This time, the video comes from the platform of the popular online time-waster Chatroulette. Even I can often be found on the site (fully clothed!) and have given thought of creative ways to use the popular medium for a marketing campaign. However the hurdle of innapropriate content that has become synonomous with the site was a mental roadblock for me.

Enter the viral video campaign for the film “The Last Exorcism” where Lionsgate edited the most successful pranks pulled on the online video chat service and produced a highly successful and funny youtube viral campaign. With over 3 million hits in 2 weeks on the official youtube release channel alone, this campaign has no doubt created some additional buzz about the film.

The campaign is no doubt better watched than explained so enjoy:

Somehow, someway, they all got drunk, had some freaky orgy and gave birth to a new “Choose Your Own Adventure” style viral campaign from Hell Pizza, a franchise eatery in New Zealand. An easy win for our Video Marketer of The Month for August 2010:

Like any good viral campaign this one draws you in and allows you to interact with the brand. At first I was hesitant to take on the seemingly long task (more than 60 seconds in the youtube time/space continuum) of going through the entire adventure, but the high production value, great fx and comedic moments (I dont know why but it kills me every time a New Zealander calls someone a dick) had me stuck to my desk chair until the end.

I had to jump in early on this one, the only accolades I could find at the moment were 100,000+ hits within 4 days and a Video Professionals award but Im sure many more are to follow suit. Add “Avoid Ego Media’s” Video Marketer Of The Month to the list if it makes you feel any better… and if you can find some time away from all the new customer traffic you must be mustering!

Links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p1yBlV7Ges

http://hellpizza.co.nz/

I have to say the holy grail in this area goes to this amazing, multimedia campaign for the Philadelphia Flyers. Canadian based sports marketing company Channel 1 Media has sure set the bar high in this area. Dont believe me? Just check this out: (by the way it’s ok to put in your real cellphone #, not only do you need it to complete the experience, but I’ve done it about 100 times now and I have not been spammed)

Working in the industry I can not only appreciate the overall presentation but am also amazed at all the internal elements that had to be aligned to pull something like this off. No small feat indeed. So kick back and participate in this campaign and start brainstorming on how you can take your viral marketing from just the internet onto other devices for a more memorable and more impactful experience.

Links:


The Flyers Viral Experience


Channel 1 Media

What better way to kick off the feature than with BIG BANG who’s creators Qbrick claim is “The most successful global viral interactive film ever!” I have to say I find it hard to disagree with them. Once you try out the experience they have created Im sure you’ll feel the same way.

The viral experience garnered over 14 million views in under 8 weeks.

You can view the full experience here: http://en.tackfilm.se/
And get more information about the piece by viewing the case study here.

Ego Media is the #1 mistake businesses make when entering the social media environment.

ego-media (n) - the pollution occurring on social media platforms when boring, self-serving content alienates the audience and puts it to sleep.

I’ve coined this term after the countless mistakes businesses tend to make when they first enter into the social media environment. With social media becoming such a hot marketing trend for companies of all sizes, many businesses are often too quick to start up a Twitter account, or set up a Facebook profile for their future social media marketing efforts without considering that all important next step.

Once they’ve established a social networking profile, the follow up task of populating these profiles with valuable social media of the utmost importance. Unfortunately, most businesses fall prey to the easy-to-make mistake of polluting their profiles with boring, self-serving press releases, re-posting pre-existing marketing copy, or most commonly, spamming their audience completely with outright advertising.

While much of this information does have its place in a business’ marketing plan, the social media environment is not the best platform for it. Remember, the definition of social media is: The use of technology combined with social interaction to create or co-create value. Does your social media provide value to your audience, or just to you or your businesses’ ego?

While typically, we are always asking ourselves “is this good for the company?” the next time you post a youtube video, microblog or profile update ask yourself a different question. “Are you are providing something of value to your audience?”

Remember, to avoid ego media, be funny or entertaining, be informative or helpful, and most of all, provide something valuable to your audience when you are creating your social media.

