Super Bowl BADvertising Round Up 2010

Posted on February 10, 2010 by Nikc Miller

Last year we discussed the merits and rewards of putting MC Hammer and Ed McMahon in your ad. So we’ll take the plunge again and talk about the ads that really rocked people’s worlds during Super Bowl XLIV.

Unfortunately, there was a surprising lack of awesome to be found. This year was kind of revolutionary for Super Bowl ads. Top Super Bowl advertiser, Pepsi, decided that it wasn’t worth the investment. Google ran a single ad that was pretty cool and surprising for Google.

The Air Force ripped off The White Stripes in a really worthless kind of way. And the rest just seemed to be a fairly lame sketch comedy show run by Doritos and Bud Light.

One of the reasons that these ads fell so short is pointed out here by Gary Vaynerchuk. Put briefly, advertisers are beginning to miss the mark with their audience. The number of viewers who watch TV while attached to a laptop, or browsing an iPhone are at an all-time high. Granted this attachment to devices isn’t necessarily true for the Super Bowl viewing experience (people watching in groups of 8-10 or more), advertisers should still concern themselves less with creating the immediately gratifying ad, but rather the ad that gets people to a website, a Facebook page, or signing up to a list.

Google, of course gets the best of both worlds. Their ad has gotten huge in just a few days thanks to a bit of a pre-air leak and simply because they OWN the web-viewing experience. It turns out that their ad was not as much about competing with Bing as it was about launching their own web-based ad campaign called Search Stories. If successful, Search Stories could be the first and most pure cross-over ad campaign in history.

Free Download: 10 YouTube Tips For 2010

Posted on December 29, 2009 by Nikc Miller

A few weeks ago we launched our new mini-ebook Produce, Post, Promote: Ten YouTube Tips For 2010 to our email list (you can get it here). The book has been very well received and was downloaded by people ranging from business owners to bloggers.

Alot of people have already asked me something to this effect:

Why would a video production company want to give away their own pro web-video tips to any ole person that signs up?

To me the answer is simple: I give this advice out to my friends all of the time. After typing up yet another email to one of my buddys about how to properly tag a video, I thought: It’s really time to (finally) write a guide!

The 13-page book contains tips on:

Planning an effective video campaign
Properly tagging videos for maximum exposure
Gaining new audiences with your video
Using your current marketing efforts to gain more views
And More (for real)

I’m always scouring the web for info so I know there’s alot of FREE (!!!zomg!!!) crap out there, so to prove that this little guide has alot of value, here’s Tip 11 (the one that didn’t make it in the book):

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Create A Click-Through Ad To Your Website For (Almost) Free:Alot of people immediately write off the Promoted Videos option that YouTube offers. If you aren’t aware, Promoted Videos works like Google AdWords. You can pick keywords and offer a pay-per-click price for each time someone clicks on your video for those words. If you are not interested in pay-per-click, you may have never experimented with this option. However, YouTube offers a big incentive for using Promoted Videos: A Clickable Call-To-Action Overlay.

This option gives you the power to place your very own ad on your video that clicks through directly to your site. The best part is that if you are not really interested in paying-per-click you can bid ultra-low on a super popular keyword. The result: You pay next-to-nothing because your video gets zero-to-low impressions, and you come out with an effective click-through advertisment for your video.

Check out this example!

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You can get the full-version of Produce, Post, Promote: Ten YouTube Tips For 2010 here. Did I forget to mention that it was free?

Video Tagging 101: Tag Your Videos Properly in Youtube

Posted on November 16, 2009 by Nikc Miller

Tagging videos properly in Youtube is a tactic that will gain your video a ton more hits and help Youtube work better for everyone. By tagging videos properly, you allow Youtube to properly auto-suggest related videos and add to a richer user experience.

In this example you can see how I improperly tagged this video about Michael Jordan. Instead of “Michael Jordan” being a search term you now have “Michael” as a search term and “Jordan” as a search term.

In this case, since there are so many videos about Michael Jordan, the term “Jordan” will still lead people to videos about Michael Jordan. But when you add search terms like Richard Jefferson, improperly tagged, terms easily get mixed. Someone searching “Michael Jordan Richard Jefferson” will get mixed results like “Michael Jefferson” leading them to this popular South Park bit about Michael Jackson. In a few quick shifts of a search phrase, the user has landed in a place very far away from anything having to do with basketball.

