The Web Video Marketeer - A Director's View Blog

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.

GG

Labels: Flash Video, Rich Media, ugc, Viral, WOM

posted by Glenn Gabe @ 6:30 AM 0 Comments

Yankees Win in Extra Innings [Cell Phone Video] What it’s really like to be at Yankee Stadium During a Dramatic Win

I’m a huge Yankees fan, which isn’t shocking since my father grew up a few blocks from Yankee Stadium. :-) Although I don’t have time to go to many games anymore, I was lucky enough to be at Saturday’s Yankee game against the Blue Jays. If you didn’t catch it (no pun intended), Melky Cabrera won the game in the bottom of the 10th inning with 2 outs and bases loaded. It was one of the best games I’ve ever seen, and was easily the best game I’ve ever witnessed in person.

A Quick Rundown of the Game
The Yankees and the Blue Jays battled back and forth over 9 innings to an 11-11 tie. The stadium was packed with over 50,000 fans, and the energy at the stadium rose with each inning. Actually, the energy at the stadium could probably power the entire country for a few weeks! Yankee Stadium is an amazing place to watch baseball…being the original stadium where Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Micky Mantle, Yogi Berra, Thurmun Munson, Don Mattingly, Derek Jeter, and now A-Rod play. Even if you’re not a Yankee fan, you have to go to a game at Yankee Stadium to experience the energy. And…with the new stadium being built, you don’t have much time left to visit the original… Even though the new stadium is going to be incredible, it’s sad that the original stadium (the house that Ruth built), will be going away. This is especially true for someone like my father, who used to walk to the stadium, spend all day watching the Yankees, while only dishing out $.50 (that’s fifty cents…) to watch the best team in the land.

Catching Some Key Video Clips on my Cell Phone
Anyway, I was able to catch some of the game's great moments on my cell phone. Yes, the video is small and grainy, but you can feel the electricity even in the postage stamp-sized video.

1. The first clip is of the game winning hit by Melky Cabrera with 2 outs in the bottom of the 10th and the bases loaded.

2. The second clip is of ARod giving the Yankees the lead earlier in the game.

3. The third clip is of ARod once again giving the Yanks the lead.


Watch the Yankee Video Clips Now>


By the way, ARod is having a super-human year. The fans killed him last year (and years before too). This year, he is proving that he might be the best player to ever wear a uniform. When even my father (a huge DiMaggio fan) starts to explain ARod as "extraordinary", you know he’s winning over all Yankee fans. Now, we just need him to come through in the playoffs. :-) That’s New York for you…we expect nothing short of championships.

Anyway, these 3 clips are for anyone who has wondered what it’s like to be a Yankee Stadium with 50,000 New York fans when they win in dramatic fashion. We were 32 rows back from 3rd base. Have fun and feel free to post your comments below.

GG

Labels: mobile-video, ugc, Viral

posted by Glenn Gabe @ 6:42 AM 0 Comments