Coke's Happiness Machine Ad Wins Rave Reviews

This video Ad has gone viral, with over a million views and still counting.  It is a perfect example of featuring the brand prominently without being "salesy."  The video Ad is compelling but not overdone - there are even a few surprises.  Can you  imagine doing a  video Ad like this for your company's products or services?  

London Video Captures Spirit of Local Culture

Here's a video that's clearly the best tool for capturing the unique local culture of Cockney Rhyming Slang. Text and images couldn't have conveyed the essence of the language so well.

How to Market a Hoover Creatively over YouTube

We're back, having been away for the first 2 months of 2009. We were busy opening a new line of business (making everyone at Brave Boat Studios certifiably crazy, I suppose.)

Here's an innovative video ad from China, with a surprise twist at the end. Somehow it isn't quite what you'd expect, which is probably why it was so popular on YouTube:

Hoover Marketing Ad Popular on YouTube

Well, we're back. We've been away for the first few months of 2009, opening a new line of business. (Yes, we're all certifiably crazy here at Brave Boat Studios.)

This is an ad from China which kind of transcends the language barrier. With a surprise ending, you can see why it was so popular on YouTube:

Unique Market Niche

We've been closed down for a week due to a severe ice storm. So here we are, back in Studio, with more interesting video marketing for you.

Here's a most unusual line of business:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

This is one of those product lines for which web video is ideally suited, don't you agree? Can you think of any other unusual product lines that would be best served by streaming video web marketing?

Nuns on a Family Phone Plan? Check it Out - It's a Great Ad!

We're back, after a hefty Thanksgiving hiaitus...
Here's a terrific, well-done ad from Macedonia -
The nuns in this convent need a Family Phone Plan!


Don't you think it's terrific? What a great idea! How could this ad have been even better?

Visual Artist Creating Forms of LIfe - Compelling Visuals

Artist Theo Jansen demonstrates the amazingly lifelike kinetic sculptures he builds from plastic tubes and lemonade bottles. His creatures are designed to move -- and even survive -- on their own.


These are really engaging ideas. Doesn't it change the way you think visually? Theo has been called another DaVinci and we agree. Do you?

Yellow Cabs Rebranded? Marketing Expert Martin Lindstrom Comments

Worldwide branding changes are highlighted by well-known marketing expert Martin Lindstrom. 3 key lessons - watch:


Minimal changes can still drive major publicity buzz. What are some other examples of modest branding changes that drove significant PR buzz?

Skoda Fabia Ad: Sweet!

Skoda's ad is delectable and one we can all relate to, don't you think?

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?

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?

The Klondike Contest - This Guy Won $100,000!

Check this out: Klondike sponsored a contest in which the best Klondike video wins $100,000 as a grand prize. Here's Joel Levinson, who won. He literally took himself on a POLAR TREK, ending at the Arctic Circle:



Would a contest like this promote your firm's product well? We're trying to see if it'd work for us, (although the prize would likely be more like a hefty $2.00. )

Question to our (still silent, ever-lurking) minions of viewers: Why do you think these contests have such widespread public appeal? There were multiple top contenders for this contest prize and the traffic to their videos is astounding. Klondike got some great press out of this one. Why do people watch or participate in video contests like this?

Bitter Beer Reinforces its Brand with an Unusual Rendering of its Theme Song

Here's a great video ad from Australia. They've got the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra playing the theme song for Bitter Beer, on beer bottles, no less! Ingenious and very well done:




Creating video ads to run on the web is an interesting marketing exercise, as long as you're thinking outside the box. In fact, we suggest you try giving the assignment to the IT folk, or some group that isn't generally charged with responsibility for marketing at all. Sometimes those are the people with the best ideas. What's your product or service, and what might you do to get creative, inexpensively?

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

The Hula Chair - Great Idea, But We're Seasick...

The Crew here at Brave Boat Studios got kind of seasick watching this next Infomercial. Interesting idea, but the usual poor quality of video. (This company didn't know about Brave Boat Studios...)



It's kind of a neat product idea we suppose, if you have a high tolerance for wiggling. If only the video quality had been better, we could have built one heck of an interesting microsite to sell it.

Just another example of a unique product which missed a great marketing opportunity due to low quality video. If you've got a great product, call the Crew here at Brave Boat Studios and we'll shoot/encode your video stream so it's sharp and clear on your web.

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?

"Milk, Milk, Milk, NOT MILK " Video

If you haven't seen this before, it's a wonderful, eclectic presentation by world-reknowned web marketer and mass-media guru, Seth Godin. We love it. Enjoy it and absorb the critical market positioning information Seth shares here. I guarantee you'll keep noodling it over and over, seeing different applications in your own business marketing strategy, for what Seth teaches. I call it:

"Milk, Milk, Milk, NOT MILK"

(And Why It Matters to Web Marketers )

"Sliced Bread and Other Marketing Delights"

(Remarkable Purple Cows, etc.)

So, what do you think?

It's all about differentiating your company's expertise/services/products from the rest of the pack, isn't it?

Some time ago, we changed the positioning of our Studio's services and saw some interesting results. We used to position our offerings as web development services but in fact we specialize in services most web developers don't offer -- commercial videography and streaming video interactive web.

Once we started to position those offerings with marketing and visibility-building services, MAYDAY! MAN OVERBOARD! (The inquiries started rolling in. ) Why? Think about it:

SEO services, Pay-Per-Click, Paid Inclusion, Interative Streaming Video Web Services

Get it?

Carol Hamel-White, CEO

Brave Boat Studios