Power of the People

by Natalie Bell

It's Friday, Friday, Friday. Just those four words make almost anyone think of Rebecca Black's music video on YouTube. A year ago most the nation would say "Rebecca Black, who?" Now she is well-known across the world. Her Friday video went viral immediately and earned YouTube's top watched video of 2011; to date there are over 23 million views. She has been invited on talk shows, her song has been performed by Justin Beiber as well as the Jonas Brothers in concert, and she even performed live at one of Katy Perry's concerts.

So what catapulted Rebecca to stardom? Well friends, it is all of us. When we see something we like we share it with each other, and social media has made this easier than ever. Send a tweet and it reaches countless numbers of people, all of whom send it to another countless number of people. This pattern continues over and over and over. . . until a normal Joe Schmo is all of a sudden known around the world. Whether or not we share videos because the performer is incredibly talented, extremely funny, or painfully entertaining, videos get passed and a star is born. Four times as many people have "disliked" Friday compared to "liked" the video, yet Rebecca Black is known by thousands of people because of the song.

In decades before it was up to the media to decide who's who and who's not. In order to be famous you had to have that "special something" that others did not. Now not having that "special something" is what can make you a celebrity. Quirkiness and flaws sell. Instead of being simply the audience, social media has made us common folk both the audience and the medium. We now are able to choose who we hear about and how often. In the words of Miss Black, "we we we so excited" to see who will be the next viral star.

Old Spice and the Value of Video

Old Spice achieved viral status last week when their 'Old Spice Guy' videos featuring actor Isaiah Mustafa became a YouTube sensation. The videos were short, funny responses to Twitter followers, and were produced non-stop over a couple of days.

I can't say for sure, but I'm assuming the goal of this online video campaign was simply to increase brand awareness and generate a little buzz. That's because many companies are still feeling out those non-traditional styles of promotions from a financial return standpoint.

But Old Spice is one company that does know the financial value of a successful online video campaign, with the reports that sales of Old Spice Body Wash increased by 107% over the last month. And when your sales more than double, it's safe to say that there is value in video campaigns if it's done right.

In Video Veritas

There are a lot of misconceptions about how to incorporate video into a business plan. Several companies will say that simply having video will generate traffic and revenue. Others will tell you that there are simple steps you can follow to make your videos go "viral" overnight.

However, there is no formula for making a video go "viral" because that type of viral or cult status depends entirely on how the audience receives it. That would be like guaranteeing a product will skyrocket in popularity in a week. If you want a successful product, you start by creating a quality product. Video production works the same way, which means that you need to make a quality video if you expect it to be successful.

And the truth is video can help your company, generate revenue and make a difference if it is done right.

Our very own video virtuoso, Dave Sniadak, recently had an article published in Videomaker Magazine (August 2010 issue). Here are a couple key points from Dave's article that you should consider with your next video project:

• Mix It Up - Be sure to incorporate some flavor into your shooting. Don't just adhere to the old "wide-medium-tight" theory and certainly don't just pan and zoom.

• Plug In - Always wear headphones to monitor audio levels. Having that perfectly-focused shot is pointless if the audio quality is lacking.
  

• Think Like an Editor - When shooting your video, determine if you're really going to use the shot.
  

There are many other great topics Dave covers in his article, and I strongly suggest checking it out. With so many subtle intricacies that go into video production, this post is just scratching the surface.

The most important point to take away is that the notion of simply having video and expecting it to be enough is an outdated way of thinking. Video production needs to be serious, because it can have a real impact and generate results.

Online Video More Than Just a Blip on the Radar

For years, the vast majority of online videos were shot by amateurs...and looked like it. Most of these movies were either 2-minute clips of cats and dogs, or teenagers doing stupid things trying to be funny (admittedly I had been guilty of that second one in my younger days).

However, the trend that's been emerging lately has been for professionally-produced, original online content. Just think about how much more common phrases like webisodes and web series have become. There's even a Webby Awards recognizing original online content.

But as with any emerging media, the focus needs to be on content. You need innovative creators to make it. Web video platform Blip.tv has recognized this, and are planning to increase payouts to content creators by 77% between Q1 and Q2 of this year, after already having increased the payouts by 119% from last year.

I like where this trend is going, and hopefully Blip.tv's move will provide more incentive for both content creators and video hosting companies to get quality videos on the Internet.

Live From New York, It's Saturday White!

If the Internet has taught us anything, it's that icon status is a few million mouse clicks away. We've seen a few of these Internet celebrities over the years, but Star Wars Kid didn't want the fame, Tay Zonday failed to produce another hit song, and Numa Numa Guy's dance moves became old news.

But this month our biggest Internet icon is Betty White, who was already an established actress in her own right, but has seen a huge resurgence in her popularity thanks to Facebook.

White recently had a very successful appearance on Saturday Night Live thanks to a Facebook campaign called "Betty White to Host SNL (please?)!" that garnered over 500,000 fans.

The SNL gig is apparently not enough for the Betty White fans out there, who have now launched new Facebook campaigns to get the former Golden Girl to host the Emmy's, the Oscars, even the Academy Awards.

