VW is having fun with video marketing

In "The Illustrated Man," Ray Bradbury describes videos and beer becoming the new ersatz for books and wine.

A year after its debut, YouTube was acquired by Google. Three years later, traffic is at over a billion videos - per day, that is. At the top of the list is: Charlie the finger-biter (here's an article with a complete list of the top ten).

What does this mean for business? The world's biggest company (VW) has undoubtedly made some significant investments in marketing distribution, but what about a shift toward content? What if, instead of investing a much smaller amount in creating a one-page ad (paying the graphic designer, photographer, and copywriter) and then paying Car and Driver to print it, the distribution were free? The savings could go toward a more elaborate message like "we are all about using 'fun' to influence people's behavior," and then depend on the viral spread to get over three million views in its first week at no cost.

Good idea.

Tearing Down Walls - Twenty Years Later

It was twenty years ago today - June 12, 1987, that Ronald Reagan made the speech that became the tipping point for the direction of the western world -- JFK's "world of freedom" -- in the end of the twentieth century.

It was my privilege to stand there in Berlin that day and hear President Reagan, at that time my Commander-In-Chief, make his stunning delivery in front of the quadriga of the Brandenburg Gate.


He didn't have to say it. It was a great speech without it and in fact, his advisors all told him to leave it out. Twenty years later I can still tell you firsthand the cold war was very real.

But making the challenge based on his conviction that it was the right thing to do changed the world. "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

Freedom has a cost and we stand on the shoulders of great men.

Orwellian Politics - Hillary in 1984

If you look back at my post of February 14, you'll see I anticipated a youtube video featuring Hillary Clinton. And just a little over a month later, courtesy of "parkridge47" here it is. OK, it's not exactly what I thought it would be, but the influence of video on the hyperindividualized culture is the next big thing in marketing (and political campaigns). There are already over 240,000 hits (update-make that 1 million) to the site. Careful, once you see this mash-up of the classic Apple 1984 commercial you may not be able to scrape it off your consciousness. You think I'm kidding...

Googling The Future

The headlines around firefighting over rights to copyrighted material in an online society are shifting from iTunes to YouTube with Viacom's billion-dollar suit with Google. Here's a recent video interview about the "master plan" for Google's future with Google's VP of Search Product and User Experience Marissa Mayer (German site, but the interview is in English).

Opportunity Out of the Blue

There are two points that bear noting as the Jet Blue story continues to play itself out. One is that even a great unique value proposition can become an Achilles' Heel. The second is that catastrophe often brings out true character in companies just as it does in individuals. You can buck up and figure out where you made your mistake or you can shave your head and get a new tattoo.

There's a saying that perfection is the enemy of the good -- when you have a strength in a certain area you can overfocus and it becomes a weakness. Jet Blue has worked its way up over the last seven years to become the eighth-largest domestic airline by having, among other things, the least number of cancelled flights. In that micro-macro shift we all need from time to time, avoiding cancellations is now a lesser piece of the low-fare customer-service strategy that can keep them on their 25% growth path. The announcement of a loss expected for the first quarter is offset by a minor effect predicted for total earnings this year.

David Neeleman, Jet Blue's CEO, has beat congress to the punch in their drafting of a passengers bill of rights with his Customer Bill of Rights. The bill reaffirms Jet Blue's commitment to "superior service" by spelling out a range of compensation from $25 to $1000 and free travel for delays of various lengths and overbooked flights. Neeleman's youtube video promise on the JB home page creatively spins one of the "challenges that comes along" into an advantage, not in a crazy giveaway but in a measured response of transparent sincerity. His emphasis in the three-minute diatribe is on employee flexibility and accessibility, as well as beefing-up staffing in general. In Neeleman's words, "This will be an aberration..."

Marcotte, McEwan and Edwards - Hello I Must Be Going

Web 2.0 has extended further into the political arena. X-treme (read "progressive") political bloggers Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan were just following Anna Nicole Smith's mantra as described by Smith's mother -- any press, good or bad, helps me make money.

In this case the publicity has not helped John Edwards campaign, and he's called off the partnership just as it was gaining some momentum. As vicious, off-color humor becomes more common on the web, the line of acceptability is shifting (Marcotte holds she has been "censored" for being a woman, pro-choice, anti-religious, etc.), but it still hasn't become a free-for-all.

Some x-treme blogging or a feisty video interview could be good for Hillary in a youtube strike against Barack Obama. But John, we hardly knew ye.

Selling Technology at the Super Bowl

How about 'dem Bears? The flags are flying on the antennas down the Dan Ryan today and all the kids who aren't wearing Urlacher, Hester and Grossman jerseys to school at least have their blue and orange socks on.

And of course how about that holy grail (and last bastion) of TV advertising, 'da commercials? As Smith and Dungee run their strategies, you'll be seeing some of the biggest investments in annual marketing strategy unfolding in HD. For Americans, XLI shares the title of biggest sporting event and biggest marketing event. At $2.5 million for 30 seconds, and even allowing for a halo-effect of an entire quarter of reruns on youtube, advertisers will need to see a marginal profit of about $30,000 a day to break even.

That's a lot of ambivalent Pepsi-Coke railsitters being pushed one way or the other. And a lot of beer bought on the basis of horses playing football in the snow. And a lot of computer buyers being swayed in their next laptop purchase. Yup, HP breaks into the football-technology market with their Orange County Choppers-themed ad this year, following a long break since the top Super Bowl ad of all time, Apple's "1984" piece.

On Sunday, temperatures in Chicago will warm up to a balmy 7 degrees (from 5 at the moment), but Chicagoans who aren't in Miami in person will be there in spirit anyway -- where it should top out in the low 70's.

Powered by YouTube

How did Google arrive at the $1.6B price to 28-year old former University of Illinois student Steve Chen for his open-source video uplink application? Here's a great example of how a powerful story can be made all the more powerful by video. See this video link about Rick and Dick Hoyt, the most amazing father and son team ever.

Warner/youtube - New Realities

Speaking of youtube, yesterday's deal between the fourth-largest record company, Warner Music and Chad Hurley's 19-month old youtube should shake things up a bit for both the pros and the amateurs.

Move Over YouTube - brightcove

Here's a new player in the webvideo space -- including b2b applications - www.brightcove.com .