The way to properly tag is simple. Instead of using spaces to separate phrases use quotes for terms that are larger than one word.

So for this string of terms:

Michael Jordan NBA Washington Wizards New Jersey Nets Sports Legends Jason Kidd Richard Jefferson Kenyon Martin

you would put:

“Michael Jordan” NBA “Washington Wizards” “New Jersey Nets” “Sports Legends” “Jason Kidd” “Richard Jefferson” “Kenyon Martin”

Tagging in this manner makes the terms clearer for the search engine and the user. Your video gets more visibility and resides with similar content.

Communicating With Video: 3 Tips For Delivering An Effective Message On-Screen

Posted on May 21, 2009 by Ryan Spindler

Speaking to, or in front of, a camera is a tough task for most people. There is just something about the glow of that red record light and the blank stare of the camera lens that creates an anxiety deep within and makes us unable to do some basic human functions like speak and think clearly. Below are three tips to help you overcome your fears or anxiety the next time you’re planning to speak in front of the camera.

1) Be well prepared, not well rehearsed

When conducting interviews, the biggest mistake I encounter with business owners is when they write an entire script that they try to memorize and recite on cue. Avoid memorizing lines of script. The stress of the recalling from memory will make you appear tense and unconfident on camera. Know the subject matter you are going to speak about inside and out then deliver it in a casual conversational manner.

In the video below Davita Carpenter, owner of CLB Management, knocked out her monologue in one take. The video was well-planned but unscripted. Her tactic was to keep a list of 5 keywords off-screen to guide her talking points but keep just enough freedom to remain candid on-screen.

2) Smile big and often

Nothing communicates bigger and brighter than a smile. It is amazing how smiling can not only make you look better and more confident, but also genuinely feel that way. We smile less when we are uncomfortable or uneasy. Try to start and end every thought you speak with a smile and you will look and feel better each time you are recorded.

3) Keep your messages short and simple

When videos are created the vast majority of content from interviews is left out of the final production and only the key statements are used in the final product. Politicians are masterful at using this “soundbite” method of speaking. They are constantly being interviewed and have realized that these soundbites of information are what inevitably get used in the final production. Use this same tactic to keep your messages short and simple in order to create strong soundbites.

Keeping these three tactics in mind, you will appear much more polished and in control in front of the camera.

Use A Campaign Approach To Save Money On Your Web Videos

Posted on April 16, 2009 by Ryan Spindler

Web Video Campaign Comparison Thinking long-term and setting specific goals for your videos should be the first step when planning to add video to your company’s existing website.

It is important to develop a long-term campaign approach to not only create a long term consistent message and flow of information but also to create an economy of savings by batch-processing all of your branding efforts.

When it comes to video for your website you need a campaign or episodic approach because you will want to add several videos each year in order to accomplish two very important goals:

Provide relevant and rich media content for search engines to index and increase your website’s page rankings and organic status.
Provide your website audience with new creative information and content they can use to make decisions about your company and products. Or information they can pass on to friends.

Video is highly effective when used correctly on websites, but it can be time-consuming and expensive. If planned and produced properly, the use of a long term campaign approach combined with batch-processing will save you time, energy, and money.

Plan Your Company’s Next Video With A Mind Map

Posted on April 16, 2009 by Nikc Miller

The foremost psychological hurdle to overcome when encountering any sort of branding endeavor is visualizing the end result of the effort. A video campaign can be a huge collaborative effort and you will want to open up the communication between the collaborators (decision makers, your art department, outside contractors) as soon as possible. There are many ways to deal with this; many choose a physical meeting, but meetings are possibly the most time consuming and least appealing way to generate ideas.

There are a few options out there on the web to overcome stalling of the initial planning process with minimal cost. Some choose to create a collaborative wiki (like PBwiki), which is a sort of open editable web page with all the amenities of a Word document. While this, perhaps, offers the most options, a wiki can become a big sprawling mess that will probably be ineffective in presentation at a followup meeting.

