Frontiering Talk

Here’s a very clever animation made entirely from street graffiti by Blu.

It’s quite amazing how a story can be created like this.  Because it’s different it rises above the clutter of content.

Can your brand message do with a new canvas?

via Chris Brogan

MSNBC have released a NewsWare site, which provides an interesting news spectrum which can also be customised into a widget to embed on your blog, social network profile, or desktop.

The news experience includes this spectrum which is very engaging.

There is also a Newsblaster tool which lets you read the news while you are playing an online game.

To promote this feature, MSNBC setup the world’s first interactive cinema crowd game.

Cinema goers became human joysticks as the collective crowd body movement controls the functions of a game controller.

NBC New’s social education iCue site is also mixing news videos with study guides and educational games in what they hope will satisfy Generation Y’s shorter attention span.

Google has just announced a new web based purchasing and analytics system that allows anyone to run television commercials.

The system has been available as a trial program for about a year, and this announcement now opens the system up for everyone to use using this simple process.

-  Select your target audience

-  Choose the networks, days and times, and  the specific programs you want your ad to run on.

- Choose the cost-per-thousand impressions you’re willing to pay

You don’t pay until your ad airs on TV.

Like Adwords, Google is hoping to reduce the complexity of advertising and also providing the necessary self service tools that make the process scalable. 

Google’s Ad Creation Marketplace also provides you with the tools to connect with pros who will provide scripting, copywriting, editing, production and voiceovers for your ad.

The interesting thing about Adwords is that it levels the playing field for the advertisers, so big global brands don’t get a significant benefits for large spending volumes.  For TV advertising, companies get rewarded by distribution networks for bulk purchasing, effectively reducing the appeal to large brands. However, the transparency of the pricing may have an effect on the TV media buying industry.

Google is no doubt hoping that it can take advantage of monetising video content in the same way it has monetised search.

Video content will continue to grow, and whether the content is consumed via television or online, providing a simple interface that is open to everyone to both sell and buy advertising is going to have wide appeal. 

One of the better April Fool’s stunts this year !

For those who loved the 1982 classic Tron movie, will enjoy this cardboard version.

This just shows the type of quality content that can be created and shared online.

Brands should consider tapping into these resources for producing videos.

via EpicFu

Listening to consumers has never been more important.  What are your consumers saying?

Brightcove have just published an excellent whitepaper on 5 keys to successful online video.

The 5 keys are :-

1. Create Context This refers to label and tag the videos to help with searching)
2. Encourage snacking (displaying related videos around the main video)
3. Produce for the Medium (i.e. short form content, bearing in mind not all genres are equal)
   - Av length is 2.6 mins
   - Less videos provide fictional narrative and drama, more at news, paparazzi video, individual personalities
4. Use Internet Distribution
   -  Allow consumers to embed your videos
   -  Organise syndication with internet video distributors
5. Monetize (for non branded sites)
   -  Need to thinking through how to integrate 15 sec pre-rolls
   -  For Brands .. the creation of 15 sec pre-rolls is an important strategy

Internet access speeds, lower cost of video equipment, and ease of video sharing has lead to an expansion of video content on the web.

3 former Google employees have launched a site that is positioned as a video based “how-to guide” to pretty much anything. In their words, “Imagine an ever-expanding universe of how-to knowledge, created for you and by you. That’s Howcast“.

The site also effectively uses Wiki technology to encourage collaboration / updates from users.  Examples include “How to clean your ipod”, “How to store an unopened bottle of wine”.  The site is well laid out and designed to capture feedback as well as commentary in line with today’s “conversational web”.  The videos follow a similar format where an instructor explains what is needed to complete the task, followed by step-by-step instructions explained in a voiceover. If users want to write their own “how to”, they can use the Howcast template; scripts are then sent to film school students for production.

The “How To” web market has a number of existing players such as Instructables and Expert Village which have been focused on text / image based content.   

Contributors to Howcast also benefit from distribution deals that syndicate content through other channels such as Joost, Verizon’s VCast.  This is a clever business model as it will enable Howcast to grow quickly. 

I couldn’t help thinking of the possibilities this structure has for mainstream education.  Howcast generates the “learning objects” and then effectively uses latest technology tools for teaching.  All you would need to add is a module that tracks what learning objects you have viewed, and testing to measure both the effectiveness of the learning object and to ensure students have grasp the concept being explained.

Monkey See is a new site containing a collection of "how to" videos ranging from Parenting, Pets, Auto & Mechanical

There is even a video series on how to carve a pumpkin.

Perspective: I think this site exemplifies the growing demands for videos in online content, as well as the emergence of niche content sites (in this case "How to").

Truveo (a video search engine) has just launched several country specific video sites Australia, Brazil, Italy, Mexico, The Netherlands, Russia, Turkey.

This is the top rated section in Australia sports category, which you can “snag” as a widget.

It’s incredible just how much video content is now available, and the ability to create and serve niche channels is quite powerful.

A new study commissioned by Nokia suggests that as much as 25% of entertainment will be created and consumed within peer communities. Coined “Circular Entertainment” by Nokia, the research interviewed 9000 trend-setting consumers in 17 countries about their digital behaviors. The study entitled ‘A Glimpse of the Next Episode’ was conducted by The Future Laboratory.

Tom Savigar, Trends Director at The Future Laboratory suggests

Consumers are increasingly demanding their entertainment be truly immersive, engaging and collaborative. Whereas once the act of watching, reading and hearing entertainment was passive, consumers now and in the future will be active and unrestrained by the ubiquitous nature of circular entertainment. Key to this evolution is consumers’ basic human desire to compare and contrast, create and communicate. We believe the next episode promises to deliver the democracy politics can only dream of.”

Some of the key results were

Of the 9,000 consumers we surveyed:
- 23% buy movies in digital format
- 35% buy music on MP3 files
- 25% buy music on mobile devices
- 39% watch TV on the internet
- 23% watch TV on mobile devices
- 46% regularly use IM, 37% on a mobile device
- 29% regularly blog
- 28% regularly access social networking sites
- 22% connect using technologies such as Skype
- 17% take part in Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games
- 17% upload to the internet from a mobile device

These results are not surprising, and it does suggest that it will be more difficult for brands to communicate as these trends grow.
Certainly the methods used will have to change, and recommendations from trusted communities will surely play an increased role in driving behaviour.

Listening to consumers is a key prerequisite before brands can be effective in “Joining the Conversations”.

Here’s a video poking fun at fortunes being made in Silicon valley and suggesting that the bubble is about to burst.

I know there are some crazy valuations at the moment in the technology sector, but I do feel that many of the so called web 2.0 companies have solid business plans in comparison to the first dot com boom.
Enjoy the video

Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV fame, talks with The Trend Junkie about building the Wine Community, transparency and the acqusition of Cork’d.

It’s an insightful video full of excellent advice for people wanting to start a community.

Tags: community, interview, Social Network, wine