Marketers Studio - David Berkowitz's Marketing Blog

Adobe's AMP Reviewed: Not Just Another Media Player

The Adobe Media Player debuted this week, and after learning a little more at the launch party and trying it out myself, I'll share a few thoughts on it. You can also find a screencast I created with the visuals (no voiceover); next time I'll resize it and embed it, but it's my first screencast, so I appreciate your patience.

* Update: I removed the comparison to Veoh and included a statement from them.

First, a few thoughts on the player:

* It's the second announcement lately with the AMP acronym. Yahoo also previewed its own AMP, the Advertising Management Platform. The two are not related, though if Adobe became a Yahoo partner, maybe AMP could become part of AMP. Or maybe Adobe will acquire Yahoo, or Yahoo will outsource its search ad delivery to Adobe. Anything can happen these days.

* Oh, the player... it's pretty good. Maybe it's revolutionary. The biggest problem is its a downloadable media player, and people aren't in a rush to download more stuff to their desktops. Then again, it may well provide people with an easier way to access their favorite content, so there is some sort of value proposition for the consumer.

* The player allows you to either stream or download your shows, and you can subscribe to them like a podcast.

* The content includes lots of premium goodies from MTV, HGTV, Food Network, and elsewhere, and then lots of random stuff from online video sources covering everything from men's style to international cartoons. The important thing: it does have The Hills.

* Advertising can take any form - overlays, pre-rolls, potentially pop-ups... you name it. They can serve just about anything. It's up to the content provider. If MTV likes 10 overlays per 20 minutes and HGTV likes 2 30-second spots (all hypothetical), that's what you'll get.

* The launch party was fantastic, held at Chop Suey on the second floor of the Renaissance Hotel overlooking Times Square from the north side.  They welcomed guests' companies on a massive Times Square billboard and snapped people's photos in front of it. Then they did live demos by controlling that billboard. I'll post the shots when I have them.

Here's how AMP (Adobe's) compares to other media players out there:

Hulu: Hulu's web-only. You can select favorite shows but you don't subscribe to the content. Also, Hulu's content deals aren't as far-ranging as AMP's right now, though they have more full seasons, plus movies.

iTunes: iTunes is download-only. While you can subscribe to video podcasts automatically, you have to pay for most of the premium content that you'll find on AMP. One iTunes advantage: you can port your videos on your iPod. iTunes also works with Apple TV.

RealPlayer: I know it's still around, but does anyone use this? I always resented that it tried making you add a million other things you didn't want and took forever to go through its installation.

Joost: The quality's great on Joost but the controls aren't, and then as for content, while they have a few name-brand shows, most of it's stuff like Extreme Jackalope Racing and Omaha Beach Party.

A note on Veoh, which was previously mentioned as a comparison: Veoh offers both a web-based service and a downloadable app (VeohTV), and we have official partnerships with numerous major content providers, including CBS, Viacom FEARNet, 60 Frames, NextNew Networks, Vuguru, National Lampoon, Ford Models,

US

magazine, Car & Driver, and many more.

Color Coding: Crayon Video from Sesame Street on YouTube

Noah Brier posted a link (not a full post) to a memorable Sesame Street video now on YouTube that shows how crayons are made. There's something about it that made it one of the most memorable clips I saw on TV as a kid.

I'll also share two thoughts that I noted on Noah's blog:

1. There were a few steps there done manually that have to be automated by now. Would we even see people in today's version?
2. I'm SO relieved they never did a similar segment on bacon.

Video Chat with Your Favorite Bloggers

Video site ooVoo tapped bloggers and media pundits like Bob Garfield (AdAge), Steve Hall (adrants), Jack Myers (Jack Myers Report), Allan Cox (Your Inner CEO), Geoff Livingston (Now is Gone) and others for group video chats this week and next.

Sign up to take part in this social media experiment.

Here's the full gist via Scott Monty:

As part of our engagement with them, we're introducing people to ooVoo through an event called "My ooVoo Day With..." in which people can sign up to video chat with their favorite bloggers and have a true conversation with them, rather than back & forth comments & emails. It runs from Feb. 10 - 21, 2008 and features a number of bloggers whom you may know. In return for their time, we're making a gift to the Frozen Pea Fund (to support the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer campaign).

