Last Friday the Society for New Communications Research (SNCR) awarded coBRANDiT client Daily Grommet with a 2009 Commendation of Excellence in the Corporate Media Creation category. This award recognizes our innovative use of video in Daily Grommet's social media powered e-commerce site, and is a reflection of the Grommet team's willingness to experiment with new forms of video production. From their award application:

"Video production is handled by coBRANDiT, they've proven to be wonderful partners able to adjust to our changing needs. They built us a basic in-office studio, provide professional 1 and 2 camera HD shoots on a weekly basis, got us started with Flip video cameras (plus assistance, training, and a tip sheet for new users), manage regular ooVoo video chats, and generally counsel us on content development and continuous improvement, all while handling daily editing of the content that floods in. Our videos now consist of a mix of studio content as well as material shot by our office staff, Grommet creators, and assorted family and friends. coBRANDiT sends us finished, compressed videos in the 2 formats we require and provides ongoing strategic assistance related to video distribution."

Congratulations to the Daily Grommet team, and thank you for bringing us along on the ride! Read more about our work with Daily Grommet here, or click on over and see it live at DailyGrommet.com. Watch the vid above for Daily Grommet's take on "citizen commerce".

What constitutes success in the world of B2B video? Is it view count? Comments? Embeds? SEO results? How do we measure engagement? This deck examines successful examples of video usage in the B2B environment, and compares B2B video with B2C. This deck was originally presented at The Conference Board, NYC, October 16, 2009. For more detail please contact Owen Mack, coBRANDiT.

Here's a compilation of the Q&A from the video distribution webinar we recently ran on behalf of WOMMA. Thanks again to all who participated, and if you have further questions don't hesitate to get in touch.

Q: Basic question: What is the optimal place for your video to reside (generally)? On your site, on YouTube, both, etc.

A: There really is no one "best place", though there may be places that drive more traffic than others based on your use of the social web. In practice, many of my clients place their vids on youtube (and perhaps a few other video sharing sites) and then embed the vid in facebook, their site/blog, etc. and then tweet about it or otherwise publicize it. Kinda depends on what you're trying to achieve with the video, and where your audience resides.

Q: Do you convert all video for IPOD downloads?

A: We do not convert video for iPods unless we believe there is a good reason to. The fact of the matter is that getting your vids set up to run in iTunes is kind of a PIA, and unless you're producing a stream of content it really makes no sense. Discovery is tougher in iTunes, so you really have to market your channel aggressively. Furthermore, iPhone users can watch on YouTube already, so they're covered. I think iPod conversion makes sense if you're making vids that really are about portability, like a city travel guide or something that people would need to have with them.

Q: Do you know of any media companies effectively using video to retain/gain audience?

A: Of the big media co's i think NBC is the leader. The example I used in the webinar is the site/content they've built around Heroes: Check it out. You've got to dig around a bit but they've got different levels of content for different levels of interest. I think this is a strategy that could work for any brand/company using video. Here's an interview on the subject we did w/ Matt Allen, the guy behind NBC's digital strategy.

Q: Is there any way to get Street Team Flip video content to download to an office a few hundred miles away?

A: There are license-able platforms available for sharing internal video on a large scale (see VidiTalk for ex.), or you could set up an FTP hub for street teams/editors to use. In practice we use yousendit.com which can be a hassle content management-wise but is fast and cheap.

Q: I'd like to some tips for shooting good video...it appeared on one of the slides.

A: If you're doing Flip vid/street team work you might be interested in our shooting tip sheet:
Check it out here, there's a download-able .pdf at the bottom of the post.

Q: If you have a video posted on YouTube, which is off your site or on a blog, how do you generate a click through to your site? (Since you can't post an actual clickable link on a youtube video). Is it simply them reading the web address on the title of the video and typing it to their browser manually?

A: Yes, if the vid is embedded in some site/location where you have no control over the related text or metadata that's about it. YouTube viewers have to see the title and then manually enter it. But if you're open to using another video sharing platform you can embed a clickable link. See Viddler for ex. Viddler allows you to insert clickable links and messages in the time line. Pretty cool feature, and returns great SEO results.

Q: Is it a good idea for businesses to accept friend requests from individuals on Youtube?

The answer depends upon whether you want to actively engage YouTube viewers in that way or not, and i would advise you to treat YouTube community members the same as any other community platform you may be engaged in (twitter, facebook, etc.) Friending people in any of these environments can help you get your message out, but it does potentially open you to spammers or worse. It's really a community management function, many companies create basic guidlines and have their PR/mktg department monitor comments and friend requests uniformly across a variety of channels.

Q: I'm looking to create a video contest, how do you suggest getting consumers to submit video, social, TV, or radio or all of the above?

