YouTube realizes that people have limited attention and provide information to aid viewing decisions such as ratings, number of views, descriptions, and clip length on their site. Unfortunately, even as they continue to add features to their embedded player, they miss two basic ones: clip length and driving engagement behavior.

Clip Length

YouTube tacitly acknowledges that clip length is the most important thing in choosing clips. On their site, even when no other information is provided, clip length is ubiquitous.

The embedded player forces me to guess how long a clip is, wasting real-estate and attention:

Whereas if it looked like this:

I could make a better decison to watch now, later, or never.

Driving Engagment Behavior

In the YouTube embedded player, after I watch a clip, I can copy the embed code, copy a link to the video page, or watch another video by clicking one of the thumbnails.

However, if I want to favorite the video, comment on it, or perform any other YouTube function, the experience falls short. These advanced features are not part of the player, and worse, there is no simple way to go directly to the clip’s page on YouTube. (Although sometimes I find that clicking haphazardly all over the player will take me to YouTube.)

Instead of:

Give me:

Conclusion

The YouTube embedded player is a cornerstone of YouTube’s success. With a few minor tweaks, it can provide a more seemless experience, driving more traffic to their website, fostering more community interaction, and demonstrating more respect for their viewers’ attention by mimicking the insights apparent on the YouTube website.

My roommate Jay is a very talented individual. Aside from his art director-related pursuits, he plays several instruments and is the guitarist and lead singer for Paid Pilots, a Chicago-based indie rock band (or Indian rock band, as we like tease him).

Since he’s always headed to Chicago for either practice or a gig, the Quarter Away Kids tagged along the last weekend in October and were treated to a concert at the Elbo Room and a local’s tour of Chi-Town.

See the photo album here (use journal view to see all the captions):
http://dylanthomas.smugmug.com/gallery/3740030/1/214909744

Check out the band here:
http://myspace.com/paidpilots

And a quick clip, taken with my digital camera:

Paid Pilots @ the Elbo Room, Chicago from Dylan Thomas on Vimeo.

At Rassak Experience, we’ve been hard at work launching the Ray Hopewood’s 2008 presidential campaign on behalf of a client, BigFix, Inc.

What?

That’s what the San Francisco Chronicle said, and they were so interested in the story of our viral campaign that they put it front and center on the business section of the Chronicle this Saturday (June 9, 2007).

You can read the article here on SFGate.com:

Viral campaign spreading: Online marketing effort may germinate into business leads

It makes for an interesting read and focuses on how using non-traditional, entertaining methods of marketing can drive real results for clients. Click here for a picture of the paper. It’s a little odd, and very cool to see a website you designed printed in the newspaper.

Please forward it around, or digg it.

Also, check out the campaign at:

www.rayhopewood.com - campaign site

www.bigfix.com/rayhopewood - campaign news

The Sims have tapped all the aspiring filmmakers on Current.TV to find a good story for broadcast. Browsing the site, people have made some amazing pieces, buying the game, and composing “in-game” stories. Here is a small slice of life from provided clips.

Technorati Tags:
video, commercial, media, currenttv, vcam, gaming

[With My NetFlix account] I also get 17 hours of viewing time… This morning I was watching a film about comedy and I wanted to share it… wanted to embed it on the blog like I might a YouTube clip…

Idea: allow embeddable video on a PPV basis. It gets content closer to it’s audience via an open, organic distribution mechanism. It maintains copyright. And it increases revenue.

From the Rassak GetCloser Blog

This would basically employs a hybrid of the Amazon/NetFlix Affiliate programs (referral-commission) and the Revver.com model (ppv-advertising) to video content.

Fundamentally, there is nothing wrong with this model, and it logically extends current affiliate programs. Currently, Amazon Affilates can receive 10% commission on referrals to Unbox video downloads, and NetFlix Affiliates receive $9 for every person they sign up. Revver pays a share of the advertising revenue they collect based on how many times your video is viewed.

When NetFlix’s online video service is out of its testing phase, I see online PPV referrals to be the logical next step in their revenue strategy, but it adds something fundamentally different to the NetFlix arsenal–online rentals. They add a one-off, no commitment customer option with ostensibly higher margins.

It’s BlockBuster without the trip to the store, NetFlix without the mail. It’s instant online delivery with no inventory restrictions. If they go forward with it, expect to see NetFlix GiftCards in the grocery store, because you won’t need a subscription anymore.

From a technological standpoint, there are a few ways to implement something like this. With a 5 -minute teaser to see if you want to watch, they could use an embeddable flash player with account authentication to let you watch it, add to your “watch online later” list, or add to your NetFlix queue. It could then keep playing, or, more likely, they’ll pass the actual viewing experience off your website and onto a desktop player. This seems to be the modus-operadi for digitally-delivered video. (Netflix, Amazon Unbox, ABC’s new HD player, iTunes, etc).

What we’re really talking about here is the promise of EBOOKS for VIDEO.

Lexus has been playing hard to get (fitting given their “pursuit” campaign). Having introduced a three new ads that dive to the heart of “inspirational advertising” during the 2007 Golden Globes, the ads were nowhere to be found, completely shaking my confidence in YouTube and TV pirates everywhere.

The ads are signifigant in a number of ways:

• They don’t show, or mention, at anytime, a specific car.
• They are inspirational rather than aspirational.
• They connect Lexus with creativity and work rather than luxury and status.

These three points are a departure from their current and historic campaigns which focus on passion, status, iteration, and continuous improvement, always showing and basing the visuals on specific car models. These ads extend their concept of the “pursuit of perfection” through iteration and passion and apply it to other disciplines.

