I love that YouTube videos are timeless and all of us can re-live ridiculous moments years later. At eROI, we have dozens and dozens of those moments captured over the past many years on the eROI YouTube channel here >>. So, why am I doing a Flashback blog post? Yesterday, I had a client meeting with my friend James Adair and the typical client meeting turned into something so much better after watching the below video on our big screen. The second video is of distinguished Portland PR specialist, JulieAnna Little Giannini. She was the winner at eROI Idol, so it was only appropriate to include her video as well.
Reunite on Ice (ROI) - you inspired me last night. I yelled my heart out for you. I sang off-key in the shower this morning. I can’t stop thinking about how awesome your performance was last night at PAF’s Battle of the Bands.
Everyone was amazing - Mike on the drums, Mitch on keyboards, Sam in his acid-washed jeans on the bass, Alex w/ some insane guitar solos and even better facial expressions, James for belting it out then ripping off his shirt at the appropriate time, Chris for some mad freestyle rapping to “Another One Bites the Dust”, but the MVP goes to the mustache-wearing, hip-gyrating Victor Nakada with special moves like the fake tear streaming down his face, high intensity - AMAZING.
I’ve had proud moments of my teams in the past, but this one was one of the proudest.
Thanks for bringing home the trophy yet again! And, thanks to all the eROI band supporters - I hope you all show up to Band Camp this summer. Because, that one time…at band camp…
Mahalo is on a role. First, the controversial TechCrunch review of Mahalo’s founder blog entry on expecting employees to work 16 hours a day every day because he does (which I wholeheartedly disagree with). Now, their YouTube retro video is truly good stuff and relevant to the email marketing world. Mahalo, the human search company, is trying to show how pull technology like search doesn’t have the flaw of spam, but the creative is strong enough to get a chuckle out of it.
Not sure there is much biz there, but that’s really the point. My wife and I are going to a pretty remote area of the country and we’re looking forward to some good outdoor adventure there.
I’ll share some appropriate pics and video upon my return and try to make it somewhat relevant to the online marketing world, but for now, I’m going to enjoy a well-deserved week off blog posts, among others. Did a little research on YouTube, and thought I’d share this one:
I’m surprised this ad has less than 9,000 views on YouTube. It’s brilliant and has the potentially to be passed around from inbox to inbox because it hits the mark with nearly everyone older than 24 years old who will always view themselves in that 24 year old body. I need some Centrum Silver vitamins. Check it out:
I guess this video reflects the wacky culture of the ultra-individualist who has defined Web 2.0 and “the long tail” of quirky interests. If you think this video is just plain annoying, please comment below, and I’ll remove it from the blog. In my eyes, it’s clever, makes its point, but is borderline gratingly-annoying. Let me know your thoughts. Thx.
A co-worker emailed me a blog link with all the inventions from Dadpreneurs (Dad entrepreneurs). One of those inventors sites really struck my funny bone - the Diaper Vest from DadGear.com. Check out the video demos on the site. Very cool. However, on second thought, what do you do with a really dirty diaper? Do you put it in your vest right under your nose? Do these vests start looking like life preservers after a while - super bulky, Marshmellow vests? As a Dad, function reigns supreme (who cares what you look like or smell like), so I think I’ll get one of these things for my next gift and test it out around the neighborhood.
Here’s another competitor’s vest from TacticalDaddy.com. It was the only video on “Diaper Vests” that I could find on YouTube:
My buddy, Paul Anthony, sent me this YouTube video of his client buying a licensed song through his company’s website. As Paul mentions, it’s the first time anyone has ever licensed a song for business purposes on an iPhone. I like everything about the video, but it got me thinking just how pervasive the buzz and media hype has gotten around this thing. What’s next - iPhone usage in the bathroom? How far will it go?
Full disclosure: I don’t have an iPhone, so I’m purely commenting on what I’ve read.
