Please....YouTube I beg of you...Remove this nonsense now!!
On the other hand, I would applaud you for showcasing this video on your homepage..
The only thing that Chris Crocker has accomplished is show us that there is no way in hell to predict what will kind of Internet content will be successful at drawing viewers and capturing the attention of millions. Nearly 8 million have viewed his video so far, and It will most likely reach 10 million by the weekend.
Internet advertising and content creation has come a long way since its beginning a few decades ago, but there is still a lot we do not know about it. Exhorbitant amounts of content is created daily and posted on the web hoping to be discovered by surfers and turn their respectable creators a profit. As an advertiser, we must basically take a shot in the dark by sponsoring content that is relatively unknown, hoping to have discovered the next gold mine.
There is no formula, no standard, no set method of predicting what will be popular online, what will bring us acceptable returns, and what will fail miserably and most likely result in us browsing the Employment section of our local papers the following Sunday. We must go by what we are told, how the creator of the content we are considering sponsoring "sells" us their website and convinces us that dropping several million will enhance our brand health and establish a reputable web presence. Many times the numbers look good on paper, but they just dont pan out.
Such is the case with Second Life. 7 million subscribers? Sounds pretty good to me! Oh wait, only 4 million of those are unique, and only a handful actually log in regularly, oh snap! Can we cancel that $4 million check? A recent article in Wired Magazine explains this scenario. Several multinational corporations such as Coke and IBM have built a presence on the Second Life virtual world only to find that there arent really that many people browsing their areas in the first place. It is interesting to read this article, because Second Life was something that we considered placing ads on last year during our AAF campaign. (I am glad we didn't)
The World Wide Web is an unpredictable playground. Companies want to establish themselves online and sponsor and create content that is going to attract members of its target market. How they can successfully accomplish this is an unknown science. Brands need to invent something that is not only fun and engaging, but has lasting appeal that will keep visitors coming back even months after they originally came.
Back to Chris Crocker, I bet YouTube is kicking themselves for not having their advertising program fine tuned and in place. From what I understand they are developing a system that allows advertisers to place messages onto the content itself. Short 15 minute clips could be embedded before the actual video, forcing the viewer to watch it. Another method was for the advertiser to place its message on the bottom fourth of the actual video, and the message would be there while the video is playing. As far as finding a suitable sponsor for Chric Crocker? Well I can only imagine that Perez Hiilton would fit that bill.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I agree, it is a complete crapshoot. From a groundhog to a britney spears lovin crybaby! Whats next?
I am definitely glad we didn't decide to put any money into Second Life for our Coke campaign last year! Even at the competition, when groups were presenting their ideas to use Second Life.. I was sitting there thinking, "have they not read up on recent marketing news?" Apparently, Coke didn't either, though! They are crazy for putting that kind of money into something that's already proven to be a flop!
I completely agree. It is so hard for companies and people to predict the next big thing and often times when something becomes the next big thing it often leaves us wondering how and why...
Post a Comment