Altyrian View

It’s obvious that social media is going to play an important role in the next presidential election. Just a few weeks ago, everyone was going to the ‘Net to announce their candidacy. I’m sure that as more enter the race, that trend won’t change. Now, it looks like people are using the Web to post political advertisements. I use the word “people” because it’s not clear that candidates or even political parties are creating or endorsing the new viral ads.

This morning someone emailed me a political ad that was anti-Clinton and pro-Barack Obama. It’s a spin-off from Apple’s very successful 1984 Superbowl ad. After watching it, I was tempted to blog about the ad, but since this is not a political blog, I didn’t want AltyrianView to be considered as such. That was until I saw the ad on some news Web sites – and on TV. At this point, no one knows who produced the ad, but I suspect by the end of the week, most will have seen it.

What’s stopping people from making more ads like this? What’s stopping people with an axe to grind from making ads that throw false accusations at our candidates. Absolutely nothing.

On the other hand, what a great opportunity for candidates to create “grassroots” ads. Here’s an idea: Get some regular people to talk about why they are going to vote one way or another.

So, who is going to create the best political ads this year? Might not be the candidates….

From my days at a Web site development company, I learned one thing: Everyone hates their Web site host. Period. No matter how well you host a Web site, it will eventually go down for a bit. I enjoy seeing how companies handle Web site downtime, and I think that YouTube handles it like a champ. This is from their homepage during some downtime tonight:

OK. We admit it. We’re fixing stuff, but we’ll be up soon.
In the meantime, please enjoy a layman’s explanation of our website…

MediaWeek has a new article outlining research from Mediamark Research Inc. According to the research

• 11.2 percent of adults report having a DVR up from 8.6 in the Fall
• DVR households are 23% less likely to be heavy TV viewers
• DVR households are 43% more likely to be heavy readers of magazines
• DVR households are 40% more likely to be heavy readers of newspapers
• DVR households are 81% more likely to be heavy Internet users
• DVR households more upscale than the entire adult population

Communicators take note! To me this looks like the profile of a social media user. They might be fast forwarding through commercials, but they are paying attention to media relations initiatives and social media. Advertising is not dead, it’s just shifting its focus. TV is still a major player in an advertising mix, but will it always be that way? No. The DVR is giving us television when we want it – just like YouTube and iTunes and Google Video. This study does not imply that DVR users are less plugged in, it tells me that they are even more aware of products and services than are their commercial-watching counterparts. We need to recognize that the DVR gives us more opportunities to reach our audiences, and it forces us to be more creative with our television promotions.

PRWeek has posted an article where they asked some “new-media thinkers” to make their prediction as to what will be hot for the next 6 months. Visit the article to see who said what. I’ll just list their predictions (in bold) and my commentary (not bold):

• Social networking & productivity applications going mobile
• Participation TV: I think we all saw the possibilities with participation TV when ABC’s Lost had us surfing the ‘Net looking for clues. Other networks / shows would be foolish to miss out on this trend.
• MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators)
• Democratic editorial control: We’re talking about content being directed by sites like Digg.com and Newsvine.com. I think that not only are we going to see more of this, but we’ll see a response from “traditional” news outlets as they protect their ground from bloggers and podcasters.
• Online community measurement tools: A new service that will help PR people measure the influence of online communities on our products? Sounds awesome. I’m sure someone will try to sell this tool, but I don’t think it will come of age for a few years. I can’t imagine how this would work without the help of individual bloggers which won’t be happening for a while.
• PayPal Mobile: Pay for stuff on the go. If PayPal doesn’t do it, someone else will.
• Using tools to capture fragmented (niche) audiences: The Long Tail tells us that this trend is already upon us. For us to help our clients, it will be increasingly important to identify and target smaller, more well-defined audiences.
• Viral marketing through YouTube
• “2006 might be the year when the hype on blogs finally ends and the bigger picture on peer-to-peer media emerges.”: You’d have a hard time selling me on the 2006 demise of the blog. I’m seeing more and more “average” Web surfers start to get involved in blogs. It’s going to be hard for blogs to go away now that anyone feels compelled to be involved.
• RSS is implemented in IE7: Blog authorship is also coming to Office. Read this item and then check out the last one. Like I said, blogs will at least hit the “mainstream” before they go away.
• Microformats: The social media release has been all the buzz in PR circles, and I agree that change is upon us (look for my post on this subject later this week). The real question is “are reporters ready?”
• Second Life: I’m a big fan of SL! I think MMORPGs like this are going to become more mainstream when “non-geeks” jump in.
• The triumph of PR: Well, looks like we’ll get to keep our jobs one more year.
Leave a Comment
 

About a month ago I found a video on YouTube that caught my attention. Nobody’s Watching is a pilot from the creators of “Scrubs.” It was pitched to the WB, but was passed over, and before last year, that would have been the end of the story. Someone thought the world should see this pilot, so they posted it on YouTube. I watched it. I laughed. I showed a couple of friends, and I forgot about it. Fast forward to yesterday….

According to AdAge, I’m not the only one that found the video. According to this article (free registration required) about 600,000 have downloaded the show. Turns out that NBC is going to create webisodes of this forgotten pilot.

If you haven’t read the Long Tail by Chris Anderson, you need to go buy it right now. It’s a great book that talks about phenomenon like this. In short, our old models of supply and demand aren’t relevant because in the “old days” the bottleneck was not at the demand, but rather the supply. Given infinite choices, about 98% of products will have some demand. In this case, we have a show that by my estimation is okay (I’ve seen worse pilots on the air). Realistically, it would not make it past the first season. So why is NBC picking it up? 600,000 people is still a good audience, and the cost to put a show on the Internet is much less than bringing it to prime time (remember one of the costs is the opportunity lost by not running a more popular show). But if NBC can get a sponsor or two, this show can be profitable even with its very limited audience. (Snapple has great product placement in this first episode.)

So for marketers, we have far more opportunities than ever in which to promote our products. We are living in an age where the mainstream might be shifting from the big networks to cable networks to the Internet. This show could be a model for the next “hit” television show. Will the next Seinfeld come from the Internet? What’s stopping me from creating a “pilot” and posting it on YouTube to be picked up by a network?