I first heard about these ads from my girlfriend, who hates advertising, but she was gushing about how great they were. She said the ads were so well done, so restrained, and so thoughtful that she couldn’t help but associate that thoughtfullness with Lexus and their cars.

Congratulations on a breakthrough campaign, Lexus. My only criticism is that the ads, given how much buzz they’ve been getting via blogs and word-of-mouth, they were impossible to find.

Soapbox Alert:
To extrapolate to a larger issue, I strongly believe that all companies should make all of their spots available either on their website, or via direct link to pages on video sites like YouTube, AOL Video, etc. Companies need to embrace their brand advocates and provide them with the tools for their own entertainment and evangelism. If people are looking for your commercials, they are the people you need, and you want to make it as easy as possible to interact with and promote your brand.

Enjoy!

Lexus Commercial - Ruby Slippers

Lexus Commercial - Composer

Lexus Commercial - Hello

technorati tags:video, lexus, commercial, soapbox, advertising, inspirational-advertising

Honestly, I had forgotten that AOL offered downloadable movies for $9.99-$19.99 and chances are I’d never try it out. But given 30 free titles to grab, I think I will.

Given that this space will become very competitive with people watching more video on their computers as opposed to their TVs and Walmart adding a downloadable option to their DVD sales.

Here is the link:

AOL Free Movie Offer

UPDATE: Mac users need not apply, downloading requires IE6. Watching Easy Rider for free just isn’t worth starting up Virtual PC on my Powerbook.

Since the major networks are all starting to put content online after it’s been shown on TV, I figured I would check it out. That, and my DVR has been acting up. Here’s the rundown of my experiences.

FOX:

Wanted to watch: Prison Break, Standoff

Experience: Only supports Windows 98SE+. Sorry Mac users.

Conclusion: Wake up Fox and fix your site so I can use it.

CBS:

Wanted to watch: CSI: Miami

Experience:

Requires RealPlayer, which I hate. Didn’t feel like registering with Real, downloading the software, installing it, configuring my browser to use it, and hoping that it worked, so I haven’t watched any video on the site yet.

The site, however, is fast, smooth, pleasing to navigate, and pleasing to look at. You can’t really ask for more.

Conclusion: Huge potential, but I hate the Real hurdles that I need to jump through. I think it would be better for them to have implemented Flash, or Quicktime which have greater penetration, and in my experience, greater reliability.

NBC:

Wanted to watch: Friday Night Lights, Studio 60, 30 Rock

Experience:

Off to a slow start, but somewhat redeemed itself. The videos tended to “Not Be Found” while using Mozilla-based browsers but worked fine in Safari.

The overall experience is a bit cobbled together. Episodes are broken into parts (as many as 6 for hour long shows). After you’ve selected an episode to watch it loads a 5-second video that says “The following presentation is brought to you by [sponsors name]” and their logo/tagline. Then it plays a commercial. Then it plays the first part of the show.

When the part you are watching finishes, the process starts again, with the same sponsor and commercial, in my experience. I swear, if I have to see the new “Say Yes to Yes” Cadillac spot, I’m going to kill someone.

Conclusion: While it lacks some polish, it gets the job done, and NBC gets credit for trying to put all of their shows up ASAP.

ABC:

Wanted to watch: Desperate Housewives

Experience:

The ABC Full Episode Player is an example of excellent and seamless information design and media presentation. When you click on an show, the other shows dim and you see the episodes available. When you roll over an episode, it give you a quick description. When you click on an episode, everything dims and the video starts playing. Video quality is excellent and lets you dynamically pick a larger or smaller video size without interrupting the video stream.

Since Toyota sponsored the online version, it was presented with only 3-30second interruptions which flew by, during which there was a countdown. When the mandatory break was over, the timer turned into a “Continue” button. Two of the breaks provided a list of YARIS “Spy vs. Spy” clips to watch and I spent way more than 30 seconds watching them because I find them entertaining and went to the YARIS site to download a screensaver. The other was an Avalon TV spot and photo gallery.

Watching the show online was easier, shorter, and far less work than watching it on TV, even with a DVR. The result is a much more pleasant experience, and more impactful advertising.

Conclusion: Curled up in bed with my laptop, or watching on my big computer screen, ABC Online just might be better than watching TV.

Winner: ABC, for now. Expect the others to catch up quick.

Technorati Tags: advertising, dvr, technology, television, tv, video

I saw a rake handle turn to sawdust at the hands of a blender at Will It Blend. Now I want one. Since I’ve seen the videos, I talk about, think about, and covet their $400-1200 blenders for their sheer awesomeness.

Talk about marketing. They generated buzz and advocacy through simple and fun product demonstrations, and reached both their core markets as well as those (me) who couldn’t care less about blenders before, much less even consider spending commercial-grade money on personal appliances.

Does JambaJuice need a blender that can chop up frozen strawberries all day long and never sputter? Yes. Do I? No. Does it matter? Not a bit.

My prediction is that sales will skyrocket in the consumer sector as well as the commercial sector. If only so people can brag that their blender can make a hockey stick smoothie.
[Side note 1: I found out all of the videos on Will It Blend were made with their cheapest, lowest power, consumer blender.]

[Sidenote 2: The first video of the rake handle reminded me of the Home Improvement episode where Tim “The Toolman” Taylor is frustrated by his wimpy garbage disposal and supes it up, eventually mulching a hockey stick, a baseball bat, and anything else in his path that will fit down the drain.]

Technorati Tags: advertising, awesome, blender, demonstration, marketing, video

One of the funniest videos I’ve ever seen. At the rate that Americans become lawyers, this may be our future. Be sure to watch it all the way to the end.

Via: VideoSift

technorati tags:funny, comedy, sex, video, lawyers, humor, viral, consent