Archives For Creative

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Using Parody the Legal Way in Your Videos

Ricardo —  May 6, 2013 — Leave a comment

In the quest to create a hit video for marketing purposes, many companies decide to parody a popular or well-known bit of media to catch the attention of viewers with short attention spans. However, using the name, images, or likenesses of a competitor or individual could get you into big trouble. It’s important to understand how to create an effective and legal parody video before you invest in recording and editing.

The Right Tone

A video showing your competitor’s logo with negative narration over it won’t qualify as a parody. Humour, sarcasm and commentary are all important aspects of parody. You don’t have to make jokes that everyone finds funny, but there does need to be some clear attempt at humour in the clip. Your right to use copyrighted material is only protected when you create commentary around it with mockery. If you don’t maintain that kind of tone, your material could be considered a misrepresentation of the truth.

Fair Use

That humorous focus is also crucial when it comes to fair use. Copyright law protects the creations of your competitors, but you still have a right to use them for parody videos. The power of the First Amendment overrides these protections when you are creating a joke around a specific cultural icon or company. However, it is still best to use variations on the logo and name of another establishment rather than copy them directly, to avoid disputes. Mocking Youtube by calling it BooTube will ensure your company won’t come under fire for using trademarked materials, without completely losing the interest of your audience.

Use a Disclaimer

If you want to avoid any confusion, add a quick disclaimer to the beginning of the video to make your intentions of parody very clear. You can also add a notification about your humour in the text description below the clip. It is best to consult with your company’s legal team or lawyer before you use any legal terms in your disclaimer. Your expert can quickly write a disclaimer tailored to your company’s video marketing efforts that will keep you out of hot water.

Parody requires a good sense of humour. If you are creating video for marketing purposes, you will need to have a strong sense of what you want to accomplish before using humour in your content. A parody can bring in a lot of new attention, but only if it is genuinely funny.

In Buyer, Creative, Online Video Advertising, Tips n Tricks, Video & Rich Media, Video Marketing , , , ,
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IBM’s Brilliant Video Marketing Move: Atom Level Filmmaking

Ricardo —  May 3, 2013 — Leave a comment

This week, IBM unleashed “A Boy And His Atom: The World’s Smallest Movie” to the world.

The ability to move single atoms — the smallest particles of any element in the universe — is crucial to IBM’s research in the field of atomic memory. But even nanophysicists need to have a little fun. In that spirit, IBM researchers used a scanning tunneling microscope to move thousands of carbon monoxide molecules (two atoms stacked on top of each other), all in pursuit of making a movie so small it can be seen only when you magnify it 100 million times. A movie made with atoms.

It is brilliant video marketing, by showing their work and what they do in a fresh way, and showing people something they have never seen before.

And that makes them share it. Makes bloggers post it. Makes everyone talk about it. Makes 2.2 million views in 4 days. And counting.

The previous record holder was already amazing, and also brilliant video marketing by Nokia. But IBM takes it to an extreme.

And not only that, of course they also released a “making of” of it (as they should!).

And not just one, but several making of-type of companion pieces to the main video, which they are calling “IBM Atomic Shorts”.

One of the is about the “The sound of moving atoms“:

Another one, “How to move an atom“:

All in all, a brilliant video campaign, well done IBM!

In Buyer, Creative , , ,
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Three Companies Utilising Video for Better Customer Service

admin —  May 3, 2013 — Leave a comment

Video may play a strong role in your marketing efforts, but do you utilise it for customer service solutions? There are dozens of companies spread across various industries finding that video is just as useful for solving problems with products or sharing updates with customers, but these three stand out from the crowd.

iRobot Corporation

This company helps customers to keep their Roomba floor vacuums running smoothly with a full library of support videos. Professional technicians demonstrate basic maintenance and simple repairs for common issues in a way that everyone can understand.

AT&T

Telecommunication issues are frustrating for consumers. AT&T designed a set of troubleshooting videos to help users fix their own problems or narrow down the cause before a technician comes. The one-on-one format makes each customer feel like they are receiving personal assistance, but these videos are pre-recorded.

Sprint PCS

When you’re having an issue with your smart phone, you can turn to the Sprint PCS knowledge base for help. Enter your phone’s model number or name and discover a resource that seamlessly combines videos, articles and images that are all related to your device and the issue you are facing.

In Buyer, Creative, Online Video Advertising, Tips n Tricks, Video & Rich Media, Video Marketing , , , , , ,
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New Wooshii Video: Service at The Rug Seller

Ricardo —  May 2, 2013 — Leave a comment

TheRugSeller.co.uk wanted a clear and simple, fast paced, fun animated video to explain the benefits of purchasing their products online and higlight choice and speed of delivery.

So they set up their project on Wooshii and immediately started getting pitches form our creative community.

At the end, they chose creative Lamont Wayne to make their video a reality and this is animated piece is the final result.