Note you can still participate without a webcam for an audio-only experience.

Where Could You Rate Super Bowl Ads?

First of all, yes, it feels good to be a Giants fan today. The best part was all the screaming out on E 86th Street, people dancing spontaneously in the streets and neighbors who I never knew existed coming to their windows to either join in or watch.

More importantly for these purposes, where could you watch and rate the ads. Last year, you could on YouTube, but this year, they had nothing set up to do that (of course commercials will make their way there, but there was no official organization from the site). This year, with the game broadcast on Fox, MySpace hosts the ads, but you can't rate them. Hey Nielsen set up a forum for it, but even though I was a member, I didn't want to feel like I had to actively engage as part of that community; I just wanted to passively contribute a few ratings (and I don't know if I know anyone else on that site anyway). Jeremiah Owyang set something up on Twitter, but that was more of a fly by night community experience, not a place to watch the videos and see the most popular spots. I also checked digg, but they don't have anything special there.

So... where could you go to rate them?

One other thought: were there any great ads this year? I liked the Tide stain ad, but it's Tide, and a talking stain. Charles Barkley was good in T-Mobile's and Justin Timberlake was okay in Pepsi's, but both ads felt like they've been done before, and both went on too long. Some ads were offensive, like Bud Light and Sales Genie both making fun of Indians and others, while Life Water or whatever it is used reptiles in what felt like a ripoff of Filipino prison videos. The ones that struck the biggest chord for me were Tide and Victoria's Secret, which both demonstrated the value of why you should use their products in memorable ways (and, for that matter, you could use their products together), and then Budweiser's latest Clydesdale spot, which was the best ad hands down but was still a sequel.

So no, there were no great ads, and there was nowhere to rate them. If the GIants comeback wasn't that incredible, the biggest upset this year would have been with the advertising.

Dark Spot for Brightspot (Sheep Shed Their Wool)

BrightSpot.TV, a site covered here before, has shut down. I wrote back in August, "...You'd think the one thing we need a break from is advertising. Yet sheep that we are, we can't get enough of it." I guess we can get enough of it after all.

Yesterday, BrightSpot sent members this message: "BrightSpot Media would like to thank       all of our valued members for participating on BrightSpot.TV and taking       advantage of the partnerships that we had established. We regret to       inform you that as of Monday November 19th, 2007 the BrightSpot.TV site       will no longer be available."

We'll see if some other ad-focused sites can avoid BrightSpot's fate, including Didja, VeryFunnyAds, and Firebrand. The major difference is that BrightSpot was trying to reward people to watch ads that, for the most part, weren't very good, and the functionality itself was pretty poor, as the ads weren't designed to go viral. These other sites provide the reward of entertaining advertising rather than anything monetary, and they focus on providing a good experience to watch, interact with, and share the ads, with each site offering its own twist. That sounds both less complicated and more promising as a model - as long as the ads are really that good.

Watch Celebrity Videos at Clinique, Support Big Brothers Big Sisters

Maybe it's because everyone's getting into holiday giving mode, but I'm getting more emails about philanthropic causes to support, and as long as they resonate with me at least in some way, I'm more than happy to share them here.

Below is an email I received from Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City, a cause I was marginally involved with (no need to overstate things here), and one I'm happy to support. This also happens to be a great use of online video, one I'd expect to see more of. If you have a minute, click to view one of these short films, even if you just have it running in the background (I'm not sure if you need to watch the full movie for the donation to count, but I'm playing it safe).

Clinique Happy and Glamour Magazine are making watching films and downloading music charitable!
 
You can help support Big Brothers Big Sisters by watching 3 new celebrity-filled short films directed by Rita Wilson, Kirsten Dunst and Kate Hudson from the Glamour Reel Moments Series, sponsored by Clinique. All the films are about 10-20 minutes in length and feature happiness as part of their storyline.
 