A: This is a biggie for which i have no short answer besides: Make the reward good, focus your message, and be prepared to actively market the contest thru paid placements and vigorous community management/outreach. It helps if your contest/promotion is about something that has an enthusiastic, technically savvy fan base. Contests are notoriously tough to get traction with. It's usually music acts that are successful, or mass culture efforts around movies or something.

Q: My blip.tv account was deleted for "advertising." I know that this is one of the sites supported by tubemogul. Should I go back into all of my videos and remove any traces of my company's name, contact number, email, etc?

A: Different sites have different policies concerning the types of content they will support. Blip.tv is particularly focused on episodic, storytelling content and "shows", their business model depends in part upon selling video ads within a popular series. While Tubemogul supports numerous sites, not all of them are appropriate for all types of content. (Tubemogul is a service for batch uploading video to numerous sites simultaneously). I wouldn't worry about cleaning titles, etc. from your videos on other sites. There are plenty of options for free video hosting out there, if one site has a problem and you can't use it, no big deal.

Q: Are any of these "Video Widgets" open source or are they all custom/paid?

A: One good widget building solution I have used is SproutBuilder. Not really open source (or free) but it is inexpensive and very flexible. It's basically a WYSIWYG editor that allows you to build multi-functional widgets, with or without a video component. Sharing features are handled by Gigya/Wildfire, so you can buy paid placement for your widget through their network if desired.

Q: Demographic stats on YouTube (as shown in your example)...do they cost anything?

A: No, they're free. Check "Insights" related to your channel (also available from your "my videos" page), see also the "Statistics & Data" drop down under your individual videos.

Q: How do you get a video featured on YouTube or another video sharing website?

A: Each site has their own methodology for picking featured videos. Some of them are paid, some of them adhere to an algorithm (typically a mix of views/velocity/engagement), some rely on human editors. Such is the case with YouTube. YouTube has 10 people sitting in a secret bunker in an undisclosed location making decisions on what to feature. There is no way to game YouTube's featured front page vids.

That's it. More questions? Get in touch with coBRANDiT!

Related Links: Webinar Q&A Re: Video Distribution, Jeben Berg of YouTube on How to Make Your Videos Successful, Flip Video Shooting Tips for Distributed Production Teams and Novices, Matt Allen of NBC on their innovative online video approach: They give their stars Flip-type cameras for use back stage. coBRANDiT's Capabilities and Case Studies, Get In Touch With coBRANDiT.

For use by distributed production teams and novice camera operators.
Seems like these days it's all about novice teams shooting Flip videos and sending us their content for editing. Here's something Jesse and I have been working on:

Recommendations for Shooting Video With Flip-type Cameras:

Avoid backlit interviews. Try to have subjects lit from the front or side. Do not have their backs to the sun, windows, or bright lights. Natural light is preferable to other light sources.

Hold camera 30” to 48” from subject so their head and shoulders fill the viewfinder. This will also improve audio quality. Shoot with the camera close to your eye level and face.

Avoid using zoom. Instead move the camera closer or further away. Need a close-up? The Kodak Z16 has a macro-lens that will do the trick.

Be aware of how much ambient noise there is. Sudden loud noises are worse than a steady hum of activity.

Shooting where there is action behind the subject increases the interest of the composition & can enhance the story. Find a spot out of the way but in the subject’s typical environment.

Get details of the subject’s routine, things they do every day that will illustrate their character, their core values, or both. When shooting this type of content, treat the video camera like you’re taking a photograph. Hold the camera motionless on a scene for 10 seconds and let people/cars/objects move through it. If you want to follow or track motion, try to start or stop your movement with a still shot.

Shoot B-roll to illustrate detail and provide an overview of the scene. Get subjects to say/spell their names and titles so we can positively ID them later.

When interviewing someone, ask some softball questions first to get your subject comfortable. Look for an entry to a deeper discussion. Try to get them to summarize their thoughts in a sentence or two.

Have fun with the process and don't worry too much about getting it "right." Good content will compensate for technical difficulties (within reason).

Workflow and Media Management
Flip video cameras require 2 hours to charge on your computer’s USB. Each charge will last for approx. 1.5 hours of video. Plan ahead. If you have a Flip Ultra, they take 2 AA’s. Swap in some new ones and you’re good to go!

Flip video cameras hold 1 hour of video content before they need to be “emptied”. If shooting for more than an hour either have your second camera ready to go or have your laptop booted up and ready to receive video. Have a Kodak Z16 or Z18? Swap out the memory card!

The cameras are similar to accessory hard drives. When you mount the camera to your laptop’s USB the camera will appear as a hard drive. Find the video files (located in DCIM/100Video if you have a Flip) and copy them off to a designated folder and label the files with where they were shot. If using a Flip Mino HD make sure you have LOTS of storage space available. You may want to purchase an accessory hard drive for this purpose.

