Sputtr has recently become my friend. My very good friend. I’ve found myself unusually busy lately, and any and every thing I can do to make things just a bit simpler is welcome. I heard and read several different blurbs about Sputrr this past week, and after playing around, it’s become one of my Firefox start pages. Rather than piling various search engines together a la dogpile, Sputtr gives you the option of searching via a wide variety of searches/sites, including flickr, slashdot, eBay, and all the traditional search giants. Makes everything just a bit easier.
So it’s been a few days since my last post. I’ve been insanely busy (and insane is barely an exaggeration). This past week, I had my terminal BFA show in photography… Once I get everything back together, I’ll throw up a few gallery shots. Regardless, I’ve been exhausted, but spending a great deal of time thinking about images, photos, and art – wondering how to communicate ideas clearly. Many of the photo pieces in the gallery were steeped in meaning, but much of it was lost on some viewers. The true challenge is in figuring out how to communicate clearly – whether in photographs, art, or advertisements. I certainly don’t know the answers.
On that note, I really like these ads for the Nikon Coolpix s500. Simple but communicate bounds about the brand.
Many advertisers are turning to user-generated content a la YouTube for inspiration, style, and just about everything else. Many are producing YouTube-styled spots, like the recent Ray-Ban Never Hide video posted to YouTube.
KFC, being the powerhouse of chicken goodness that it is, decided to go about things in a different fashion. Rather than creating YouTube-esque clips, they’ve decided to take clips directly from YouTube for their new commercial, touting their new menu. The fill USA Today article is here, if you’re so inclined. Interesting way to reach a supposed target. And makes an interesting commercial. I suppose.
A while back, Skoda surprised me with their “Giggle” spot for the Roomster. This time around, it’s the Fabia. And a completely different but equally cool idea. “Full of Lovely Stuff” is kind of a quirky little tag in and of itself, but to go and actually make a Fabia that is truly made of lovely stuff is pretty cool. I’d be this was a fun spot to be a part of… on a semi-related note, I’m kind of craving some cake now.
I’ve been doing a fair bit of thinking about the above question over the past few days. What makes something viral, what makes it spread, and what makes it “popular”? As someone commented in a previous post,
They don’t need to brand it per say because everyone is writing about it. Don’t pay attention to the number of views exclusively, but take a closer look at the number of times it’s been written about… that’s clever..
Let the internet community brand your videos for you…
Sure, the internet community is essentially branding videos, but at the same time, video view optimizers like Feed Co. are doing the branding and viral marketing for the agency. When Cutwater hired Feed Co. to spread their video, it worked beautifully. The same message is being posted across blogs, linking back to the YouTube spot.
Does that make it truly viral? how many people are actually actively spreading it? What proportion of the YouTube hits are generated by the links posted by Feed Co.? Who gets the credit for the “viral”? Cutwater made the decision to hire Feed Co. – so is the viral success truly attributed Cutwater? What about other agencies that don’t use a video view optimizer? Is it becoming the norm?
So the YouTube clip posted by Never Hide films, below, went up just a week ago. In that time, it’s had over 1.6 million views. Impressive, to say the least.
What’s more impressive is the branding. or lack there of. All it is is a split second shot of a car window, with “Never Hide” scrawled in the dirt a la “wash me.”
Never Hide is the new tag line for Ray-Ban, apparently authored by Chuck McBride at the new Cutwater in San Fran. 360° has a good quote from McBride on the tag and the idea. Also interesting is the way in which it differs from the commercial (non-viral) Ray-Ban stuff:
McBride said that one of the important things is that a lot of “cool executions can live under it.” One of the big questions, I suppose, is: Do both of these ideas live under the Never Hide idea? Does the YouTube viral coincide? Does it need to? Is a viral with something scrawled on the window enough to direct to the brand? Incidentally, the top Google result for Never Hide is the french Ray-Ban site. Regardless, this is pulling in massive attention on YouTube, which still seems to be a viable enough source for publicity and channel for viral advertising. I’m interested to see where the view count is at next week.
I’m a huge fan of perspective advertising, and this one just amazes me. So simple, yet completely mind boggling. Click the image above for a full view.
So I just got back from flying around the country (after having to unexpectedly spend the night in Denver) and have been thinking a fair bit about clouds and sky and such. Interesting stuff. And interestingly enough, one of the first things I stumble across while poking around the internet is this YouTube clip of gravity waves in the clouds.
pretty amazing. I’ve watched this at least a dozen times. I’m still trying to fully understand. Time to go do a bit more reading. Either that, or go get some sleep.
I’m in NYC for the week. This means many things, but most importantly, at least at the moment, that blog postings will be sporadic. even more so than usual, for those one or two people who read regularly. Maybe I’ll actually find some inspiration. or something like that.
And some advertising that I ran across while I was down at Times Square (see obligatory crappy cell phone pic of Times Square above) was pretty interesting. ’specially for advertising in the Square. More to come. maybe.
This was another one of those things I didn’t realize we needed in the world. But let me say, I’m sure glad it’s here. A true triumph in technology, design, and engineering. And really – who wouldn’t want a Boeing jet engine powering the toilet you’re sitting on? The full video below.
