When utilized correctly, YouTube is quite the sales force to be reckoned with. On a recent conference call with ERA’s Internet & Emerging Media Council, certain members discussed how some direct response products have found success simply from videos being uploaded to YouTube.
Creative YouTube videos are a great way to drive incremental sales, if even on accident. If you’re Chris Brown, a singer recently convicted for felony assault against ex-girlfriend Rihanna, how do you get a year-old single onto the top 10 most purchased songs on iTunes? Oh, by being an integral part of a wild fire-spread YouTube video. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably seen this “Forever” wedding video.
While perusing iTunes when this video hit viral fame a few weeks back, I noticed that Chris Brown’s “Forever” was listed in the top 10 purchased singles. A web hit featuring one of his songs couldn’t have come at a better time for this artist whose image is tarnished in the press. I too, drank the Kool-Aid. I watched the video and loved it, logged onto iTunes and purchased.
Consequently, aside from user-generated content, YouTube also plays host to professional content, sometimes to the chagrin of the content creators. Monty Python’s producers found their content all over the web illegally, however they decided to be proactive and take control of their content in these channels, which turned out to be a very good idea. According to a recent release:
The Pythons created a YouTube channel in November 2008 just to stop their content from being released illegally on the Internet. “We felt the time had come to deal with the ‘YouTube problem.’ On the one hand, we were surprised at the number of clips that had been uploaded to YouTube in clear infringement of our copyright, and while we didn’t want to be spoilsports, it was getting pretty much out of control and we could see no real benefit. So I arranged a trip to meet the YouTube guys on the Google campus in San Jose and discovered that they had a program that would enable us to have our own Monty Python channel on YouTube where we could put up clips from the movies and TV shows of far greater quality and order that might also encourage viewers to want to see whole movies or TV episodes via links to Amazon and iTunes and expand our Monty Python fan base,” says Monty Python producer John Goldstone.
When Goldstone launched Monty Python’s Channel on November 14, 2008, he took advantage of YouTube’s click-to-buy program. The Python’s DVDs quickly climbed to No. 2 on Amazon’s Movies & TV bestsellers list and DVD sales increased 23,000 percent. “The click-to-buy ability was exactly what we were looking for to make the link from video to the right Amazon page much more effective than the URL by the side of the video description. We are only now beginning to address premium advertising, which is only possible when you can show the size, composition, and consistency of your viewers,” he says.
I guess the moral of the story would be that while YouTube may be struggling to support itself with a successful advertising platform, it currently sits as a lucrative marketing channel for the opportunistic, inventive marketer.
Before booking your travel to Las Vegas or San Diego, you may first want to get a few tips from “Saturday Night Live” travel expert Judy Grimes.
Did you miss out on the recent networking receptions in NYC and L.A.? Click here to view pictures from various events at Electronic Retailer’s Buzz page!
Direct response has become so prevalent lately that even TV shows and restaurants are using it as fake marketing bait. As a fan of HBO’s “True Blood†on Facebook, from time to time teaser items will appear on my News Feed. Recently it tempted fans to check out an infomercial from The American Vampire League, a fictitious vampire rights group in the show. It’s interesting that an infomercial was considered the appropriate marketing vehicle to further entice fans. Perhaps vampires were simply following in Obama’s footsteps!Â
Aside from social media marketing, “True Blood†has made a big splash in traditional media too. In L.A. alone it was hard to miss the second season debut as stars Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer graced everything from the entire side of a Sunset Strip office building, to busses and even bus stop benches. But in the end, it looks like the intense mixed marketing effort paid off. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the second season premiere of “True Blood†was the most-watched program on HBO since “The Sopranos†finale. An article in Sunday’s New York Times went so far as to say that “True Blood†has brought HBO out of its slump!
Consequently, Burger King has released a new ad campaign that utilizes a home shopping format to distinguish the value of the Whooper JR.
For direct response professionals, while these campaigns are drenched in irony, they still salute to the fact that DR is a mainstay marketing force to be reckoned with.
The California Supreme Court’s recent decision to uphold Proposition 8, which bans gay marriage, has sparked statewide protests. As discussed on this blog before, social media has changed the way in which people organize their efforts for a united front.
The recent Prop 8 protest in West Hollywood was publicized by blogger Perez Hilton via posts and tweets and brought out not only celebrities, but also readers that may have otherwise been unaware of the protest. As can be backed up by abysmal ratings, the only reason Hilton’s recent spat with Miss California over gay marriage got any traction at all was through social media, not because hordes of people actually watched the Miss USA pageant live. Either way, utilizing social media to organize and reach mass audiences for marketing purposes or otherwise may soon be considered a luxury for U.S. citizens.
Ahead of the 20th anniversary of the bloody crackdown on Tiananmen Square this week, Chinese authorities have rounded up dissidents and shipped them out of town. Now, they’ve even shut down Twitter.
Along with their usual methods of muzzling dissent, the authorities extended their efforts today to silence social networking sites that might foster discussion of any commemoration of the events of June 3-4, 1989.
The action is a new sign of the government’s concern of the potential of such technology in an authoritarian society where information is tightly controlled.