What are the “Anti-Hamptons?”: The AntiHamptons is located on the South Shore of Suffolk County, Long Island just 70 miles from NYC, and accessible via the LIRR Montauk line. It is best known for the incredible county beach, Smith Point, which is home to the Flight 800 Memorial and the ”Gateway to the Fire Island National Seashore”. read more…

Direct Link To Contest Article: http://www.antihamptons.com/bests2009.html

For more information on this seminar please visit: http://www.liasb.com/socialmedia

I hope to see you there!

During the interview we spoke at great length about the topic however LIBN must have had to really broaden the topic to reach a more general “non-techy” audience. It helped me realized that while this is an incredibly cheap, fast and powerful way of marketing via the internet it can also seem a bit overwhelming to the casual business owner so I plan on creating a video explaining this great means of marketing very soon! Stay tuned!

You read the article below which was taken from their website at: http://libn.com/blog/2008/11/06/companies-embrace-cheap-and-easy-youtube-for-videos/

Jack Chapman, a salary negotiation expert in Chicago, wanted to increase the amount of time people linger on his Web site. So he added video.

In the past, that might have been complicated and costly, requiring new coding, the use of a special server to accommodate video, and a studio. Not anymore.

Chapman used $70 floodlights and a video camera to record himself at home giving free salary negotiation tips and then uploaded the video to YouTube. Jesse Wroblewski, owner of Mastic Beach-based Generations Beyond, helped him link the video to his Web site and Chapman was ready for his close-up.

“It looks like you’re playing a video on my site,” Chapman said. “All you’re doing is clicking a button and watching a video on YouTube.”

As the Internet shifts from a static to a moving medium, firms are finding they can make the leap to moving pictures with little more than a camera, a computer and creativity. And sites like YouTube are making it easier than ever.

“I don’t know how I would’ve done it,” Chapman said. “You can embed video in a Web site. But I don’t know how to do it. This was easy enough.”

Wroblewski said small and large companies increasingly use YouTube and other video search engine technologies to present and post videos easily, quickly and cheaply to grow their business and recruit.

“They do it all,” he said of YouTube. “They host your video. If you get a million visitors, you’re not going to see an increase in your budget.”

Murray Kleiner, president of technical writing firm Murray Kleiner Associates in Plainview, said sites, such as YouTube, shield small businesses from additional costs.

“When you have videos on your server, it takes up bandwidth and you pay for that,” he said. “If you put it on YouTube, it’s not your problem anymore.”

Other video search engines let companies post videos including Metacafe.com, Dailymotion.com and Vimdeo. And Myspace and Facebook offer video. But Wroblewski said YouTube, owned by Google, is the giant garnering the most hits and postings.

“Now that YouTube is so popular, people are using it to search for what they need. You can film a video, upload it to YouTube. Within a half hour it’ll be indexed,” Wroblewski said. “We’re helping clients create videos to get them indexed on YouTube to drive traffic to their Web site.”

And Kleiner said YouTube’s biggest benefit may not be ease of use, but traffic. “Because more people visit YouTube, there’s a good chance they may get to see your video,” he said. “If your video’s only on your Web site, the biggest challenge is to get them to go to your Web site.”

Companies also can create what amounts to their own Web page on YouTube filled with videos offering tips, demonstrations or communications with viewers.

“Each company can brand their own page with their corporate look and feel to stand out from the crowd,” Wroblewski said. “It’s a big sea, but compared to all the other search engines on the Internet, it’s still a tiny pond. You’re talking about all the Web sites in existence versus the videos there.”

Wroblewski said companies can use video to position themselves as experts and connect with customers. “People see you on a video,” Wroblewski said. “You’re sharing your information with them. It’s instant rapport. It builds equity in who you are.”

Video also keeps people interested longer than text. Chapman’s average site visit since he posted his video rose from 30 seconds to longer than two minutes.

“By putting videos there, people stay there longer and look at the rest of the content,” Chapman said. “It seems that the pedagogy of having me talk about things worked better than making people just read.”

In addition to getting interest and business, companies can monetize traffic to their video. Metacafe.com pays for videos generating 10,000 or more hits. “If you provide useful enough information, you can get a check cut for uploading your video,” Wroblewski said.

Although posting video to YouTube is free, firms face risks. Viewers can post malicious comments unless firms turn off the comment function. Inappropriate videos can go up in the “related video” bar based on words you type to describe your video. “Companies may want to keep control of their own stuff,” Kleiner said.