How to make the boring desirable

All you need is Catherine Zeta-Jones and a wonderful imagination. That's what Unilever had when they created a Hollywood style promotion called "Alchemist"for Lux Shampoo. Now, don't take this the wrong way, but how boring is shampoo? Now, I like clean hair as much as the next person, but when it comes to something as mundane as all this, you're looking at a major marketing challenge. I mean, how do you get their attention? That's why I like what Unilever's Asian arm decided to do, which was make an everyday brand adventuresome, exotic and simply wonderful. Which the filmmakers accomplished in spades with their seven-minute commercial. Who says shorter is better? And another thing about it, as the story unfolds, you are wowed and let in on the joke at the same time, which makes it all even better. Just another great example of what can be accomplished when you allow yourself to re-examine the same old, same old.

Something to Howl About

Last year a new client asked us to help them change public policy in Alaska regarding hunters who track and kill wolves from Airplanes. It is the only state in America that permits it, other places ban the practice as unsportsmanlike and barbaric. We were hired to make a video to make the case for changing the law. A great challenge, since wolves are up there with snakes and vampires as creatures of the night that terrorize and kill. So, the first thing we had to do was show the other side of wolves. They are smart, loyal, devoted to their families, and symbols of the natural world, untamed and free. We made our video and our client put it on the web. Recently they gave us this feedback:

Nearly ½ million people have seen the video

The video recruited Ashley Judd to the cause

The video has been made into 5 ads targeting Gov. Palin

Video and the ads raised the profile of the Alaska wolf campaign during the presidential elections

Coverage of the issue on:

Tina Fey on Saturday Night live twice

Bill Maher, CNN Larry King Live, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, NYT, Wash Post, AP, Politico and on and on and on

And Cine just gave it their highest award, the 2009 Cine Master Series Award in the Professional Non-Telecast Non-Fiction Division. That's alot to howl about.

One in 8 Million - New York Characters in Sound and Images - The New York Times

One in 8 Million - New York Characters in Sound and Images - The New York Times

Maggie Worth, the singing waitress, is just one of One in Eight Million people who make New York the greatest city on earth. She's also one of the people captured in the NY Times website devoted to profiling the men and women who inhabit that eccentric, charming and vital place that so many call home, New York City. Here at this site they answer the question, "who am I?" in their own words. Images from a professional photographer help bring their thoughts to life. Another innovative use of the web that I find fascinating. Maybe it's the voyeur in me, but I'm curious about people, who they are, how they live, what they find worthwhile, and how the world looks from their vantage point. And here it all is, featured as an innovative way of presenting the insightful moment. Featuring real people telling their stories. And a new one added each week.

strength in numbers

It's great when a client takes the time to give you feedback about the results of your efforts. Here's what one said about a complicated PSA project we recently completed involving several days shooting and nine actors:
This afternoon I had a brief conversation regarding the PSA.
"Mr. Y" is "delighted" with our approach and commented on the likability of the actors
and how well it was written for the audience in VA. As you may already know, this is
quite an accomplishment.
What distinguished this project, for me, was how it involved so many people from our shop. One person wrote the script, another produced it, another shot it, another edited it, another did the graphics and another managed it as Creative Director. All bringing their own creative vision to the project. And all working together seamlessly as a team.

On another recent project Ali, my co-editor, and I did "tag team" editing for a series of award videos for another client. Facing an extremely tight deadline, we decided to each play to our strengths to get the job done. So I created the structure for each piece and then handed it off to Ali for finishing. Not how we usually do things, but like everyone else here, we did what we had to do to make it happen. And that's one of the great strengths here - making our collaborative model with everyone working as a team, quite powerful. Strength in numbers.

The Guy's Manual

Being a guy, I was delighted to learn about the Guy's Manual -- powered, as they say, by Grape Nuts. I've always wanted a manual to help me with the finer points of being a guy and now finally there's a manual is full of helpful tips, like how to take your fiancee's poodle for a morning jog, how to install your own home entertainment center, or how to cram a whole nights work into four hours because you just got playoff tickets. You get the idea. All very droll, this Guy's manual. Full of Larry Losers and Hapless Harrys who learn to do the tough stuff with the help of good old Grape Nuts, all told in funny little video vignettes.
I should warn you though, just like Doritos, you can't just do one. And there are dozens of videos out there, dealing with sports, work, family, relationships and cars, all ready to grab your funny bone.

Sharing our stories

The New York Times website has a great interactive feature, inviting people to share their creative energies in describing living through hard times. The project is called The New Hard Times and it features reader created videos. At the site you have Jackson Pollack's descendants reading letters and showing art work he created during the Great Depression, another reader's photo montage of images from that period set to music, interviews with people who survived that devastating era and so on. What an innovative approach to discovering what we all can bring to the table of ideas. And a great creative outlet as well.

They've even posted their own video encouraging you to submit yours.

Crystal Ball Time

Every month or so this tech mag Streaming Media shows up in my in box. Like most of that ilk, it has long articles about which codec is the best for uploading to the web and which CDN is really hot. I mean, boring. But every once in a while I find something in there that peaks my interest. The January issue had an advertisement section asking web tech CEOs to tell us what they saw for the near future. As you would expect, most said that their particular technology was poised to help us all monetize and maximize the user experience. They seem to like that kind of language, kind of an arrogantly friendly approach to selling their wares.

But a few actually had something to say. Here are some of their more interesting quotes for your consideration.

"It's an exciting time for video on the Internet. Online video has become mainstream and represents a viable alternative to traditional television viewing. Video played a larger role than ever in the recent election with millions of people using their broadband connections to watch the presidential debates. Online video will become the typical 'web experience' that users associate with the Internet, and will become just as instantaneous and real-time as web page browsing is." --Grant Kirkwood, CTO of Mzima Networks

"We believe Internet TV is poised for new, rapid growth because of the financial downturn. As enterprises, associations and government agencies scramble to cut costs the potent value proposition offered by Internet TV stands out." -- Dave Gardy, Chairman & CEO of TV Worldwide

"I'm often surprised by claims that the rise of online video represents a huge shift in consumer behavior. Looking at the videos that people watch, the actual information being consumed hasn't changed - the medium of delivery has. Instead of surfing for a funny web page, consumers are now surfing for a funny video. The truth is ... video has become the vehicle for conveying that information." -- Dan Castles, CEO Telestream

So, I think what one see's in one's crystal ball depends a lot on attitude. There has always been an ebb and flow in demand for projects in our industry. But looking at the past few years the web and other virtual venues have created a whole new area for video. So just as the typical length of projects has shortened (remember when a typical client video would be 20 to 30 minutes?) the need for different forms and approaches (like podcasts) has grown. And I believe there will always be a need for good judgment, clear thinking and creativity. For me, that's what effective communication is all about.