Each time the films are viewed online free of charge at www.clinique.com/reelmoments Glamour Magazine will make a $1 donation to Big Brothers Big Sisters – up to $10,000! And, each time Rita Wilson's new song, Lessons Learned - an original ballad she sings from her film - is downloaded free of charge on the clinique website, they will donate another $1 to Big Brothers Big Sisters -- up to $10,000!
 
This exciting new online cause marketing campaign will only be live for about a month. Please check out all the movies and the song at www.clinique.com/reelmoments and forward this e-mail to your family and friends so they can enjoy while helping Clinique and Glamour Magazine support Big Brothers Big Sisters too.

 

Video Search Worlds Collide

I'm delayed in posting columns; here's the not-so-latest from MediaPost, which first ran last week.

VIDEO SEARCH OPTIMIZATION AND advertising worlds have collided, and the big bangs bursting forth will shape the video marketing landscape for years to come.

The audience at last week's OMMA panel "Video Search Optimization: Prime Time for Prime Positioning" got a taste of what's happening thanks to the four engaging speakers from Blinkx, Viewdle, ScanScout, and VeoTag. It was the perfect embodiment of the "Worlds Collide" theme of the entire OMMA event.

Here's a glimpse into the worlds of the four presenters from the panel:

Firebrand Preview Launches during Advertising Week - Love Coverage

Blogging from the launch of Firebrand, a new media company focused on entertaining ads in multiplatform environment - Web, TV (on Ion), and mobile. Official launch: October 22

Targets Millennials, 30% of US population.

Firebrand: QVC for the MySpace generation, or doing for ads what MTV did for music/music videos.

Bottom line: advertising supported by ads, especially for ecommerce so you can buy right from the ad.

NIce perk for me: Bloggers got new iPod Nanos. I thought they were reaching to give me a press kit. This is much better. Two people next to me were debating whether they'd have media kits on the iPods, and we were skeptical. Sure enough, a couple videos were loaded on, and there's some digital messaging in the menus that say it's from Firebrand. Really well done there from a marketing perspective, which I'm writing as objectively as possible now that you know about the schwag.

Goal for Firebrand: 1 million unique visitors by year's end. Aim to get 4-5 clicks per user per month to monetize site (rough estimate, they need to confirm).

 

Not said at this event:
Very competitive marketplace - notably TBS's VeryFunnyAds, NBC's didja. Advantage for competition: major media companies backing them. Advantage for Firebrand: dedicated focus on making this work in new way cross-platform, heavy integration.

Search Gold in Dem Dar iHollywood Hills

Today's column will give you a sense of deja vu if you read through the notes I took while at iHollywood July 19-20, but I did a lot of organizing, editing, and analysis to provide context for all these points, so it still may be worth skimming the list. And if it's new to you, be happy you didn't read it in its raw form before (if you do want the originals, check this search via the Rollyo custom search box).

As per the usual notice, it continues in the extended entry, and it was originally published in MediaPost. As per an unusual notice, this is appearing on the blog the same day it came out in MediaPost, so I'm on time for once.

Search Gold in Dem Dar iHollywood Hills

WHEN AN IHOLLYWOOD FORUM EVENT can spend a day and a half covering search engine marketing, a single column can't cover all the highlights. Last week, I discussed how important it is for consumers to discover video rather than just search for it. This week, I'll go much broader, offering fourteen search-themed insights from a number of speakers and panels.

To make the attributions easier, company names are listed with each takeaway, and the speakers are credited by name at the end.

1) Search planning is starting earlier. Google is talking to movie studios now about marketing films coming out next May.

2) Branding lives. Showtime said branding, awareness, and driving tune-in are critical for them. They need to rank high in natural results, and high rankings in paid results offer other positive effects for the brand.

3) Paid search builds brands before SEO kicks in. Showtime said that many of its shows are generic terms ("Weeds," "Meadowlands," "Dexter"), so as it works on optimization, it buys search ads when news of the show breaks.

Social Media Explained: The Common Craft Show

I know some of these videos have made their way around, but for those who haven't caught Lee LeFever's Common Craft Show, be sure to take a look (one more reminder to post it came from Jeremiah Owyang's writeup). There's even a Facebook group for you die-hard fans.