China has the world’s largest online population, and Internet communities have proven increasingly influential in spreading word of events to everything from student protests to group shopping excursions.
People are going outside the normal, controlled channels to set up communities online, spreading information about campus unrest and other potentially subversive activities taking place in this vast nation.
Government Internet monitors have shut down message boards on more than 6,000 Web sites affiliated with colleges and universities, apparently to head off any talk about the 1989 events, according to the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.
Numerous blogs maintained by edgy government critics such as avant-garde artist Ai Weiwei have been blocked and the text-messaging service Twitter and photo sharing site Flikr could not be accessed within China on Tuesday. Video sharing site YouTube has been blocked within China since March.
Additionally, CNN reports that even the U.S. military is now using social networking sites to reach out to non-traditional audiences by documenting the war efforts in Afghanistan. One thing’s for certain- whether organizing protests or simply shooting marketing messages out to consumers, it will be interesting to see how social media’s role within our lives continues to evolve.
Please join ERA at the New York Networking Reception on June 18, 2009 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. for cocktails and great networking with senior leaders of the direct response industry. The reception will be held during DM Days at the Manatt, Phelps, & Phillips offices in Times Square.
Immediately following the reception we will be holding our fourth Meet the CEO Dinner beginning at 8:15 p.m. It will be an intimate gathering where you can mingle with our new CEO, Julie Coons, as well as our Chairman, Nathan Fagre, board members, and ERA staff.
To register, please contact Katie White at kwhite@retailing.org or (703) 841-8284.
I recently had the distinct pleasure of attending the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Wow! It was simply incredible to hear a legend like Paul McCartney and dance the night away to The Killers and MSTRKRFT.
Coachella was nothing like my experience at a Radiohead concert last May where weather complications prohibited the use of technology, forcing my friends and I to wonder aimlessly in the pouring rain sans cell phones. Coachella’s weather was perfect. Not only were we able to use our cell phones, Coachella was also completely up to speed in its use of social media. From an official Coachella iPhone application to a live Twitter feed, concert-goers were always in the know with updates and information. I even recently added Coachella as a fan page to my Facebook profile.
Corporate sponsors were also very visible to concert-goers. “Meet me at the Heineken beer tent,†became a popular phrase during the three-day extravaganza. Coachella will be forever ingrained in my head along with visions of sunshine, palm trees, mountains and the Naked Wizard? Yes, probably the most talked about event from the concert had nothing to do with musical acts. Now a viral sensation, the Naked Wizard definitely gives credence to Andy Warhol’s insightful prediction many years ago that everyone in the future would be famous for 15 minutes. I’m hoping my 15 minutes are dramatically different than the Naked Wizard’s.
Coachella aside, another recent event was the perfect move for a brand trying to connect with consumers via music.
This T-Mobile-sponsored affair is reminiscent of when Ferris Bueller sang “Twist and Shout†through the streets of downtown Chicago, except this is real life. As the media landscape continues to change and evolve, brands would be smart to follow the lead of Heineken, T-Mobile and others that incorporate themselves into consumers’ everyday lives in unique and engrossing ways.
“There’s no way you can justify spending $3 million on a thirty-second Super Bowl ad, but you sure as hell can justify a half hour infomercial that you know the cost of when within 72 hours you know the revenue you generated from it.” — Chris Rebholz, president of Christopher Morgan Fulfillment
Look for more insights from Chris and other DR fulfillment leaders in Electronic Retailer’s upcoming May issue! Do you have an industry quote or industry event pictures worth sharing? Post a comment or send an e-mail to eMedia editor Pat Cauley at pcauley@retailing.org for possible inclusion.
On the evening of April 20 and all day on the 21st, ERA will be hosting the Government Affairs Fly-In. In addition to two fantastic networking receptions, a keynote address by Senator Pryor, and detailed issue briefings, you will have the opportunity to really let lawmakers know about how this issue affects your business.
Every now and then it’s good to get the creative juices flowing by simply watching some quality ads. Below are a few of my recent favorites that utilize humor, and in Hardees’ case - sex appeal, to further establish their well-known brands. Moreover, Geico choose to emphasize its brand by promoting videos on YouTube incorporating YouTube celeb Numa Numa guy.
According to a recent Adweek article, a McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish campaign has become a viral sensation on the web, garnering more than 300,000 hits in a little over two weeks. What’s the catch? The Boogie Bass, a popular DRTV product, ironically enough is what makes the ad work.
The use of consumer products that are pop-culture phenomenons is a great idea for use by McDonald’s and other corporations for advertising. I don’t think it was as much a marketing stunt as it was a “fluke†(sorry, couldn’t resist) that it became such a viral sensation. But, the idea of providing a visual like that is a fun and familiar way to catch the consumer’s eye.
A successful DR product garners so many impressions on TV, that its ubiquity becomes such it can increase the broadness of the demographic when placing it in conjunction with a more focused product – the Snuggie, for example, might be a product like that down the road.
