It's no secret that for an advertisement to be effective, it has to catch people's attention and feel entertaining rather than boring and/or calculated (i.e. like an advertisement). That's why the presence of consumer-generated branded content is on the rise.
Stephen Voltz and Fritz Grobe became famous when they used Mentos and Diet Coke to recreate the image of the Bellagio fountains on national television.
Since the creation of that video, they have made appearances on mainstream media outlets, have been recognized by Time magazine and Advertising Age, and have even been featured in a music video. However, what's more impressive is the fact that all this time, they have been promoting the Coke and Mentos brands...and getting paid for it.
All these guys did to start was set up their own online video entertainment site: EepyBird.com. In an interview with Brad Berens on iMedia Connection the two talked about their experience working with brands, and how their true purpose was to entertain--but they figured, why not make some money too?
I think this is the reality of online product promotion through viral video. More online content will continue to come from consumers themselves. The question is, what will companies do to make sure these consumers are promoting their products?
Friday, April 13, 2007
Video Entertainment: For Consumers, By Consumers
Posted by chelsea at 5:39 PM
Labels: Online Video, Promotion
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2 comments:
It's a very interesting argument you make, especially in today's world, when "citizen journalism" has become so prominent. This is basically "citizen advertising," which, I think, is smart for companies to utilize because, as you said, the most effective advertising is when it doesn't seem like advertising at all.
good posts - 10 points each for the last 2 weeks - i especially liked the review of the social networking sites.
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