I’m going to go against the orthodoxy of my fellow social media practitioners. I’m going to commit heresy. I’m going upset the apple cart of the proverbial echo chamber.
The new 2008 version of Where the Hell is Matt YouTube video isn’t going to live up to it’s intended purpose. It will be something that many of us will talk about, blog about, pontificate about. Then it will go away.
Here’s the video if you haven’t watched it:
The reason this campaign will not live up to hype is because it is a direct example as to how social media fails to act as a promotional vehicle. Viral, yes. Promotional, not so much. Sure, some aspects of it may make us feel good…but so what? The object of marketing is to enhance a brand, sustain longterm sales growth, and create profit. I doubt this will really do a great deal for much of the above.Sure, it may result in sales increases for the sponsoring company, Stride Gum. But that’s only if sales right now are very low. They’ll get some good press. But unless they piggyback on it in a couple of months, it will be a social media version of a one hint wonder.We’ll all love the concept. We’ll be inspired by it. The sense of this one guy dancing away throughout the world with citizens of all these countries. We’ll be amazed.
Yeah, I know. You hate commercials. You hate the sudden interruption of your favorite show to see three, four, or five thirty-second poorly created hard-to-differentiate video presentations on a product you don’t like, don’t want, don’t need, or don’t use.
Me too.
You want to get back to the show, the game, the newscast. See the bad guy get his ass nailed, the final two minutes of the tight game, or news on the latest scoop on the election cycle. The last thing you want to see is a series of presentations about pills that can make you pee better, a car that supposedly makes you cool, and a law firm that chases ambulances.
Me too.
But every once and a while, you’ll watch something that will catch your eye. It will make you laugh. Chuckle inside. You’ll be able to relate to it. Or you’ll be impressed because it’s impressive, not because the commercial is trying to pretend that it’s impressive with itself. Or you’ll think, shit, how did they do that?
Me too.
If that’s what happens, then that’s a commercial that will likely end up on Firebrand.
Millions of netizens - including me - have taken a great liking to YouTube. And for good reason. You can find videos of practically anything you want. It’s given us the hilarious, the creative, the intriguing. I’ve learned a lot from watching some old videos and have found scenes of old movies that I loved and wanted to see again.
That being said, NBC’s recent closing of its channel on YouTube and pulling of its videos content show us that YouTube, as an entity, is far from being completely vital to content distribution. When push comes to shove, it is actually expendable. At least, that is, to big media companies that have significant amounts of valuable content.
I am too deep in online brand promotion. When I read a story in the Wall Street Journal about a professional basketball player dissing his yet unreleased signature shoe on his blog, all I can think is that this sort of antisocial behavior is an amazing stealth marketing strategy. From “I hate this ballerina shoe” to “check out my cool shoe“ in no time! Coincidence? I think not!
Is the economy heading into a recession? Some will say yes, some will say no, and others are playing it safe with a “maybe” answer. However, what is plain for the eye to see is that advertising spending has definitely taken a plunge. In a study done earlier this month, newspapers suffered the most, losing 5.8% in ad revenue, while TV ad sales also dragged down the market, down 2.4%. However, there was a bright spot– the Internet, with display ad spending up 17.7%. The losses in ad revenue for both newspapers and TV may not seem that significant in the grand scheme of things, but the gains that occurred in Internet ad spending are something to focus on.