Actober.com : Getting Into The Act With Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) decided to jump into the amplified word of mouth ring this year with Actober, a chance for baseball fans to reenact their favorite postseason moments by creating their own user generated content (UGC). Participants got to script, shoot, and edit their own video and upload it to MLB for a chance to win 2 tickets to this year’s World Series. MLB is even providing participants with downloadable video clips (of baseball's famous moments) ready to be edited into their own user generated videos. More on this later in the post.
How it Works Each week for 10 weeks, MLB posted a list of famous postseason moments on the website. Participants could then choose a famous moment and create their own video reenacting that moment. The 5 most compelling videos each week were chosen by MLB and posted on the site (actober.com) where fans were able to vote for their favorites. After each of the 10 weekly winners was chosen, the finalists were posted on the actober website for a final fan vote. That’s where they are now in the contest… The 3 winners will receive 2 tickets (each) to this year’s World Series. Pretty interesting concept… so I decided to check it out.
Cast Your Vote Right now, you can check out the website to view the 10 finalists as chosen by the fans. As you would expect with UGC, some clips are great and others make you cringe a little… That said, the concept for the campaign is a good one. Get people involved, make it fun, promote sharing, and give away something of worth to your targeted audience. My favorite video is definitely the Time Machine by Andrew Bradley. Now, I’m a Yankees fan (as most of my readers know already), so you better believe I wasn’t about to vote for a Red Sox video! :-) That said, the curse of A-Rod even made me laugh… Definitely check it out.
Some notes about the site and contest: * I love that MLB provided the actual video and audio for participants to download so they can use that footage in their own UGC videos. Very smart… and obviously increases the production value of the videos. The music industry should take note of this…
* The entries tab took me to a page that had links for past winners and all other entries, but I wasn’t really sure I was seeing all of the entries… It seemed that I was only allowed to view a select group. I really wanted to check out a page holding thumbnails of all the other videos (youtube-like). This might have been just a usability issue, but it’s something they should change for future video contests.
* They have a lame forward to a friend email. The process is solid on the site, but the creative that is sent to you is really flat. It’s plain text, no baseball visuals, and a one line message that yields as much excitement as watching the Royals play the Devil Rays…in May. They definitely need to improve this…
* MLB might be asking too much from its audience. For example, they might be asking too much of visitors and participants to vote on a weekly basis and then wait for a final vote up to 10 weeks later. Let’s face it, when it comes to user participation, requiring too much from your community is the kiss of death. I like the contest, but I’m not sure the process was the best one to use.
Did it Work? So, did the campaign drive more people to watch the postseason? I doubt it. I’m a huge baseball fan, but too much of the audience draw is based on factors outside of what MLB does from a marketing standpoint. For example, the team locations drive ratings, so Colorado and Arizona won’t help MLB gain much needed viewers for advertising dollars. Also, since the Yankees and Mets aren’t involved at this stage knocks out a HUGE audience in the Greater New York area. Football (both college and the NFL) are now in season, which takes away viewers from the baseball postseason. And of course, how competitive and compelling each postseason series is will help or hurt ratings… For example, if a game is 7-1 by the fourth inning, you are going to lose viewers… If a team is going to sweep another in a championship series, then you’ll lose viewers. Boston is the only team with a widespread following still in the postseason, so the ALCS is probably doing ok. However, if Cleveland wins, ratings will sink even lower… On the other hand, the NLCS is probably tanking ratings-wise, with Colorado and Arizona fighting it out. Let’s face, both are small market teams.
Anyway, definitely check out the actober website to view the top 10 clips and to cast your vote. With regard to watching the postseason, I’ll help MLB out here! Boston plays at Cleveland tonight, October 15th at 7PM on FOX. That said, the New York Giants (football) also play tonight on Monday Night Football... So, unfortunately for baseball, you can probably guess which station NY sports fans will be watching…
After you check out the actober website, let me know what you think.
Let me set the stage. Take approximately a dozen teenagers with the parents of one of the teenagers away on vacation for 10 days. Then, over 7 days, those teenagers engineered what can only be considered the best slip n slide I’ve ever seen. It sounds like a scene from Risky Business, doesn’t it? Well, the end-result was risky, since any one of the teenagers involved could have been seriously injured. But, like hundreds of thousands of other viewers on the web, I was glued to the 5 minute viral video that you can view on SpikedHumor.com, YouTube, or several other social media sites. Read on.
What is Ron’s Slip n Slide Extravaganza? You actually have to see it to believe it, but imagine a 60 foot slip and slide built on the side of a house (yes, you begin your slip and slide journey on top of a house!) Then, you slide down a 60 foot slide and hit the jump, which propels you 16-20 feet across the yard into a small inflatable pool. Sound crazy? It is...but you have to give the guys who were involved credit. It is simply amazing to watch them fly through the air after speeding down the 60 foot slip and slide. Some land perfectly in the pool, and as you can probably guess, others don’t! Shot and edited by one of the teenagers, you will be impressed with their video production. And I bet you’ll watch the entire video…I didn’t intend to and then it was over before I knew it. :) View the best slip n slide ever created here.
The Viral Video Results: As of today, there have been 256,648 views on YouTube and 57,464 views on SpikedHumor.com and my guess is that those numbers will keep going up… So I ask you, would you like 314,112 people glued to a video that you produced? Maybe something tied to one of your products or company? Yes, I’m sure you would as long as it's not negative, right?? :)
User Generated Content (UGC) Now, many of the best viral videos are not created by companies or agencies. They are produced by the average person out there who just wants to capture something funny, disturbing, amazing, etc. This is one of those cases. Actually, this video was both hilarious and disturbing at the same time. There are so many companies clamoring to create the same effect, but it’s hard to do when you stage it… You can do it, but it’s not easy.
So, have you created a viral web video that generated results like Ron’s Slip and Slide Extravaganza? And hopefully without hurting anyone? If so, post the link below. We’d love to see it.
I'm a huge fan of horror movies and Halloween ranks as one of my all time favorites. I’m referring to the original Halloween…and not the next 5 or 6 that came out after… OK, Halloween 2 was decent, but like most films, there’s nothing like the original.
So I was shocked to see the commercial for a remake of the original, this one directed by Rob Zombie. At first, I was disappointed that someone would mess with the classic film by John Carpenter, but I must admit that the trailer had me glued to the television. I immediately went to my computer and Googled Halloween 2007 and found several links to the trailer, other movies sites, etc. but not the official website. Interesting. After some digging, I found the official Halloween 2007 site and just like the commercial did, the site had me glued to my dual displays!
Flash and Web Video Marketing Definitely check out the official website to see the trailer and TV spots. There’s some nice flash work on the site… Now, the search marketer in me cringes when I see all flash and no text content (Check out the Google cache for the site here), but we all know this site will get a million links in no time. :) You can navigate around the site via a large kitchen knife, like the one good old Michael Myers uses to kill his victims! Pretty cool…and of course you hear the classic Halloween music, which makes most people shake with fear.
The Rob Zombie Halloween MySpace Page Then there’s a link at the bottom of the website to the official Rob Zombie Halloween MySpace page, which holds a lot of interesting content about the movie. You can watch the trailer, learn more about the cast, view screenshots from the film, view the official soundtrack (which will be coming out on August 21st), etc. The Rob Zombie Halloween MySpace page already has over 82,000 friends. Not bad. :)
So Can it Compete? Well, do remakes ever compete with the original?? It definitely has a fresh feel, which I really like. I need to see and hear more, and the proof is in the pudding, but they are off to a great start marketing the film. Halloween fans will probably want to at least check it out and my guess is that many will pay to see it. That said, Word of Mouth Marketing (WOM) can make or break the movie. If it doesn’t live up to the original, it could bomb…and if it brings a new view of a classic horror legend, it could make boat loads of money. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
How Much is that Flash Video Presentation in the Window? Heighten Marketing and Director's View
We receive a lot of calls and questions about the flash video presentation on our homepage and I wanted to clear up any confusion about what is handling this presentation. Some people think that Director's View is handling the synced video and supporting content, but the current version of Director's View doesn't handle syncing content to video (notice I say current version). We are using our rich media marketing solution called Heighten Marketing to provide the two minute flash video introduction to Director's View.