Check it out:

In Buyer, Creative, Online Video Advertising, Projects, Video & Rich Media, Video Marketing, Wooshii , , , ,
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Tips for Boosting Search Rankings of Your Youtube One Channel

admin —  April 30, 2013 — Leave a comment

Youtube recently created the One Channel programme to help content producers unify their efforts rather than splitting them. Many video makers were using a dozen or more different channels to keep content separated for their viewers. The One Channel provides these sub-categories for you, taking a lot of the work out of managing multiple streams. However, switching to the One Channel means a new approach to getting highly ranked in searches. Try to focus on quality and keywords equally to see more attention for each clip.

Expand Your Channel Title

Don’t be afraid to write a longer and more informative channel title when using the One system. Try dropping your most important keyword phrase and your organisation’s name together with a dash separating the two for a title that draws in the viewer. Provide context so visitors don’t have to guess your focus or affiliation with a company or business. Many channel owners completely forget to put their company name on the channel at all, which causes them to miss out on a lot of extra traffic that comes from social media.

Associate with Others

Search out other content producers that share your niche without being outright competition and then feature some of their videos on your channel. This builds a connection that Youtube finds, usually when creating dynamic search results. You can trade featured slots with fellow producers for mutual gain. This tactic doesn’t necessarily provide big boosts in search alone, but it will help you enjoy more recommended placement due to the associations you are building. Any tactic that gets your content in front of viewers is worth adding to your arsenal.

Complete It

When setting up your new One Channel, spend plenty of time filling out a well-rounded description. Treat it like a conversation with a potential customer and take a friendly tone. Weave together plenty of information about your company into the description to help visitors understand the benefits of your content. It’s much easier to convert the views you receive into actions, such as purchases, when visitors know exactly what you do. Keep away from keyword stuffing and ensure every sentence is correct and accurate. Avoid outrageous claims; these could be held against you, so stay honest for the best results. Adding unrelated but popular keyword phrases won’t help you rank higher in searches either.

In Buyer, Creative, Online Video Advertising, Tips n Tricks, Video & Rich Media, Video Marketing , ,
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Another Video Success Story: Orabrush

admin —  April 29, 2013 — Leave a comment

Building a new business is a major challenge whether you have angel investors and a large budget or not. Getting the attention and support of customers is a major stepping stone on the road to success. Many business owners want others to handle the attention grabbing work, but sometimes it works best if the owner or owners are the ones putting their face on the product. Orabrush is an inspiring success story that shows how a dedicated entrepreneur can push through adversity and utilise creativity to hook consumers on their own.

The Early Struggles

When Dr Bob Wagstaff created a new design for a tongue cleaner that was comfortable and effective, he knew that people would buy it. However, he didn’t know how to get consumers or retailers interested in the product. He started out following a wide variety of classic advertising and marketing ploys, including television infomercials. Despite spending $40,000 on the sales ads, he only garnered a meagre 100 sales. Other attempts at traditional marketing were just as wasteful. Even when he got his products into stores, people weren’t buying them.

The First Video

Dr Wagstaff realised he needed to take a radically different approach if he wanted to succeed after a decade of struggle. He started discussing alternative marketing ideas with a local college student named Jeffrey Harmon. Harmon talked him into trying an inexpensive and short Youtube video to capture more attention. Dr Wagstaff was happy to try because he had already spent far more on methods with no results. The video was short, snappy and very quirky. The combination of an animated actor and a compelling message about bad breath made it an overnight sensation. Despite being shot in a neighbourhood pool hall with only a backdrop sheet hiding the location, it went viral and garnered more than 18 million views.

Building the Brand

That first video was the cornerstone of the modern brand known as Orabrush. However, Harmon and Dr Wagstaff didn’t make the mistake of thinking they were done with video just because they reached 18 million views with their first one. The brand is continuing to grow and has captured the attention of big name retailers like Walmart and CVS. Selling a product is always tricky if consumers don’t completely understand why they need it, so many of Orabrush’s videos reiterate the causes of bad breath and finish with how the product can solve this embarrassing issue.

In Buyer, Creative, Online Video Advertising, Video & Rich Media, Video Marketing , ,
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Record-breaking 13.2 Billion Video Ads Watched In A Single Month

Ricardo —  April 26, 2013 — Leave a comment

The latest comScore video report is out and it was yet another record-breaking month.

Here are the main stats:

  • 182.5 million Americans watched online video
  • 84.5 percent of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
  • The duration of the average online content video was 5.6 minutes
  • They watched 39.3 billion pieces of online content video;
  • The number of video ad views reached an all-time high at 13.2 billion.
  • Video ads accounted for 25.1 percent of all videos viewed and 2.2 percent of all minutes spent viewing video online.
  • Video ads reached 52 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 82 times during the month. Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 66.
  • The average online video ad was 0.4 minutes.
  • When it comes to video properties, Google Sites comes again as first in the list, followed by Facebook.

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  • Google Sites had the highest average engagement among the top ten properties.
  • Google Sites also ranks first in video ads seen, with 2.3 billion, BrightRoll coming right after it with 2.2 billion ads

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So as you can see and if you have been following comScore results month after month, even when any given stats seems incredibly high, the next month it gets surpassed.