The success of these new grassroot Facebook campaigns has yet to be seen, but are proving the power that these social media efforts can have, and the real results they can generate.

Shopping Sprees Go Viral

Every time I sit down in the food court at the mall, I see at least two or three girls showing their friends everything that they bought at the stores that day.

However, there's a new trend emerging online that takes this shopping day show-off to a new level: the haul video.

The idea is that people (a majority of which are younger females) record videos of themselves walking the audience through all of the purchases they made that day, along with commentary about fashion trends and the difficult choices they came across when out at the mall.

And with over 150,000 haul videos on YouTube getting tens (if not hundreds) of millions of views, this haul video craze shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Add in the fact that YouTube allows users to earn money through partnerships, with some of these haul "vloggers" (video bloggers) earning thousands of dollars a year, and it's clear that this has turned to a legitimate business for some women.

These partnerships show that retail marketers are seeing the huge opportunity with these videos, which are essentially positive product reviews (why would someone say something bad about something they just bought?) that are accessible to a large audience in their target demographic.

But despite the huge earning potential with these haul videos, I probably won't be one of the thousands who have uploaded videos of their mall purchases. Besides, I doubt anyone would want to hear about my food court choice or the awesome pretzel I bought that day.

Best Buzz of the (Light)Year

Pixar has been at the forefront of animation technology for years, dominating the box office and raking in millions of dollars in revenue.

And anytime they crank out another movie, there's no shortage of expertly-produced commercials, merchandising opportunities and big name partnerships. The bottom line is Pixar doesn't need to be clever about their advertising...if they want you to know about their movie, they have the money to make it happen.

Maybe that's why I was pleasantly surprised by Pixar's viral effort to build some buzz for their upcoming Toy Story 3 movie.

The technologically-advanced studio went old school by creating a vintage, 1980's-style commercial for one of the new characters that will debut in the movie, complete with cheesy lines and (intentionally) poor video quality.

The viral video makes no reference to Pixar or Toy Story 3, simply focusing on the Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear toy, resulting in a string of comments on YouTube on whether the commercial was legitimate or not.

Therein lies the true genius of this viral video campaign, because it created a dialogue on the Internet and around the blogosphere.

Of course, we shouldn't expect fake, 80's-inspired viral videos to become a staple of movie advertising in the future, but Pixar's Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear commercial was definitely one of the more clever buzz-generating efforts I've seen in a while.

Can Numa Numa Guy and Geico Gecko Be Friends?

With more and more companies and brands getting involved in the social media space these days, marketers are trying hard to come up with new ways to engage the audience. Whether it's viral videos on YouTube, internet celebrity endorsements, or popular blogger outreach, brands have blurred the lines between company controlled messages and user-generated content.

Here's the latest video to makes its rounds on the web:


The Numa Numa guy has done stuff like this before (Pork and Beans with Weezer) and I believe that we will continue to see big companies working hard to tap into the social web for ways to get their brand in front of people.

Here's the question - Do company marketing and user-generated content really mix well? I can think of three camps of thought:

1. These videos are just plain fun and require no deep thought aside from their pure entertainment value. Numa Numa guy is funny and we love the dancing Gecko - bring on more of it.

2. These kinds of videos just feel like an awkward attempt to mix corporate advertising with viral user-generated content. They try too hard to be clever and don't really mix very well. Some in this group would even argue that this is the equivalent of selling out - these videos were never meant for this purpose. Think classic rock songs on car commercials.

3. Mixing corporate images with user-generated content does not get any real message across. Was 'Where the Hell is Matt?' successful? Extremely. Did it have anything to do with chewing gum? Nope. It's impossible to correlate the good feelings and fun these videos create with actual sales or growth, even if the video is extremely popular and company health and wealth improves in a year, therefore they are a waste of time, money, and effort for companies to make.

So where do you fall? Is there a category missing? Can corporate messages and marketing be mixed successfully with user-generated content?

The Reason Weezer Gets It

Here is an excerpt from a recent Pitchfork Interview with Rivers Cuomo (lead singer of Weezer):

We've been doing this since 94, and when we started out, we just did things the same ways that all the other bands did 'em. And that was okay for a while, but at this point, when it's time to promote another album, I have to ask myself, "Do I really want to do this the same old way again?" Or, "What would make this fun for me? What would make it exciting? What would be a new challenge?"

Why has Weezer been so successful with their latest endeavors and promotions? They try new things and get their fans more involved. Instead of sitting down and saying, "how can we make a viral video for our latest song and get lots of attention?," they asked, "how can we make this fun" and "what can we make that is original and good?" Notice that things that set out to be viral aren't often the ones that do - attention often comes with quality.

Death of the Viral Video

Videogum has a point...viral video is getting kind of old. It peaked in 2006, what the article calls the "Golden Age" of YouTube. Now we're ready for some quality videos, that people actually spent time and effort on. With real networks like NBC, ABC, and Comedy Central uploading shows, there's competition in the works. Of course there's always room for a new star or a hilarious mash-up, but it has to actually be good (so long, Chocolate Rain!). Follow the link for an ode to the classics.

Viral video on how to make videos viral

An entertaining viral video promoting Tropic Thunder, which is based on how to make a video viral: