American Express has launched a promotion called 15 Second Clips that invites participants to submit a 15 second ad about their lives. It's themed after My Life, My Card ads featuring celebs.
PodGuide TV, while praising this effort, is skeptical about the citizen marketing approach overall. He says that it backfired with Chevy's attempt to allow users to make their own spots. I disagree. Even though the Chevy effort resulted ads instead about gas-guzzling SUVs, we're still talking about this campaign.
The Amex effort offers a highlight reel of the submissions as a feed (RSS). The campaign judges are acclaimed directors Martin Scorsese and M. Night Shyamalan. I like this idea lot, but I feel that Amex could have made it stronger by letting consumers judge the campaigns, not just the celebrities. In addition, they might generate more submissions by partnering with a large video community like YouTube or by letting vloggers enter via a special tag like My Life, My Card.
It should be interesting to see where this goes.
A buddy of mine has been telling me to check out Revver and boy was he right, it IS cool.
Revver is a video sharing site, similar to YouTube. The big difference is that you can make money from your work. Revver attaches short advertisements to the end of every video that is uploaded to the site. Consumer generated videos are tagged too and each tag has an RSS feed.
For the advertiser, this seems like a great place to dabble in word of mouth. They are saying you can advertise for as little as $20. There's an FAQ here.
UPDATE: I found out after I posted this that Revver is client of my soon-to-be employer, Edelman.
Technorati Tags: Advertising, Video, Revver, Tags, Tagging
It's only been a day since ESPN started selling their cute “This is Sports Center” Ads on iTunes, but already they are getting a big thumbs down from consumers. So far 23 reviewers have weighed in and the collection has amassed a piddly one-star rating out of a possible five.
Honestly, I don't blame them. Are they fun? Yes, when you watch them on TV. But they are certainly not worth $1.99 each. Worst of all, most of these ads are 30 seconds in length. This means you can more or less watch the entire ad by simply previewing it for free in the store! Save your money! The only value in buying the ad is that you gain ability to take them with you.
Advertisers better think twice before selling TV ads on iTunes. Instead, go outside the box. Create innovative free video podcasts that take us behind the scenes of an ad campaign or, even better, release branded entertainment shorts.
Technorati Tags: Ads, Advercasting, Advertising, ESPN, iTunes, Television, TV
PodGuideTV notes that three Viacom nets - Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central - now have shows for sale on the iTunes Music Store.
Technorati Tags: Apple, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, iTunes, Viacom, Video
Wow, that was fast. Someone has put up a web site called VideoiPodder that posts full-length iPod-friendly movies right off of BitTorrent. Even better, they have an RSS feed. Now all we need is a tool that unwraps the torrent in iTunes and boom - instant drive-in podcasted movies. (Hat tip to PodGuide.tv)
Technorati Tags: Bit Torrent, iPod, Movies
