Google & The Shaytards

Simplicity in advertising can be an advantage from so many points of view. A clear, no-explanation-needed message will not only be more incisive and effective, but also easier to adapt to various  channels. A fine example in this sense is a campaign I’ve already written about, Google’s “Search Stories”. Today I stumbled upon a personalized version of the spot, inserted in a video of one of Youtube’s most famous channels, the Shaytards.

In case you’ve been living in an isolated village in the Carpathians and don’t know them, The Shaytards make daily vlogs which document the everyday life of an American family of six. With minimal editing, ShayCarl has posted 10 to 20 minute-long videos every day for 2 years, featuring his wife, 4 kids and 1 dog. His fan base is huge and dedicated, with many forums, infinite discussions and thousands of views for every post. They are actually among the most popular Youtube stars (among their many channels, The Shaytards is #38 Most Subscribed- All Time). I confess I watch them myself almost every day, and I guess it’s probably one of the best family-friendly reality shows I’ve ever seen.

Youtube activity is the Shaytards’ main source of revenue (and not a negligible one at that) and although many complain about loosing the true Youtube sharing spirit, I believe that the Google Search Stories spot is perfect for this situation.

The ad, seamlessly inserted at the end of the episode, shows the white Google website and the results for 4 searches: one for every “older” member of the Shaytard family, while  the last search is for “the most loved family on youtube”. And it probably is too!

Ask president Obama

Obama has used internet successfully for his campaign, and his dialogue with the online community is still really interesting to watch. For example,  on January 25th his 2011 State of the Union Address will be streamed live on YouTube, featured on the channel  askobama .

Just like last year (when 11,000 questions were asked, receiving over 630,000 votes),  youtube users are invited to post their video questions (preferably with graphs and props). What I love about his channel is that, even though trolls will spread the usual youtube hating,  no comments are deleted. Of course the actual area for submitting questions is controlled. 80,000 people have already voted and selected the most interesting video questions,  and I’m sure they’re going to keep his PR team busy for a while. The topics are the usual ones, state of the economy, various wars, health reform and of course, since we are talking about youtube, open Internet.

Another thing I really like about this is that people – unlike reporters – really want the information they’re asking for, and not just bad news that make TV interesting. On the other hand, when responding to a video question you can just say what you like and then move on, so maybe it’s not the best way to obtain complete answers.  So, do you have a good question for the President?

The channel is part of a larger Youtube initiative called World View, a series of monthly interviews with the world’s most important leaders.

Cosa cerchi oggi? – Google va in TV

Semplice e chiara la nuova campagna pubblicitaria di Google, “Cosa cerchi oggi?”, lanciata il mese scorso su Rai e Mediaset, per la prima volta in Italia. La serie di 6 spot era già comparsa negli USA durante il Super Bowl, sotto il nome “Search Stories”. Ottima anche per l’integrazione con il web, visto che gli utenti possono creare la loro propria storia sulla pagina del canale Youtube omonimo (Cosa cerchi oggi). A differenza di altre campagne che si vogliono interattive, qui la realizzazione e’ veramente semplice: basta inserire i propri termini di ricerca, scegliere la musica e puoi già guardare  l’anteprima. La campagna rimarrà in TV una decina di giorni, su Youtube va ancora avanti.

Ecco la versione Natalizia del video:

Se per la nostra generazione la pubblicità di Google e’ quasi inutile (provate a nominare altri 3 motori di ricerca – io arrivo fino a 2), sicuramente per gli over 40 e altre categorie inesperte non può fare male – specialmente in Italia.  Google non ha mai fatto pubblicità in TV nel passato, anche se esistono numerosi filmati online per la promozione dei  prodotti. E questa la conferma del target di “Cosa cerchi oggi”:  il target probabilmente su internet non ci va neanche a cercare quello che serve, tanto meno a guardare video su Youtube o telefilm su Sidereel… Infatti, la campagna su Youtube non e’ andata benissimo- 63,000 views in 2 mesi per il primo spot, non molte creazioni originali, ma non credo sia importante. Quello che doveva fare la campagna lo fa benissimo: spiegare a tutti che Google serve per cercare cose.

Leggete di più sulla campagna, proprio dalla fonte – il blog Google.  Per chi lavora nel settore, ecco i dati della produzione:

Sviluppato a  Google Creative Lab. Animazione prodotta a  1st Ave Machine. Direttore: Aaron Duffy.  Musica:  Jeremy Turner

Sole Serif: Il Sole 24 Ore si fa disegnare una nuova font

Luciano Perondi, proprietario dello studio Molotro e insegnante (anche)  allo IED di Milano ha progettato la nuova font del supplemento domenicale del Sole 24 Ore. La font, chiamata Sole Serif, è  stata utilizzata per la prima volta sabato, 4 dicembre in un articolo in cui il progettista stesso spiega le motivazioni del cambiamento: il rinnovamento grafico del supplemento culturale della domenica e il desiderio di migliorare la facilità di lettura.

Perondi afferma di andare controtendenza con questa font graziata ispirata ai tipi calligrafici veneziani del ‘500. Effettivamente Sole Serif migliora molto la leggibilità, usato nei titoli è veramente elegante. Nel corpo di testo a me risulta meno “intellettuale” rispetto al vecchio Poynter Text, forse per la grandezza e i tratti più spessi, ma alla fine potrebbe essere solo l’abitudine! Piaciuta molto la spiegazione e l’invito dell’autore a parlarne sul suo interessantissimo blog.

 

Did you know YouTube has a real-life orchestra?

