BusinessWeek: Digital Content Wherever You Want ItHow do you make digital entertainment more entertaining? A sprawling consortium of Hollywood content providers, consumer electronics companies, and Internet players said on Sept. 12 that its members are planning to develop a standard that will let consumers buy movies and other digital content once and play them almost anywhere, on any type of device, without the onerous restrictions that have hobbled the growth of digital downloads.
The consortium is called the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE). Its members have been working since May to create rules that will let consumers share their purchased content on a number of devices in the home, or stream them over the Internet to laptops, cell phones, or other electronic gear. "No matter where you are in the world, if you previously purchased Spider-Man 3, you should be able to access Spider-Man and stream it," Mitch Singer, the group's president, said in an interview.
Showing posts with label content. Show all posts
Showing posts with label content. Show all posts
Digital Entertainment Consortium Nears Tipping Point
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Levi's Invites Consumers To 'Unbutton' Artists - 08/19/2008
MediaPost Publications - Levi's Invites Consumers To 'Unbutton' Artists - 08/19/2008Levi's puts the focus on the 501 brand in its latest "Live Unbuttoned" digital campaign. The ads and microsites, featuring up-and-coming artists, offer a glimpse of the real person behind the celebrity, speaking to the hidden creativity in everyone.
EVB San Francisco built the campaign on the idea that everyone has an artistic side--they just need to "unbutton" it. The video and still ads directed by Pier Nicola D'Amico began rolling out last week featuring emerging artists including the British hip-hop singer Estelle, along with Nikka Costa and Wale. The concept, developed with support from music agency Cornerstone, gives consumers a glimpse into the style of several profiled artists.
The standard argument I hear all the time is that only certain brands in certain verticals can produce this kind of work. The recently launched Converse Chuck Taylor campaign is strikingly similar to this one -- feature a bunch of up-and-coming artists (many of whom are known entities) and feature them via print and microsites. Got it. It's great for fashion, but how does Scrubbing Bubbles do one of these? Should some brands just step aside and continue to use more traditional advertising?
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Media Life Magazine - Flight of the young from gossip shows
These days younger viewers who might have watched these shows a decade ago are turning instead to the internet and sites like TMZ.com and Perez Hilton for their celebrity gossip, driving up the age of the remaining audience.Media Life Magazine - Flight of the young from gossip shows
The new generation gap is upon us. This time it's not defined by the music, hair styles or fashion. Now it's media usage. The young use the Net. Their elders -- including pretty much everybody 35+ -- use TV and email. The evidence is everywhere. Viva la difference!
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Content is Content. But Can Content Replace Advertising?
From the Wall Street Journal: "...Model.Live tracks three models as they navigate casting calls, catwalks and airports for fashion weeks in New York, London, Milan and Paris. The first of 12 eight-minute episodes will debut Aug. 19 on-demand on Vogue.tv, a site that runs advertiser-sponsored videos and allows consumers to buy the featured products."Vogue Models a New Reality Series - WSJ.com
Content like this is beginning to prove that online "shows" can attract a verifiable and sizable audience. The question remains if advertisers should strive to produce this kind of content -- as Holiday Inn Express has recently begun doing -- or just sponsor it. Should it be scripted like LonelyGirl15 and Quarterlife? Unscripted seems to be the more popular format, at least so far.
At least advertisers and content producers have a common goal. They both want to land a big audience. Though it appears the content producers are making most of the investment in R&D.
Microsoft's Ballmer on Yahoo and the Future - washingtonpost.com
Among other things, he confirmed that Microsoft's discussions with Yahoo have continued, predicted that in 10 years all media will be delivered via the Internet and professed that he is confused by Google's moves in the mobile-phone market.Microsoft's Ballmer on Yahoo and the Future - washingtonpost.com
Ballmer goes big by predicting that all media - including newspapers and magazines - will be digital by 2018. Okay. That's his opinion. And he could be right.
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Lifestyles Condoms Aim for the Funny Bone
Lifestyles Condoms new series of online videos entitled Noah and Baron Talk Man Sh*t. The Webisodes, posted at www.lifestyles.com, run three to five minutes and depict American stand-up comedians Noah Starr and Baron Vaughn as they venture across Europe.Lifestyles Condoms Aim for the Funny Bone
Lifestyles is looking to inform consumers about their product both by using humor and with open discussions about sex. "The Noah and Baron videos embrace the idea that safe sex can be fun sex at the same time," said Carol Carozza, vp of marketing at Lifestyles Condoms, Red Bank, N.J. "Boys will be boys, and girls will be girls, but safety and open lines of communication should always be top priority."The video shorts are representative of Lifestyles Condoms' advertising theme, "What's yours?" Agency AMP, Boston, handled production, which took place in The Netherlands, Sweden and Slovakia.