This, of course, proves analysts everywhere right: the online video market is booming and ever growing, and still much to be explored in the online video world.

In Buyer, Creative
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Generate Hundreds of Video Ideas in a Snap with Mapping

admin —  April 24, 2013 — Leave a comment

Coming up with a brand new concept for a new video release can be challenging whether you are making your first clip or your thousandth. If you want to create a clip that isn’t simply a copy of your competitor’s content, try some new brainstorming techniques to get the ideas flowing in new and surprising ways. Experimenting with mind mapping could make your work feel more like play and provide you with dozens or even hundreds of concepts to base videos around. Mind mapping involves drawing a map consisting of many circles connected by lines. Each bubble contains a concept or idea and the lines show how they are connected. Write down a few concepts related to your business and watch as they branch into complex hierarchies of new video ideas.

Getting Started

Whilst there are many options for building these maps online or on your computer, the simplest method requires only a sheet of paper and a pen. Start by putting your product or company name in the centre of the page and then circle it. Think of four benefits, functions, or other concepts related to the centre point. Write each one a small distance from the centre, then circle it and link these bubbles with a line back to the centre. Pick one concept and start expanding upon it in the same way. For example, you could start with Widget A in the centre. Four features could include low cost, low maintenance, high wear resistance and cute packaging. Expanding on just the low maintenance concept could provide you with video ideas like cleaning tutorials and minor repair tips.

Organising Your Ideas

Once you have your video concepts completed, you will notice that the mapping technique keeps the ideas relatively organised by related category. However, you may want to further reorder the concepts before saving them for use. It may be best to collect the ideas by type of video, especially if you already know what format you want to use for executing them. Try grouping tutorials, product summaries and social engagement clips together. This will help you vary your releases so you aren’t dumping a dozen closely related videos on your viewers all at once. Drafting a year’s worth of video development and release is easy when you have dozens of new ideas all organised by type and concept.

In Buyer, Creative, Online Video Advertising, Tips n Tricks, Video & Rich Media, Video Marketing , , ,
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Four Ways to Quickly Generate a Great Library of Content

admin —  April 23, 2013 — Leave a comment

When a company first discovers the wide world of video marketing, all of the options and challenges can become quite overwhelming. Many feel that they are already far behind the trends and can’t catch up. However, you could easily have a full library of clips drawing attention and sparking conversations with consumers in less than six months if you are serious about using this type of marketing. Try some of these four fun ways to come up with a well-rounded collection of informative and entertaining videos.

Spread it Out

If you come up with a great idea or format, you don’t have to use it for just one clip. A new product release could result in a Questions & Answers clip, a short teaser before the release and real consumer testimonials to create more interest. Expand concepts and ideas across multiple releases to fill out your channel or account without tapping all of your creative reserves.

Plan Your Releases

Major movie producers stick to a tight schedule when releasing their newest creations to the public. Take a page from their book and draw up plans for clips over the next six months or so. Holding yourself to a specific release schedule will ensure you reach your content goals each year and produce constant interest in your company throughout the year. Don’t forget to work in extra time for professional assistance in the creation of your video content.

Find What Your Audiences Want

The usefulness of the comments section can’t be overemphasised when you are building your video brand from the bottom up. Without feedback, it is much harder to guess what viewers want to see in the future. Requests from concerned or intrigued consumers could give you hundreds of helpful ideas to keep you going on with production for years. Don’t be afraid of the occasional negative message. You can either remove them or respond to demonstrate your professionalism and willingness to help dissatisfied customers.

Build a Creative Team

Even if you are the sole proprietor of a very small business, build yourself a team of helpful and creative people to bounce ideas off during brainstorming sessions. Big businesses should invest in the help of experienced consultants or an in-house team to keep the ideas coming. Leaving just one person in charge of all the ideas for a video library will only lead to repetition in the end.

In Buyer, Creative, Online Video Advertising, Tips n Tricks, Video & Rich Media, Video Marketing , , ,
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Adobe Proves Video is Changing Internet Use

Lucie —  April 22, 2013 — Leave a comment

Adobe has just completed their U.S. Digital Video Benchmark Review for 2012 and their results appear to be aligned with the other reports released earlier in 2013 showing tremendous growth in video. The development of video is even changing how people use the Internet.

Social Engagement

When it comes to getting consumers to engage your branding socially, nothing can beat video. Adobe’s research shows that video content had twice the engagement power of text or images during 2012. Many companies saw this increase in engagement first hand.

Mobile Continues to Grow

The data gathered from 20 million video starts shows that mobile devices remain a very popular way to watch video content. The total amount of video views coming from smart phones or tablets grew by 300% during the year. Adobe’s research also highlighted some interesting trends for mobile viewing. Mobile users were most likely to enjoy long format content and the day of the week determined how much they watched. The weekends saw the longest views for video lovers. Mobile users were most likely to enjoy short clips, rather than full television shows or movies, on days of the week like Monday and Thursday.

In Buyer, Creative, Online Video Advertising, Video & Rich Media, Video Marketing , ,
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