The creative possibilities within a video are bountiful. From the intrusive ‘CLICK ME I’M SOMETHING DIFFERENT’ to the more subtle ‘you seem to be enjoying watching so why don’t you find out more about me’. The tools are widely available to make a video interactive so it seems like now would be a pretty good time for advertisers and agencies to start using them. One important point that I think Matt misses is that a user who is watching a video ad online will almost always have a mouse in their hand and the advertiser needs to think about whether they want the user to use it or not. Interactivity doesn’t make sense in every situation but where there is an opportunity to pass an engaged user on to the point of purchase then why not let them? If someone is giving you their time to watch an ad on YouTube then they are already a pretty engaged user, why make them go elsewhere to look for the product or service that you want them to find.

This is a picture diary of me growing a moustache for Movember. If I hadn’t included the link to donate within the video then people would have to look elsewhere, email me, go to my Facebook page or hunt me out any other way to find the link. By making the clicking and the donating as easy as possible I think that my video has more value. My donations have gone up as a result of it certainly and that was the KPI that I set out ahead of time so for me this has been a success. It may be time for advertisers to move on from thinking that 10,000 views on YouTube is enough of a success, after all – that’s just TV on a computer.

Rather like the second album from many bands or the airport runway ad for Cadburys, in comparison to the Transforming C4 ad – somehow this one just doesn’t quite get there.

Don’t get me wrong – I like this ad, the soundtrack is good, the imagery is lovely, but if I wanted to know more about the car then I will have to go elsewhere and hunt for it. From watching it I can tell that it comes in a range of colours, has four wheels and probably comes with climate control. I don’t know how big it is, when it’s available, how much it will cost but I’m interested enough to go elsewhere to find out and maybe that is the point.

The car doesn’t look as cool as this original DS but it does have some of the same striking lines.

technologically cool

Recent Citroen campaigns involving transforming C4s that went on to dance or skate were pacy, well timed and had a lot of interest in the media, they generated pages of free PR and countless free views. They also delivered the message that the car was technologically advanced.

This ad for the new DS3 will generate a bit of interest but rather like The Second Coming album from The Stone Roses, some people will feel a little dissatisfied with it.

from Miss Rogues Flickr Stream

The biggest anti-trust case that was brought against Microsoft was due to the fact that their browser – Internet Explorer – was bundled into the operating system (wikipedia article). This killed off competition as Netscape and Opera fumbled for the keys to the castle while IE was safely ensconced in the great hall eating, drinking and having a ball. IE now has competition and its market share has been steadily dropping as Firefox, Safari and Chrome nibble away at its lead through performance and usability improvements. Microsoft has a dominant position in terms of operating systems for PCs and abused that to stifle innovation at rival companies.

I read this article and it got me thinking. If YouTube is already embedded into a phone or into the new Chrome OS when it debuts, then does that put a rival such as Vimeo into difficulty. There is no doubting that YouTube has a dominant market position with a 40% market share (via Mashable and ComScore). This doesn’t seem dominant until you factor in the fact that the next largest video site has a 2% market share. What YouTube does and says changes the market, for the most part this is beneficial to the user – I like HD, I think annotations are interesting and I like the idea of skippable pre-rolls. In the long term however they are building an unassailable lead that really doesn’t need to be assisted through the bundling of the YouTube player into devices and future operating systems.

I like Vimeo, I think that their product is excellent, it is uncluttered and the place where most people serious about video production place their showcases. Their playback is excellent and the HD seems to be as good as you can make it on a computer screen. Is there a case for bundling Vimeo into an OS? Probably yes. The iPhone population and the Vimeo clientele would seem to form a pretty coupley venn diagram and soon you should see an app for Vimeo. Every android phone comes with YouTube as an embedded app, every Apple TV comes with the ability to watch YouTube videos and the iPhone comes with a YouTube app installed. Does any other video site have the clout of YouTube? No. Can any other video site sign the partnership deals that YouTube can? No. Does that put YouTube in a dominant position? Absolutely, it does.

As a wise man who used to run Sun Microsystems once said ‘Innovation happens elsewhere’, it might be Vimeo, it might be Facebook, Metacafe, Dailymotion or any of the other video sites that out-innovates YouTube in the medium to long term but in the current market YouTube will find it quite easy to maintain its market share.

But as Valuev found out, if you are the biggest guy in the ring, with the heaviest weight and the longest reach then in the long run you can still get beaten by the little guy, even when he’s broken his hand on your head in the second round.

Girl Number 9: Episode 1 from Vincent Boylan 500 on Vimeo.

It is a little different to those webisodes that have gone before in that there are TV actors who have appeared in other British dramas (although some would call them sit-coms) such as Eastenders and Dr Who, after all – if you haven’t been in one of them you don’t deserve your Equity card! The subject matter is quite mature and justifies it’s opening warning by delivering a good few ‘F’ words in the opening minute. After all – if you only have five minutes to play with there is no room for pussy footing around, you have to get involved straight away.

The website for the show is http://canyousaveher.com – this features in the show itself which is a nice touch. The drama continues for the rest of the week. Keep watching!

Universal are distributing the video through viral specialists Unruly media amongst others and using the Silverlight player. Who knows if Silverlight has a future since even MSN’s video site uses a flash player but the quality is excellent in this clip.

Does it sell the music? I don’t think so, does it sell Kanye West? Yes – I think that it does. The video is long at just over 10 minutes during which time Mr West is seen lurching from pillar to post in search of his inner self. A journey involving loving cushions and a plentiful supply of rose petals.

Definitely worth a watch.

A fairly funny TV ad for two such grown up companies. First there was the ‘There’s a Map for that’ (get it) now there is the iDon’t commercial. It seems like things are going to get a little bitchy in the US smartphone market.

skateboards are cool. i however cannot skate.

Posted via web from vaughan’s posterous

I don’t know if I am a fan of the musical genre, after all i am a chap who will recoil at the very mention of the name Lloyd-Webber however I have recently found myself humming some of the hits from Jesus Christ Superstar and Rent. Should I confine myself to the loony bin now?
For a stage show to advertise itself using online video makes an awful lot of sense, after all it is a visual and aural medium, how much of either can you get from a poster or the back of the Time Out magazine. Using video lets the potential viewer get a hit of the show and see the actors in it before they have to stump up the ticket price. Obviously it helps if there is a catchy tune, good production and attractive people in the video.

Legally Blond may not be my cup of tea but I have been humming the song from this clip for an hour or two now so something seems t be working!