? Simply add your email (don’t worry, they won’t spam you), and voila! Let’s win this thing! You can vote with as many emails as you’ve got.
Open Web Awards is the only multilingual international online voting competition that covers major innovations in web technology. Through an online nominating and voting process, the Open Web Awards recognizes and honors the top achievements in 26 categories. This year, we’re partnering with over 100 blog partners, Poll Daddy for extra security and ease of voting and extending the nominations period and voting rounds for greater participation.
We’re very, very excited to announce the public beta launch of our new community site, Poptent!
We’ve all worked incredibly hard on this project and we couldn’t be happier to have this baby out in the open for eveyone to check out. Please feel free to poke around and give us feedback.
We built Poptent based on the lessons we’ve learned over the past year from XLNTads, and feedback from creators like you. Stellar new features, full networking capabilities and a beautiful new HD-capable video player will provide all the tools you need to manage projects, build your portfolio and get your work seen.
Anheuser-Busch resigned with us and created three new campaigns for you to work on, including one called ‘Nattyisms’ for their Natural Light brand beer. (Launching Soon!)
Brand Affinity Technologies has signed on for three great projects promoting their professional athletes like Bengals star quarterback Carson Palmer and baseball legend Brooks Robinson to be used in commercials. (Live Now!)
And last, but not least, Poptent is going to pay you to upload your Demo Reel! Well, not all of you, but our panel of expert judges will be giving $500 to the best one in the Reel of the Month assignment. (Live Now!)