Auditions are know closed for my favorite YouTube initiative: The YouTube Symphony Orchestra. Musicians everywhere were invited to submit their  video auditions. Starting December 10 the votes will open to the public and the most voted  will perform in March at the Sydney Opera House, under the direction of world-renowned conductor and YouTube Symphony Artistic Advisor, Michael Tilson Thomas.

So do you think it’s a bit out of character for a web community that feeds only on Fail blog-style videos, pets & toddlers and copyrighted stuff stolen from TV? It’s not the first “cultural” YouTube initiative. Remember Youtube Play, the YouTube + Guggenheim collaboration sponsored by Hp and Intel? I don’t have any exact data on how that went, but the videos seem to have quite a lot of views.  Maybe television can’t educate people o, but YouTube’s system is definitely more flexible, there’s something for every user, and something for every sponsor…

Anyways, until the votes open, check out some of the online music lessons and musical experiments here.

 

 

 

 

How low can your logo?

You have until December 8 2010 to draw the worst logo ever. A group of American designers launched this cool contest for a fictional company, Excellencico.

Click here to submit your own Comic sans rainbow-gradient logo!

Even if you don’t participate, make sure you read the brief, it contains lots of well-known classics:

Our logo needs to be simple and yet detailed, complex yet spare. We prefer that the logo convey the forward-thinking nature of our company without looking too futuristic or flashy but we also don’t want anything too conservative or neutral. “Just right” is the vibe we are looking for. We believe that “e” best defines our unique approach and core company culture. We’re very drawn to the colors one finds in a rainbow but color wheels are a significant turn-off. I have attached a picture of our puppy. We don’t want the puppy incorporated into the logo but we do want you to capture her spirit and attitude and expect that to be conveyed through design elements.

If only it weren’t so, so true…

Kickstarter – How to Raise Money for Your Project Online

I discovered Kickstarter (http://www.kickstarter.com/) in a Mashable article about Diaspora, the Facebook alternative. Apparently the four New York students who had the whole idea managed to raise over 200,000$ on this site. This is how it works. You log in, describe your project, and wait for the funding.

This is not about investment or lending. Project creators keep 100% ownership and control over their work. Instead, they offer products and experiences that are unique to each project.

say the site’s creators. Also, the project needs to reach full funding before starting, for the protection of everyone involved. But what kind of projects can you post on Kickstarter? Absolutely anything you like: Janelle Lannan wishes to fly to Greece and sing “A Wonderland” in a concert in Athens and the guys from Contrail want to produce a device that you attach to your bike and draw colored lines on the street. Many want to make movies or music videos, theatre plays and books. The budgets go from a few hundred dollars to a few hundred thousands, and actually many projects are really cool. Check them out, it’s fun!

2010 Cone Consumer New Media Study Available for Download

More and more Americans are using new media technology, but do they use it to interact with their  favorite brands? The 2010 Cone Consumer New Media Study  (available for download at http://www.coneinc.com/2010-consumer-new-media-study) says they do, but they’re picky about it. New media users follow an average of 5 brands online, but only if the content is good enough and if it offers them some kind of incentive to do so. Also, they’re quite ready to press that unfollow button as soon the company does something wrong, such as acting irresponsibly or over-communicate. Check out the full report to get a better idea, results are kind of obvious but still a good reminder of why you should be really careful with your online marketing campaigns.

 

Come ho scoperto che il presidente della Russia aveva proprio voglia di mangiare un hamburger

Anche la Russia è un paese moderno. E Obama non è l’unico presidente tecnologico e alla mano. Lo dimostra il fatto che oggi, apprendo la mia pagina di Twitter, ho letto un messaggio diretto da Kremlino dove Medvedev ci informava che non mangiava un hamburger da un po’ di tempo! Per fortuna ha potuto realizzare il suo desiderio a pranzo con Obama…

Medvedev  ha aperto il suo account Twitter qualche giorno fa, dopo la visita alla sede centrale dell’azienda. Il suo primo tweet è stato molto semplice e diretto: “Hello everyone! I’m on Twitter, and this is my first tweet”. Il presidente ha continuato sullo stesso tono, abbinando argomenti leggeri, come una foto con la vista della sua stanza d’albergo, ad argomenti più seri trattati con semplicità.

Il fatto che Medvedev abbia un team di PR giovane e preparato è un ottimo segno di apertura, ma non riesco a non essere un po’ diffidente.   Forse per ora il tono stile Obama e’  ancora troppo contrastante, ma è vero anche che da qualche parte bisogna pur iniziare.

Se volete sapere altri interessantissimi dettagli sulla sua vita, seguite il presidente della Russia su Twitter!

Il buon senso e la pubblicita’

Due giorni fa la compagnia aerea americana Spirit ha lanciato sul proprio sito la campagna “Check out the oil on our beaches”, per pubblicizzare uno sconto del 50%.

Ecco una delle immagini:

Apparentemente secondo i responsabili di marketing della Spirit abbinare l’enorme disastro della BP a signorine in costume  e’ una strategia di comunicazione intelligente. Potete ammirare tutta la serie su www.spiritair.com, insieme agli sforzi inutili del loro team PR per rispondere alle critiche:

It is unfortunate that some have misunderstood our intention with today’s beach promotion. (…)We are merely addressing the false perception that we have oil on our beaches, and we are encouraging customers to support Florida and our other beach destinations by continuing to travel to these vacation hot spots.

Peccato che lo spot non si riferisca all’unica destinazione Spirit del golfo – Tampa.