In our current marketplace where back-to-basics is what’s important to the consumer, the idea of major corporations placing products that are familiar and memorable at many levels is a great way to pull a little at our emotional purse strings. Whether it’s a warm and fuzzy message or one we can laugh with – if we feel something good, we will be more apt to buy. -Planit
Given that it’s Lent, as a Cafeteria-Catholic who oddly picks and chooses certain dogmatic rules to follow, I’ll shamefully admit that the Filet-O-Fish will be prominently on my mind while trying to avoid eating meat on Fridays. What do you make of the McDonald’s campaign?
Hailing from Pittsburgh, or should I say Sixburgh, I’m obviously still ecstatic at the outcome of this year’s Super Bowl. But for our purposes here, I’ll spare you the Steelers fan gloating. There were other winners on Super Bowl Sunday and they come from the advertising and marketing community.
According to USA Today, the Doritos crystal ball commercial was the favorite of the evening. I literally remember sitting in a room full of people before the first commercial break and someone managed to crack the joke: “Here come the blatant marketing pitches.†Maybe my sarcastic friend spoke too soon. As the now infamous crystal ball Doritos commercial ensued, the entire room erupted into laughter and one of my friends even said, “That makes me want to buy some Doritos for sure.†Mission accomplished.
During another part of the evening, a commercial played for an upcoming feature film. My friend who interns for the studio made sure to hush everyone as the spot played. Being that it was a preview for a comedy, the room’s continued silence was not a good sign. “Damn, that cost a lot of money,†my friend said to disapproving stares. On the up side, she used our live, informal focus group the next day during a meeting to let her supervisors know that the preview did not go over well with our crowd.
But if anything, the Super Bowl proved that there is still a place for advertising and marketing in a fast-forward world. From 3-D glasses, to impressive strides in mobile campaigns, marketers are still cleverly rising above the clutter. In industry specific news, the Super Bowl even had a DRTV spot for Cash4Gold that played to rave reviews and even rivaled Doritos as the night’s favorite.
“Super Bowl 43 was memorable for several reasons, so much so that the media world is still buzzing about it a week later. It was arguably one of the best games ever, and certainly one of the most exciting fourth quarters in recent history. A record number of viewers tuned in as well — Nielsen’s final report put it at 98.7 million, up a full million over last year. Unprecedented economic times meant no ads from perennial sponsors General Motors and FedEx. But despite the loss of these brands, NBC successfully sold all 65 spots for a record $206 million, with in-game ads running at $3 million apiece. That is up 11 percent from last year’s Fox rate for the game,†according to Video Insider.
Furthermore, a recent study actually shows that watching ads increases the pleasure of the TV viewing experience. Maybe consumers are especially willing to watch ads during the Super Bowl because they know that ad execs are at the top of their game. Perhaps the lesson for advertisers should be to act like it’s the Super Bowl every day. As a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, I can assure you I certainly will.
When utilized correctly, YouTube is quite the sales force to be reckoned with. On a recent conference call with ERA’s Internet & Emerging Media Council, certain members discussed how some direct response products have found success simply from videos being uploaded to YouTube.
In addition to its upcoming 
Direct response has become so prevalent lately that even TV shows and restaurants are using it as fake marketing bait. As a fan of HBO’s “True Blood†on Facebook, from time to time teaser items will appear on my News Feed. Recently it tempted fans to check out an infomercial from 
 But in the end, it looks like the intense mixed marketing effort paid off. According to 
Enjoy these hilarious videos that touch on aspects of the direct-to-consumer industry.
The California Supreme Court’s recent decision to uphold Proposition 8, which bans gay marriage, has sparked statewide protests. 
I recently had the distinct pleasure of attending the 
Corporate sponsors were also very visible to concert-goers. “Meet me at the Heineken beer tent,†became a popular phrase during the three-day extravaganza. Coachella will be forever ingrained in my head along with visions of sunshine, palm trees, mountains and 
Last month I wrote a post about 
After the Obamamercial, in which 
On the evening of April 20 and all day on the 21st, ERA will be hosting the Government Affairs Fly-In. In addition to two fantastic networking receptions, a keynote address by Senator Pryor, and detailed issue briefings, you will have the opportunity to really let lawmakers know about how this issue affects your business.
Every now and then it’s good to get the creative juices flowing by simply watching some quality ads. Below are a few of my recent favorites that utilize humor, and in Hardees’ case - sex appeal, to further establish their well-known brands. Moreover, Geico choose to emphasize its brand by promoting videos on YouTube incorporating YouTube celeb Numa Numa guy.
According to a recent 
The use of consumer products that are pop-culture phenomenons is a great idea for use by McDonald’s and other corporations for advertising. I don’t think it was as much a marketing stunt as it was a “fluke†(sorry, couldn’t resist) that it became such a viral sensation. But, the idea of providing a visual like that is a fun and familiar way to catch the consumer’s eye.
Hailing from Pittsburgh, or should I say Sixburgh, I’m obviously still ecstatic at the outcome of this year’s Super Bowl. But for our purposes here, I’ll spare you the Steelers fan gloating. There were other winners on Super Bowl Sunday and they come from the advertising and marketing community.