After transferring video files to your drive, spot check them and make sure the transfer was successful. If so, remove videos from the Flip camera by dragging the contents of “100Video” (or other) to the trash and deleting them. Now you’re ready to shoot more video.

If you wish to send video files via the web, zip the files into a folder and send via http://yousendit.com. Video files are too big to email as an attachment. HD files will take a LONG time to send via web. Cameras may also be sent in for editing via FedEx.

Files can be most readily edited in iMovie or Final Cut Pro. Buy a Mac.

Want a .pdf of this to distribute to your teams? Download here.

Prepared by Jesse Buckley and Owen Mack, coBRANDiT
Video Questions? Call 617.823.9286 or visit www.cobrandit.com. We've also launched a Flip How-To twitter channel that we'll keep updated with new insights. Join in and tell us your tips! NOTE: This page and related .pdf updated 9/19/09

We're pleased to announce that our work on behalf of Flying Dog Brewery has been honored with a Society for New Communications Research Award of Excellence in the Corporate Video category. Here's a link to the case study. You might not think lo-grade video from my cell phone counts as excellence in new communication, but here it is:

Yes, the award is a huge cut glass paperweight.

MEDIAPOST | Owen Mack

TWO MAJOR THEMES IN ANY discussion of online video are advertising and CGM (consumer-generated content, or whatever you want to call it). Some of the questions we're asking: What kind of ads will work best in short-form content? What should these ads look like? And, how are we as marketers going to produce the many different executions necessary for all the geographic, demographic, and use-based targeting that's just around the corner? CGM campaigns run through managed brand communities provide one coming answer.

Well-known examples of CGM ads are big splashy contests like the Superbowl Doritos spot, or failures like the Chevy Tahoe mix-your-own ad ploy. But many smart marketers today are managing (or having managed for them) communities of citizen marketers and brand loyalists, people who are interested in helping out the brands they love -- and these communities are slowly being empowered with video sharing tools. Some of this activity is behind firewalls, some is in the open, and whether you want to call it "advertising" or not, it's often enthusiastic brand content that communicates well to others.

On platforms like Ning and Kickapps, marketers are building spaces where niche audiences of brand lovers share video content about their lives, their creative endeavors, and their brands. And marketers are sharing back, releasing professionally produced insider video, setting up private events, joining the conversation and creating excitement as well as excuses for community members to post more CGM video. And unlike YouTube, marketers have control over what gets posted; though as with blogging, marketers have to have the right voice and tread lightly when it comes to censorship.

But, wait! you say. Who wants to watch a bunch of crappy home videos? Here's where mixing CGM and pro ad content and packaging comes in. Many managed communities give marketers access to the source CGM material. Are you an auto marketer with a new model on tour? Show it off first to community members in your major markets. Encourage them to shoot video and upload it to your site. Pull out the good stuff and edit it together with a clip from the lead engineer or head designer. Do this in each market, and voila! A number of different, low-budget executions you can place wherever video advertising lives. Play the San Francisco clip in San Francisco. Play the design clip for design audiences, the engineer clip for gear-heads. Maybe you luck out and something funny happened during the tour: there's your YouTube viral. This is do-able now.

I don't own a TV. I couldn't care less about the demise of high-dollar :30 spots. If I'm watching short vids on a site like BeBo or Blip.tv, I want to see relevant ads (brand content) that have a similar look and feel to what I'm watching. I want them to be made by people like me, in my city. I want those ads to be user-activated ("bugs" or "tickers") because I want an experience that I can either skip entirely or that draws me in, shows me something I didn't know about a brand. I want an invitation to go deeper, to hear from my peers, and to join the community myself. And I don't think I'm alone.

Article link (Requires free subscription) or see the Video Insider blog.

Here's my presentation from WOMMA's Summit 2, December 11-13 2006. Most video examples mentioned can be seen on my YouTube page (or via the links below), you may also download the presentation in pdf and ppt formats.

Viral Video and Messages: Content That Gets Forwarded

How are brands and companies using web video to reach an opt-in audience?
What are the most innovative strategic uses of social media web video?
Is viral video the best video strategy, and does video need to be viral to be effective?
How does viral video tie into CGM and WOM?
What's new in video sharing technology?

You can't make a video viral; viewers can. Viral video attempts often have a TV approach: the most number of eyeballs possible, brand attributes secondary. Marketers look at CGM viral hits and want some of that. Too often this means Paris Hilton (or similar).

>Paris Hilton Carl’s Jr.

More recent successes have gotten smarter, more aligned with brand:

>Shaveeverywhere.com
>Dove Evolution
>Tea-Partay (maybe not smarter, but a lot more fun)
>Ecko/StillFree
>Blendtec

Why do these videos work? Outrageous/Amusing/Character driven. The product isn’t the star...a person is. There's an increasing emphesis on personal stories, storytellers. This is seen more clearly in brand vlog efforts.

