Unique and Engaging Use of Technology by Ikea

Ikea has created a terrific interactive site this time, which allows the viewer to use music or voice to interact with the site.  Really great!
Ikea's Terrific New Interactive Site

The Cheering Squad

This is one of those "banned " ads. Why do you think it was banned, when it's simply funny?
Why is it funny?

Amazing Jellyfish-like Simulation - Smart Technology

Here's our favorite of the week. It's from Festo, a German technology firm. Can you imagine having simulated so perfectly the movements of a jellyfish?




What will they use this technology for? Without video, wouldn't it be hard to explain what they'd accomplished?

Elevator Pitch for a "Frankenstein" Product

This is an interesting 60-second Moment of Fame for a most unusual product:



Would you invest?

Market Research via In-the-Street-Video

Here's one entrepreneur who takes his market research right to the customer, on the street, on video. Watch his technique and think about the amount of valuable market research he captures:



We think this sponteneous form of video makes a great web marketing tool - it's like a video testimonial to the uniquely desirable attributes of the product. Does your firm do this? Why or why not? Is it harder or somewhat different, if your product is a service?

Smart Business: Creating Buzz for New Products

Here's video picked up by MSNBC about a small company that knows how to create new product buzz and time it perfectly, for new product introduction. Who says video stories aren't powerful press opportunities?




What's your business story?

Really Serious Eats - Japan Dairy Council

This is some teacher!


An ad for dairy - what do you think of the special effects? We think they somewhat overwhelm the marketing message. What do you think the actual message is?

Seth Godin again: Ideas That Spread, Win!

Food for thought, literally!
Do you know what TV THINKING is? Watch:


PAY ATTENTION (and start actively blogging with us. We'll look forward to hearing what you think.)

Microsoft's Shoe Circus- Bill Gates & Jerry Seinfeld

We love this series from Microsoft. In this one, Jerry and Bill meet at Shoe Circus and the point of the Ad is subtly made at the very end. Really cute:



Is this Marketing Genius or is it just silly? What's so compelling about this Ad?

Schweppes Beautiful Video Ad

Here's an example of a video ad that applied imagination and beautiful presentation to get its message across. This is a 2008 Ad which used slow motion cameras capturing at 10k frames/second:




Let's hear it, what do you think of this? Could you imagine your product presented similarly?

Company Creates Video Episodes to Promote Product

Here's Blendtec of Utah, a company that sells Blenders. They've created a terrific series of Video episodes as a marketing platform. The theme of the marketing video channel is "WILL IT BLEND?"

And wow, will it ever!

View Episode here


Check out the site for the rest of the episodes and tell us what you think about this form of marketing. We've got several clients beginning to use this method, so stay tuned...

What can you do with your product or service to create a video magnet like this? Tell us - we can hear you breathing... lurking... take the chance and WRITE (or at least draw.)

Grins- Carol & the Crew
Brave Boat Studios
www.braveboat.net

Passion (and viral marketing) Can Drive Your Business Forward

Here's an interesting case:
Tom's passion is providing shoes for children who cannot afford any. He has very little money and zero marketing budget. Watch how he successfully uses his passion to drive word-of-mouth and word-of-mouse, to propell his mission/company forward:



Tell us how you get creative about driving word-of-mouth& mouse. Does your passion drive any part of your business and how do you incorporate that?

Our sizeable, growing viewer audience is extremely quiet, but we know most are businesses not entirely accustomed to the VLOG format. It's ok to LURK awhile longer, but we'd like to start hearing from our viewers. We don't expect you to load up video here, just text your thoughts. Perhaps you have links to other, related video content; just insert the links and the entire audience will likely check out the content.

So, comment-away!

Carol & Crew
Brave Boat Studios, York Harbor, ME

You've Got 60 Seconds. What's Your Elevator Pitch?

Everyone has about 60 seconds of Fame in this life, according to MSNBC (well, Andy Warhol too...) What's your business "elevator pitch?" Anything like this one? Check it out:

Video on your web lets you take advantage of the very brief time you have to make visitors stay or click off elsewhere. If your commercial web doesn't have a video "elevator pitch," you're missing a very productive marketing opportunity.

Ready, set, go: You've got 60 seconds. What's your pitch? My mouse is right here and I'm ready to click away if I don't SEE some VIDEO that gives it to me, short-and-sweet.

What does it take to storyboard your business Elevator Pitch? Just a little brainstorming, perhaps with the Motley Crew here aboard this Brave (and somewhat leaky) Boat.

I'm getting the feeling lots of folk are LURKING on this vlog but not getting aboard by commenting and sharing their ideas. Go ahead, comment! (We won't make you walk the plank. )

Carol Hamel-White
Brave Boat Studios

Seinfeld/Gates Video Ad vs. "I'm a PC" Video Ad

Interestingly, Microsoft's Seinfeld/Bill Gates commercials actually surpassed their "I'm a PC" counterpart ads. (You'll remember that the "I'm a PC" Ad was in response to Apple's "Get a MAC" ads.)

We read that the Seinfeld/Gates ad surpassed "I'm a PC" by over 4 million viral video views. (And judging by the Seinfeld/Gates video content, probably at significantly lower cost!)

See the videos here:

I'm a PC:


Seinfeld/Gates Ad:



So, why was Seinfeld/Gates more popular? The pundits have a few guesses:


Abbey Klasson of Advertising Age reports: BrandIndex, which measures online buzz, said the Gates/Seinfeld campaign was successful in generating buzz and that Microsoft has carried that momentum into its new campaign. And while buzz scores have flattened out over the past five to six days, when the Gates/Seinfeld ads were replaced by the "I'm a PC" ads, Microsoft's buzz levels are still significantly higher than where they were just before the campaign launched.
paidContent weighs in:The reason [for the Seinfeld / Gates commercials’ success]? All the hate sparked dialogue and interest online.
Peter Kafka of Silicon Alley Insider proposes:Here's the thing, though: People love watching the horrible, despicable, please-don't-make-us-see-this-anymore Seinfeld/Gates ads.

So in the ends, the Crew at Brave Boat Studios offers the idea that if your Ad doesn't show people something that irritates them, wakes them up or shocks them, it's unlikely to go truly viral. Ideas and content that rock people's thinking is really what you're after. Put together things that don't normally go together and don't be afraid to try something a little edgy.

Guerilla Marketing - Creativity Accelerated

Increasingly, more companies are turning to guerilla marketing to steal the public's attention in creative and surprising ways. Thinking creatively and using the latest streaming video technology can produce new sales leads and market "buzz" for your company. In this next video, Wendy Bounds reports on how some business owners are succeeding with guerilla marketing:






Even OfficeMax is using guerilla marketing! Here's the new StickyNotes campaign you'll see on TV:





Here's how the Cool Girl Skate Team came to be; Guerilla Marketing at it's best:



Does your marketing approach get the prospect's attention visually and by piquing curiosity?

93 Year Old Co. Sure Fit, Inc. Uses Video Marketing

Who says a 93 year old company can't be hip, fresh and well.... ugly?

Here's a (low resolution) video ad by slipcover manufacturer Sure Fit, Inc. that shows how even companies with traditional product lines can use web video to raise brand awareness. Without ever trying to pitch or sell anything, this video webmercial informs about the brand and product line through a simply messy story:





According to national studies done earlier this year, webmercials that have a humorous tint seem to make the strongest impression.

What storyline creates brand awareness for your company without selling anything directly? Get Creative! Tell us what you think about this webmercial.