Filed under: Uncategorized
I just found a new viral video that encapsulates what viral marketing should be. It is an eye catching video of a talented soccer player making shot after amazing shot into windows/moving cars/trash cans. I’m pretty sure it’s a Nike commercial, but I can’t be positive because there is no direct branding. The guy is wearing a bright pair of Nike’s and at one point, when he walks past the camera, a Nike swoosh lands right in the middle of the shot. The fact that I’m not 100% positive about this is a testament to a well planned marketing strategy (i think?).
This video is a lot like a million other amazing ball trick videos that attract a lot of attention on the internet. They always take shots that seem impossible making people question if the video is real. Viewers don’t usually question who creates the video. If Nike did create this video, the decision to use proven viral fodder was genius. Take an overused topic from 50 other viral videos and put your own spin on it. You ensure a much higher chance of propagating your message laden video by using a proven topic. The best viral campaigns might be the ones that are most original, but sometimes its the right decision to not take the risk.
This video, posted on the CTAM news network, discusses a new way for cable companies to make money from advertising.
He notes the brilliance of Google advertising, which generates ads relative to the users search terms, and claims that cable companies could potentially provide similar features for television and websites. He proposes a system where cable companies combine logs of every move you make on the internet, and every program you view on television, in order to create content specific ads. This would mean that if you frequented websites that discussed technology news, and frequently watch Comedy Central, you might start seeing iPhone ads during The Daily Show, or banners for the satirical news site The Onion when you visit Technocrati.
Cable companies and advertisers lick their chops when they listen to executives talk about this type of advertising but consumers undoubtably will have issues with a program such as this. Who wants large corporations to know what websites your visiting? Furthermore, how invading is it to think that there is a server somewhere listing every move you’ve made on the internet and every television show you’ve watched?
Luckily I don’t think this idea will be as easy to implement as is implied in this video. Besides the onslaught of protesters who will fight to keep their privacy, constructing a network that is able to track/store this enormous amount of data, make sense of it, and change programming for each individual IP address or cable network would be extremely difficult. The websites and networks control the ads, not cable companies, so how will these techniques be efficiently implemented to the point where their revenues beat Google’s?
Google is stream-lined using an algorithym that instantly matches search terms (adwords) or website content (adsense) with advertising terms. There is no data logging and advertising is only displayed on their own search page or sites that participate in adsense. This is much less complicated and far less intrusive.
This is a pretty controversial and interesting topic. What do you think?
Big Brother
There had been a lot of speculation and debate across the internet about how much money you can actually save using the MyGallons gas card. The hopeful saw the card as a potential money-saving savior, while the skeptics were weary of a deal that sounded too good to be true. Debate has come to a screeching halt however with release of an article done by the LA Times. The article discusses the F rating given to the company by the Better Business Bureau. The BBB gave them an F!? What! This was awful news because the F rating is very deceptive. MyGallon’s cheated no one, and had no shady business dealings. The problem was that their partner, Voyager, who was set to process the company’s transactions at the pumps dropped unexpectedly. This business connection was integral to MyGallon’s business plan because it was their way of facilitating all the sales their customers made. Without this there is no company. This is extremely unfortunate for D4 because we were set to do the advertising for a very promising start up. The MyGallon’s website designed by our agency was one of the highest searched terms for the first week of July. We definitely got people’s attention, so its a shame to see the company hit this bump in the road.
All of this was absolutely bad publicity for the company, but after further inspection, the BBB changed their rating of the company. There is hope for consumers to save money! My Gallon’s has refunded the 6000 initial card holders their $30 start up fee, and has promised to re-issue these 6000 early adopters with a free card when they get up and running. My Gallon’s must find a company to replace Voyager but when they do the service will again be available to help consumers save on their gas purchases. Until then, LOL..OMG..WTF.
D4 Creative
Filed under: Uncategorized
With the price of oil at an all time high, the increasing costs of a war with no end in sight, and impending financial doom, many American’s are asking the question ‘Why?’. While economists around the world work day and night in an attempt to make sense of all this, I think I have stumbled upon the true cause of our economic troubles. Youtube. Thanks to videos like this, workers in offices across the country are idle 50% more than ever before! (fact check?)
Despite all of this, D4 has decided to add fuel to the ever burning viral fire. This is a clip of D4’s president Kurt Shore caught….playing..the bongos? I’m not really sure what he’s doing, but its funny! Check it out.
Filed under: Cable
Just as traditional bands made up of human musicians have been replaced by programmable robot bands, analog bands that broadcast television signals will soon be replaced entirely by digital broadcasting. There are two reason for this. One is to free up frequencies on the broadcast spectrum for other uses such as wireless broadband internet. The other reason is that digital television looks better than analog.
What this transition means to consumers is that from now on, analog televisions are rendered useless without a digital converter box. Thankfully, these digital boxes can be obtained for free via government provided coupons located here.
This means that a lot of consumers are going to consider upgrading to cable. Cable companies can provide you with a digital cable box that will also allow you to view On Demand programming. If you are going to be upgrading anyway, why not get a little more for your trouble.
Since cable companies make up a portion of our clients, this event sparked us to create advertising messages to make television viewers aware of the coming change. They are a clever reminder that your ‘bunny ears’ or analog antennas, will soon disapeer. Better upgrade to comcast! 
Check out our campaign by clicking the bunny.
D4 Creative
Filed under: My Gallons
Last week I had the pleasure of sitting in on a video shoot we did for MyGallons.com. My Gallon’s is a company that allows consumers to pre-purchase gas at the current market price, and use this gas in the future so that they are not hurt by the increase in price. So, for example, if you buy 100 gallons of gasoline now at $4 a gallon, and the price goes up to $5 per gallon at the end of July, you won’t have to pay the increased price since you bought your gas at the locked-in price of $4 per gallon. It’s a pretty cool business model and will surely be popular if gas prices continue to rise the way they have been. I hear on the radio every day ‘gas prices continue to rise‘. It’s a constant headline so this company could take off.
Anyway, like I said, I got to sit in on the shoot of a video where the president of the company, Steve Verona, explained the money saving process to inform perspective users and the press. I had never been to a video shoot like this before so it was a pretty cool experience. Below are some pictures of the process. It involved many takes and lots of film. We shot the video in our office’s conference room to give the feeling of a corporate setting. This may have been a good look but it was somewhat problematic due to the fact that our conference room is in the very middle of the building and the hustle and bustle of workers made a lot of noise. The conference room isn’t soundproofed so all this noise ended up on the tape. We got through it though by asking people to walk softly and try to keep their voices down.
Anyway, check out the images below to see a little of the filming process.
D4 Creative
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