Heighten is a custom flash video solution that enables us to build robust, interactive video presentations for marketing products and services. It has also been used extensively for online training. Again, it's custom-built, meaning we actually build the presentation for our clients. Director's View is the utility that enables you to provide professional flash video theatres that are customizable. With Director's View EX, you can customize the color scheme, background image, thumbnail image, title, description, and chapter selection for each theatre you build. Also, Director's View is a one time fee where Heighten Marketing is a recurring fee per campaign. The trade off is the functionality you receive with a custom-built solution versus more a presentation-focused solution like Director's View.
In future versions of Director's View, I see the gap between Heighten and DV closing, and Director's View providing more functionality as flash video progresses. There will always be a need for custom-built solutions, like for specific marketing campaigns that require tailored functionality, but I think a flash video solution like Director's View can help businesses with smaller budgets bridge the gap.
I hope that clears up some of the confusion! Please let us know if you have any questions about Director's View or Heighten Marketing.
Who Can Benefit From Using Flash Video and Rich Media Marketing?
I have been asked dozens of times over the past 5-6 years if I believe Rich Media Marketing works so I thought it would be a good idea to address it here in the Web Video Marketeer! Based on hard experience, I can tell you that web video can help any size business make a bigger impact with their online marketing efforts. I've launched video-based campaigns for a wide range of clients across several industries and I can tell you that using rich media properly can boost your campaign results (visitors, sales, exposure, etc.) I don't care if you are a Philadelphia videographer, a flavored water company, a Pennington chiropractor, Ellen Degeneres, or the NFL, an immersive environment for marketing your products or services can light a viral fire across the web. With 100,000 blogs going live each day, it has become easier and easier for people to get the word out about another website, a product, service, news story, etc.
Is it expensive to produce? Great question and the answer completely depends on your industry, product, and target market. If you need a high quality video produced, shot at a studio, using professional lighting gurus, and sound engineers, then it won't be cheap. However, maybe your production only requires a steadicam operator with no audio (and you'll edit music in post), which will drastically cut down your costs. If you really don't have a big budget, then maybe you play to that... What do I mean? Craft a script and storyboard that don't require a big budget...have it look grainy, a little shaky, etc. That could be the angle you use! (Blair Witch Project-like).
The proper use of flash video on the web can attract visitors, help close sales, increase the length of stay per visitor, and ultimately help you increase ROI. A word of caution though, the script and storyboard are critical! Do not rush to production without a solid script and storyboard in hand. A bad interactive experience using internet video typically stems from not having a solid script and storyboard. Don't fall into this trap!
Glenn Gabe focuses heavily on internet marketing and has been developing web applications using Flash for over 10 years. Glenn helps companies build online marketing campaigns that leverage the power of Rich Media, Word of Mouth, and Search Marketing.
About The Web Video Marketeer
And yes, it's marketeer, not marketer spelled incorrectly! I started this blog to cover the use of flash video and its impact on internet marketing campaigns.
Major League Baseball (MLB) decided to jump into the amplified word of mouth ring this year with Actober, a chance for baseball fans to reenact their favorite postseason moments by creating their own user generated content (UGC). Participants got to script, shoot, and edit their own video and upload it to MLB for a chance to win 2 tickets to this year’s World Series. MLB is even providing participants with downloadable video clips (of baseball's famous moments) ready to be edited into their own user generated videos. More on this later in the post.
Let me set the stage. Take approximately a dozen teenagers with the parents of one of the teenagers away on vacation for 10 days. Then, over 7 days, those teenagers engineered what can only be considered the best slip n slide I’ve ever seen. It sounds like a scene from Risky Business, doesn’t it? Well, the end-result was risky, since any one of the teenagers involved could have been seriously injured. But, like hundreds of thousands of other viewers on the web, I was glued to the 5 minute viral video that you can view on SpikedHumor.com, YouTube, or several other social media sites. Read on.
I'm a huge fan of horror movies and 