A former Intel employee and current friend of mine sent me this hilarious and accurate video on Intel life. Four years of my life after college was spent near Pole J9 at Jones Farm campus AND Pole N3 at Ronler Acres. Great company, but brutally drab and hopeless interior space planning.
If you haven’t had a chance to watch our holiday video, you are missing out on a few good laughs. It’s home-grown, hand made, and poor video production, but the content is original and it’s always fun to watch a group of people that really enjoy one another and have a good time.Check out the eROI Holiday Video >>
3. Greater integration of Video into all websites. Yesterday, I visited the homepage of CRM juggernaut, Salesforce.com, and was immediately struck by how quickly the video flash piece engaged me. Video is not just for TV and YouTube anymore. The ShaveEverywhere site proved that the use of video within viral sites is hugely engaging and effective in converting sales. We will see more large, medium, and small businesses integrate video into their primary and campaign websites in 2007. One trend we will likely see will be an increase in the use of “Webisodes”, where 3-5 minute daily or weekly video clips will entice users to come back to sites for more all-web programming.
6. Great Content is King. Quality content is more important now than ever before. Each of us receives dozens of email newsletters on a daily basis. There are over 100 million viewings DAILY on YouTube. One in twenty visits on the web is to a social networking site where new content is generated every second. There is a glut of content and it’s only going to get more crowded. The key point worth noting is that the few companies providing great content are HUGE winners because of all of the online and offline marketing channels that work together in a sort of crescendo effect, amplifying the messaging of well positioned brands. Word of mouth spreads so much faster than it used to through blogs, iTunes, YouTube, MySpace, websites, and online press. Fans of the TV program “Grey’s Anatomy” can convert non-believers because the content of the show is good enough to keep them once they’ve heard about it. The opposite holds true of “Snakes on a Plane” which had a huge online following, but bombed at the box office because the content sucked. Keep this in mind when strategizing and implementing your next viral marketing site or email campaign.
It’s Thanksgiving Day and it’s that time of year again when eROI makes its outlandish predictions for the year to come. In prior years we have given you a mix of business and personal lifestyle predictions, but this year we’re sticking to just the online marketing world. We busted out our omniscient crystal ball and this is what it told us:
Top 10 Online Marketing Predictions for 2007
10. Social networking will get more and more niche. Social Networking has blanketed the news for the past 18 months because it works. YouTube and MySpace have built loyal communities through entertaining user-generated content and great tools for communicating with other like-minded people. However, Social Networking is going NICHE. People use specific tools to connect, recommend, rate, and communicate within their niche groups. For this reason, there are many types of Social Media now and there will be five times this many by the end of next year:
No I am not going to bang the idea that we can all shoot video. I am just going to share with you another brand that is getting into asking everyone to create an ad and upload it. With YouTube we are all now experts it seems. Or at least novices that can make some compelling stories that others will watch. Are we all voyeurs? Is it just human nature to want to watch others? Or are we creating a online community that owns the brand? Owns the content? And brands are just a way to express yourself around a feeling they emote?
I have lot of questions around what is happening with the social and video sites.
Not sure, but what I do know is the JACK in the BOX is hit a few times a week by the eROI team and I have a digitial video camera in my office. Maybe we might hit the Jackies.
http://jackinthebox.com/jackies/
Social Networking has blanketed the news for the past 18 months because it works. YouTube and MySpace have built loyal communities through entertaining user-generated content and great tools to communicate with other like-minded people. However, Social Networking is going NICHE. People enjoy specific tools to connect, recommend, rate, and communicate within their niche groups.
For this reason, there are many types of Social Media:
When Does One Permission Overwrite The Other - In the world of multichannel and location opt in and opt out how do you keep your lists in sync? Can you?
Let me put some scenarios on the table to give you some real world examples of challenges I have been facing in some recent work with a retailer.
1. Your customer opts in from your [...]
Here is a great example of making your transactional email more than just a notification. When done right, transactional email can be a great branding opportunity.
Check out this awesome shipping confirmation email from Cd Baby below (click to enlarge).