My suggestion is to use mind map software like MindMeister to lay out your group’s ideas. Similar to a brainstorm “web” a mind map will clearly and effectively allow your group to create topics that concern the main project. When these topics are presented, mind map contributors can than follow-up with subtopics or create relationships between topics to possibly answer questions or point out concerns. There are also options to create hyperlinks, and attach notes for topics that require more details. The end product can than be exported to a number of different formats and creates a nice visual interface for a follow-up meeting.

While there are a number of mind map sites on the web MindMeister seems to be one of the most concise and offers flexible payment options (free for the most basic package). At the end of the day, collaborative mind-mapping will jumpstart your company into thinking visually about its next video campaign and create a high level of synergy at your next company meeting.

Productivity Tip: Vary Your Tasks Often To Get More Done

Posted on April 1, 2009 by Nikc Miller

Tascam PortaStudio I have a small music studio at home (the ancient Tascam PortaStudio to the left being a central component). Right now I have an album’s worth of songs in various stages that need to be finished. Some songs need to be totally re-recorded; others just need the final mixes tweaked, and everything in between.

For the month of April, I am forcing myself to work on this album in some capacity for at least one hour a day. Some days, when I have already spent one full workday in front of an After Effects station, this could be a difficult goal to fulfill. But I am not letting myself make any excuses. In March I worked out a system to get myself to work more and more, and in April I am sealing the deal.

The way I am making myself work on this project every day is by keeping all of the songs in various stages of production. So while one song may need to be recorded, and one may need to be mixed and another one may need to be mastered, I have various activities to pick and choose from depending on my available free time, and the amount of involvement I want to take in each work session.

Many times the thought of recording makes me think about lugging out all sorts of gear, several failed takes, and the inevitable cleanup of the session. However, now when I get to work, I don’t even think about recording. Instead I’ll open up a project that needs to be mixed, start tweaking it, and see where I end up. If I spend an hour doing this then my goal has been met. What I’ve found is that after messing with the mix of one song for a little bit, I’ll switch gears to another song that needs recording. With this system, I’ve effortlessly gotten my brain into production mode without ever thinking about how daunting one particular task can be.

The main key here is to keep your tasks separate. If you are recording, don’t worry about mixing. If you are mixing don’t start recording. Break your work session into small yet separate chunks and worry about the other tasks later.

Of course there will come a point where all of the songs will be in their final stages, and I won’t have the luxury of varying my tasks. This is fine because the goal is not about tricking myself into working. The goal is to get closer to finishing my project faster.

Productivity Tip: Color Coordinate with Adobe Kuler

Posted on March 20, 2009 by Nikc Miller

Sometimes an application is released that is so ridiculously simple, you wonder why it didn’t come around years ago.

Adobe Kuler is the new-ish web community of designers submitting something very simple and very useful: the color swatch.

Why is this useful? Well as you may know, horrible color combinations are around us everywhere, even historically:

An example of some historically bad color combos.

So now, with the help of thousands of people you can browse hundreds-of-thousands of color combinations instantly. The Adobe Kuler desktop air application makes this process even simpler (read: faster).

My mind is still buzzing by all the potential uses for this.

From not messing up your house

Well, this is actually kind of interesting.

to learning to dress yourself properly

What?

Adobe Kuler has the potential to create a revolution of ease on the eyes.

And my favorite use so far, is the After Effects designer’s approach, ingeniously displayed here from Maltaannon

In Plain English Are Educational Web Videos For Everyone

Posted on February 25, 2009 by Nikc Miller

If you’ve wanted to learn about anything new on the web lately, chances are you may have stumbled upon one of many videos like this:

The In Plain English Video series (produced by husband/wife team Common Craft) has received a lot of traction on the web lately, and its clear to see why. These short videos tell you everything you wanted to know to get started using a new (usually web-based) tool. They tell the story in a clear and creative manner. And they are pretty entertaining to watch.

But there also seems to be something else going on here. If you watch the video above, you’ll notice that it is not perfectly produced. There are rough patches. There is one point where the narration is noticeably spliced in.

Does this detract from the overall message, and EDU-tainment value of the video? I would say that the answer for most people is “No!” and I would have to agree.

This series of videos, rough patches and all is a perfect example of web video made accessible to almost anyone.

Businesses can learn a lot from videos like those in the “In Plain English” series. The lesson being where length and lecture fails to amount to higher understanding in the web video world, brevity and visual creativity always gain a loyal following.