>Amanda Across America
>Ford Bold Moves
>Chasing Kimbia
>DiddyTV

This type of content is potentially viral, and designed to engage a specialized audience with backstories and insider information. To generate WOM and inexpensively release info/messaging that might not otherwise get out there.

>BMW Vodcast
>Weber Nation
>Narragansett Beer Story
>Video enabled Beer Map

And then there’s CGM brand efforts, often contests. These take the form of brand asset remixes (remember Tahoe?) and original content around a theme.

>iamnotafraidofyouandiwillbeatyourass
>Follow the Finger
>Dabble
>Tokion/Dewar's

Of particular note is Current TV's V-CAM (Viewer Created Ad Message) program. Citizen producers earn $1000 or more from sponsors such as Toyota, T-Mobile, and Sony.

There are video sharing providers out there building tools to manage these contests, and in the process are creating platforms for video-enabled brand communities.

>Jumpcut
>Vitrue
>Vive Network
>Brightcove

And there are others building more general community management platforms that integrate video:

>Street Attack/Yfon's SwitchBoard
>Crowd Factory

Companies that manage brand communities have been gathering important market insights as well as generating substantial WOM messaging. As these companies move to provide their communities with video sharing tools a lot of CGM brand videos will appear.

>Expo TV
>Biore the Blackhead Slayer

Different services, different approaches: Revver, Videoegg, Brightcove allow you to attach your ad to opt-in video content. How well the ads are matched to the video? Check out Google's video AdSense program...

If you are distributing your own vid, you’ll want to look for channels that you can control:
WebVideoZone, Blip TV.

Video Search: What do you want people to find when they type the name of your brand/product/company into a video search engine? My argument: something about how your company is supporting brand enthusiasts, listening to them, and giving them voice.

Conclusion: There's more to it than viral video. Viral video is a mass market ploy that often leads to least-common-denominator tactics. Instead, do something relevant for insiders & enthusiasts. Figure out what resonates, and what your story is. Deliver that story authentically, with real voice.

That voice may be your customer's.

I've been asked to speak at the WOMMA Summit coming up in December, the session title is "Viral Video and Messages: Content That Gets Forwarded."

While I'm super excited about presenting at a WOMMA Summit, I'm hoping to expand the session a bit. Thing is, if you want to talk about marketer uses for online video, viral is just a small part of the story. The best known (and flashiest) part of the story perhaps, but I don't think the most interesting. The problem with viral video is that it almost always relies on outrageous humor or situations for it's virality. Viral video seeks to be seen by the largest number of people possible, like TV. Viral doesn't care if the brand message is relevant or interesting to the viewer, it's just hoping you'll notice the brand, somewhere in there with all the farts and breasts and rapping WASPs. Most viral vids associated with brands are CGM, and negative. So while viral is a workable strategy for some brands, it's tough to pull off in the right way.

Similar to viral is stuff like YouTube's "brand channels" and Video Egg's opt-in post-roll ads and Google's Video AdSense program--these are brand messages that rely on viewer interest in the product or service offered. While the content is displayed in the same format as a viral video, you know it's an ad (of sorts) and you know what it's about (more or less). If you click on it, it's because you want to see a message from brand X. What can you do as a marketer to make that message compelling? Hint: don't make it look like a TV ad. No bogus sets. No bogus actors.

The next level out is video blogging, or creating a series of ongoing pieces that tell a brand story. Again, you can put this story out through viral channels, but what you're really trying to do is get interested viewers to follow the story on your site, where you can create better context for your message, and provide better tools for your customers and viewers. Current examples of this include Ford (both Bold Moves, and Amanda Congdon's Road Trip, also with the NRDC) and Samuel Adams Brewery. All of these approaches are documentary is style, which means real people, real voices.

The core expression of real people real voices is of course CGM. And there are some fun marketer executions using CGM video, my current fave being iamnotafraidofyouandiwillbeatyourass.com (look for the gnome...that's me). Still though, when it comes to CGM video and marketing activity it seems like the real action is in qualitative research. Trend sites (noteably trendwatching.com) and brand researchers of all sorts watch video sharing sites for a peek into consumer's lives, and companies that employ and/or recruit trendspotters and brand loyalists and bzzagents etc. are getting into providing video tools to their communities. The results of these more focussed assignments are rarely public, but I think we'll increasingly see content come out of these groups that plays as advertising.

For me, that's where the real interest lies: in the crossover between research and brand messaging. I want to see content about brands that shows context, connection to poeple's lives. I want to see work that reads as research to brand managers, documentary advertising to consumers, and provides insight to both.

PS One sort of brand that would thrive by giving users video tools would be sites like PlanetFeedback.com and TripAdvisor.com. (I'd love to put up my video of the shitty buffet, unstaffed bars, and blowing trash at Beaches, Turks & Caicos, $6000/wk).