Advertisers compete for the online podium – The Globe and Mail

The London Olympics officially open Friday, but just like the athletes that will parade through the opening ceremonies, the most aggressive and savviest advertisers began staring down their competition far in advance of this moment. In the ad world, the Games began months ago.

In a sign of a broader trend, Procter & Gamble has been targeting pre-Olympic advertising as intensely as it would ads during the Games. P&G has gone hard on Web advertising, releasing ads online before they hit TV.

We intentionally chose to launch a digital-first campaign,” said David Grisim, associate marketing director at P&G Canada. “By launching digitally first, we found that we got a much higher level of engagement than we would in a traditional campaign.”

Olympic sponsors have collectively spent millions to be associated with the Games, and cannot afford to rely on traditional TV advertising to make good on that investment. P&G needed to encourage people to watch and share the ads so that by the time they are seen on television, they are well-known. Its campaign focuses on the mothers behind the athletes, and was promoted heavily on social media to create an early connection, especially with moms, who are a target market for many of its products. A video featuring Canadian triathlete Paula Findlay and her mother, part of a series of “Raising an Olympian” online videos, is a good example of the maternal tearjerker theme.

The results have been better than expected: In Canada, its “Best Job” commercial reached 150,000 views on YouTube in its first week after launching in April. Since then, 1.4 million Canadians have seen it. An even more important metric for P&G is that an average of one in three viewers shared the video with others.

“We’ve never seen numbers like that,” Mr. Grisim said.

via Advertisers compete for the online podium – The Globe and Mail.

Strange Random Olympics Quote:

“Here’s a good trick.
Get a job as a judge at the Olympics. Then, if some guy sets a world record, pretend that you didn’t see it and go: Okay, is everybody ready to start now?” ― Jack Handey

 

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Cashing In on Your Hit YouTube Video – NYTimes.com

Image by BrittneyBush via Flickr

Katie Clem posted a video on YouTube this month of her daughter Lily’s poignant and funny reaction to her sixth birthday present, a trip to Disneyland, for her friends and family. Then it went viral.

In three weeks it has been watched more than five million times, and Lily has become a minor Internet celebrity. Of far more importance, at least to Lily’s parents, the video is poised to make enough money from advertisements to send Lily to college.

Creating a video that attracts millions of viewers and becomes a pop culture phenomenon involves an unpredictable cocktail of luck and timing. A dash of cute babies or people acting like idiots can only help. But once a video goes viral, making some cold cash depends on quick action.

Here is some advice on how to take advantage of your 15 minutes of Internet fame from people who did just that.

via Cashing In on Your Hit YouTube Video – NYTimes.com.

Strange Random YouTube Quote:

“YouTube is a place for people to share their ideas. If by people you mean 13-year-old girls and by ideas you mean how they love the Jonas Brothers.” – Bo Burnham

 

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Teaser Trailer, the Story of Broke

Image by bloodless via Flickr

From the makers of The Story of Stuff and other (highly-recommended and thought-provoking) videos comes the latest instalment, The Story of Broke, Why there’s still Plenty of Money to Build a Better Future. Coming November 8th …

The United States isn’t broke; we’re the richest country on the planet and a country in which the richest among us are doing exceptionally well. But the truth is, our economy is broken, producing more pollution, greenhouse gasses and garbage than any other country. In these and so many other ways, it just isn’t working. But rather than invest in something better, we continue to keep this ‘dinosaur economy’ on life support with hundreds of billions of dollars of our tax money. The Story of Broke calls for a shift in government spending toward investments in clean, green solutions—renewable energy, safer chemicals and materials, zero waste and more—that can deliver jobs AND a healthier environment. It’s time to rebuild the American Dream; but this time, let’s build it better.

Strange Random Broke Quote:

“Being broke is a temporary situation. Being poor is a state of mind.” – Mike Todd

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Piano Staircase | The Fun Theory

Image by babyxela via Flickr

”Take the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator and feel better” is something we often hear or read in the Sunday papers. Few people actually follow that advice. Can we get more people to take the stairs over the escalator by making it fun to do? See the results here.

via The Fun Theory Website

Strange Random Fun Quote:

“If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun” – Katherine Hepburn

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John Hodgman on Love and Aliens [TED Talks]

Image via Wikipedia

Humorist John Hodgman rambles through a new story about aliens, physics, time, space and the way all of these somehow contribute to a sweet, perfect memory of falling in love.

Strange Random Alien Quote:

“Babies have big heads and big eyes, and tiny little bodies with tiny little arms and legs. So did the aliens at Roswell! I rest my case.” — William Shatner

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