Someone Sign Nornna - and Fast

Spend any time on YouTube (as I have been doing a lot lately) and you will quickly find that Nornna is one of the brightest stars in this galaxy. Even before she earned her moment in the sun in today's New York Times, you could tell that Nornna was going places.

Nornna, in case you don't know, is a 24 year-old Wisconsin woman who everyday posts a video blog diary of her ordinary life on YouTube. Since January she has posted some astounding 700 vids. None are particularly interesting but Nornna has become a phenomenon. There's even a meme on YouTube of people recording themselves watching Nornna. She's so popular, Nornna even has her own Wikipedia entry. Norrna is a star.

Unfortunately, the rumor is that Nornna's quitting. She's going out on top like Seinfeld and "The Bus" did and Michael Jordan should have done (remember him playing for the Wizards? Exactly.) Tributes are pouring in from Nornna's fans. This is a moment for a smart marketer to team with the Divine Miss N.

Over a year ago I suggested that marketers sign bloggers to endorsement deals. It was an "out there" idea at the time. Now it's a reality. Stowe Boyd, for example, is looking for a startup to clothe him. Nornna is next. Some marketer should sign her to a deal asap. Put her in an ad. Sponsor her to publish a vlog. Or, better yet, give her free stuff. Can you spell "book deal?" Oh and once Nornna's off the block, be sure to go ink a deal with the Ask a Ninja guy. He's the next superstar.

According to Mediapost, marketers are scared to advertise on social networks. That's because they're thinking of these sites as a places to put ads, rather than a venue for finding credible and hopefully willing spokespeople.

Nornna, Stowe and Ninja are people like us. They're the most trusted among us, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer. This means that as PR morphs from driving earned media to focusing more on a direct dialogue with the public, we will all need to develop a knack for identifying rising consumer stars. Put your talent director's hat on. It's show time!

Comments

[Jeremy Pepper]

Seinfeld did not go out on top.

[David@mokum]

Steve, one of the great attractions of blogs are the genuine nature of the communication; it is one spot where people feel that there are no hidden motivations. I reckon people will turn off in droves the moment this type of sponsorship starts...

[howard Lindzon]

cool post -thanks

[Tish Grier]

So, Nornna's an Early Adopter, a geek pinup girl. That's nice, but what's the mileage? I have to agree that, once a blogger who has a reputation as being wholesome and genuine starts to endorse a product, the whole idea that she/he is wholesome and genuine *may* go right out the window. Also, what's the potential for a lot of bad, sad immitators? Probably pretty high. Sure, market forces will weed them out, but something about it smells.

[James Hathaway]

Hi Steve-

First, thanks for the great resource this blog is... a great feed.

But, I have to disagree with you on "endorsement deals".

It seems to me the credibility of the blogger would be weakened and their message cheapened.

The power, to me, of an independent blogger is their honest opinion.... once you add endorsement deals and the like, it is just an ad campaign.

I do, however, strongly believe in corporate blogs as portrayed here.

Burt endorsement deals? Yuck!

[Paul Fabretti]

eBay has millions of customers who trade on the highly visible feedback rating. If businesses are not afraid to set themselves a high benchmark and create similar schemes then are thery not hiding something? By not having any sort of feedback system, many companies do not set themselves a service benchmark the customer cares about and that is what makes the difference.

[Pete Cashmore]

Ask a Ninja deserves a TV deal - quality stuff.

Nornna is a sick person who kills and hurts cats.

http://authorinprocess.mydeardiary.com/

[Rozer]

testing

[gary]

nornna is far from interesting and she has no real talent. Instead you need to watch adaptor51485 's videos...they are far superior and he has a real talent with computers and editing videos to make them hilarious...he has a LARGE fan base, that actually WATCHES his stuff.

not only does she kill cats but she is a child predator. she made numerous entries on her opendiary about how she wants to molest babies and likes to look at them and dreams of doing things to them. that is NOT someone to admire.

[supermanifold]

billy, formerly known as adaptor51485 on youtube, has moved to revver:

http://revver.com/user/FireX_51485/?brwsr_page=0

..and it's a good thing he did.

it's a delight to see that his videos are still accessible.

fun stuff! check him out

-s