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Ashton Kutcher’s Katalyst Media To Release Interactive Web Content
They are preparing to launch new interactive web content (with an emphasis on the interactive part) and are doing a bit of a road show to see what Silicon Valley thinks of their ideas. I had a chance to see some of the content and hear their monetization strategy. And while I can’t say much yet, this is clearly going to be really entertaining stuff. Advertisers in particular are likely to flock to the platform.Ashton Kutcher’s Katalyst Media To Release Interactive Web Content
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MediaPost Publications - P&G Unit Chief Lights The Way To Entertained Consumers - 04/18/2008
MediaPost Publications - P&G Unit Chief Lights The Way To Entertained Consumers - 04/18/2008"The danger zone no marketer should inhabit is brands or products that are highly amplified but not advocated: never use the term 'buzz marketing.' Buzz marketing is the danger zone." He says the Office Max Elf buzz campaign--in which consumers create and email to friends, animated dancing elves of themselves during the holidays last year--is an example of sound and fury signifying nothing. "Some 123 million people 'elfed' themselves," he says. "It got incredible viral amplification. But same-store sales declined 7.5%. Don't go for the head fake."
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Invention Lab Powered by RadioShack®
Invention Lab Powered by RadioShack® 
Who says "traditional" brand marketers can't join the Web 2.0 revolution?!?! RadioShack has joined forces with make: magazine, itself a paragon of hipness and kewl-o-city, to demonstrate DIY home electronics you can make yourself from common, pedestrian parts found at your local RS store. They're asking people to upload project ideas and fostering community. Nicely done.
I found this by clicking an ad banner (e-gad!) on boingboing - the gadget site - because my good friend and UXD expert Mike Brooks sent me a video link.
So, there you have it. Social interaction leads to spontaneous discovery leads to brand renewal for an "old" retail brand. There's hope for this whole "Net" thing after all.
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Hiking the trail blazed by lonelygirl - Los Angeles Times
The problem with open frontiers is that the people seeking to colonize them, to borrow a quote from Ms. South Carolina, simply "don't have maps." Which is why, almost two years after lonelygirl15, no Web series has established a viable, let alone profitable homestead.But this week, more wagons are arriving.Hiking the trail blazed by lonelygirl - Los Angeles Times
On Monday, Sony Pictures Television launched C-Spot, an online comedy channel featuring six sharply produced programs with enough short episodes to fill a 13-week season.And today, it's Jessica Rose herself. The almost-21-year-old actress from New Zealand will soon return to the online world as the star of "Blood Cell," a new horror-thriller from Web TV studio 60Frames Entertainment, directed by Eduardo Rodriguez. The show, whose trailer went up Tuesday night at deadcelldeadfriend.com, follows Rose's character, Julia, as she contends with an unseen murderer who will talk to her only via her fancy photo- and video-enabled cellphone. Which hopefully gets good reception because, as the name of the website suggests, if Julia's signal goes dead, a blond somewhere gets it.
Going along with the conventional wisdom about online audience-building, C-Spot and 60Frames will "syndicate" their shows, allowing them to play on several platforms. C-Spot shows will appear on Sony's Crackle, Hulu and AOL Video, while 60Frames can be seen on Bebo, Blip.tv, iTunes, MySpace and others. And everyone's on YouTube.
Revenue-sharing deals allow the creators to get a piece of the advertising pie no matter where their shows get watched.
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Contagious News - The Lost Ring by McDonald's
This week sees the launch of The Lost Ring, an ARG to neatly remind us that it’s not only the sexy advertisers - the movies, the games - that get to play in this space. In an odd yet intriguing pairing, fast food giant McDonald’s is sponsoring the game in conjunction with the International Olympic Committee.Contagious News Article
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iMedia Connection: 3 reasons to ditch your microsites
Sean X Cummings, the director of marketing at Ask.com and a former colleague, has captured all the reasons (and more!) why I dislike microsites. I prefer to see marketers sincerely invest in their primary brand websites.
I do not even know where to start with my rant on microsites. They are the bane of the online space, produced by those who do not comprehend the implications of launching them and do not understand the underbelly that they leave behind. They are expensive, they use up agency resources, they become orphans almost overnight, and they are only useful in providing traditional agencies with fodder for winning more business.iMedia Connection: 3 reasons to ditch your microsites
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HarperCollins Will Post Free Books on the Web - New York Times
Note: This widget is offered by HarperCollins to help spread the word about its new free online book reader.
In an attempt to increase book sales, HarperCollins Publishers will begin offering free electronic editions of some of its books on its Web site, including a novel by Paulo Coelho and a cookbook by the Food Network star Robert Irvine.The idea is to give readers the opportunity to sample the books online in the same way that prospective buyers can flip through books in a bookstore.“It’s like taking the shrink wrap off a book,” said Jane Friedman, chief executive of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide. “The best way to sell books is to have the consumer be able to read some of that content.”HarperCollins Will Post Free Books on the Web - New York Times
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