Last week on ViralBlog among others “KLM’s Meet & Seat Social Seating Is Live”, “Why CMOs Will Focus On Social Media Metrics?” and “Top 10 Social Media Blogs: The 2012 Winners!”.

Mexican Football Team Managed By Its Fans

Recently we mentioned the very first article on ViralBlog written by our founder Igor Beuker, who announced, after his subscription to MyFootballclub.co.uk, that he proudly became, along with 50,000 other fans, the club owner of Ebbsfleet United. But guess what Igor! Mexico Second division club Murcielagos takes it even further! The club has no coach; instead…. the team is fully managed by its fans!

Top 10 Social Media Blogs: The 2012 Winners!

In December 2011 we found out that ViralBlog was nominated to Top 10 Social Media Blogs 2012 at Social Media Examiner. Earlier this month we were among the Top 20 Finalists and waited impatiently for the results. On the 30th of January the winners were announced, and guess what?! Thanks to you we made it!

Why CMOs Will Focus On Social Media Metrics?

In 2012 CMOs will focus more on social media metrics, says eMarketer. We do believe that content is king, distribution is queen but metrics is the emperor… The eMarketer study shows that CMOs were focusing on soft metrics in 2011, and feel they can’t gauge ROI.

Sign Of The Times: Zeitgeist By Slideshare

SlideShare is an active and engaging community where people post their thoughts on marketing, business, best practice or anything the community wants. In the above SlideShare presentation they give an overview of 2011 and analyse and share their summary. Below a short recap of this presentation and insights that struck me the most.

The Next Social Wave Of 2012: Pinterest

Pinterest, a social visual network that was launched back in March 2010. While the site is still invite-only it’s been very popular among their 4 million users logging 421 million page views, according to The Next Web. Of course Pinterest isn’t on par with smashing numbers like 800 million Facebook users or 465 million Twitter users. The invite-only system is keeping the Pinterest eco-system small for the time being, but is it ready to fully open their doors to the public in 2012?

Viral Friday: Matthew’s Day Off

A weekly viral video chart of ViralBlog, showing the 5 most popular viral videos, commercials, games or user-generated videos, carefully selected and ranked by popularity, viral impact & spread.

Mobile Gaming: State Of The European Market

The Mobile Gaming is still growing, not only in the USA but also on the “Old” continent, Europe. This comes hand in hand with the increasing penetration of smart-phones and Mobile Media. These are the findings from comScore‘s report Mobile Gaming: State of the European Market, having a deep look on the details how Europeans use their smart-phones.

KLM’s Meet & Seat Social Seating Is Live

Last year we told you that KLM would launch its social seating service in 2012. Well, Meet & Seat is live now. Facebook and LinkedIn users can now meet interesting passengers on their flight. Check the video below… What is Meet & Seat? Our industry tends to call it social seating. As seen at i.e. TicketMaster before.

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Last week on ViralBlog among others “The Perfect Storm: Retail And Social”, “Addressable TV: Re-evolution Of The Medium TV” and “What Channels Influence The Social Consumer?”.

How To Boost Holiday Sales? Free Shipping Day

Q4 is the most hectic, stressful and at the end the most profitable quarter of a year for most of the marketing industry, retail and other businesses. There are several different ways how to approach this season of the year to boost sales and get as much as possible – by strategic planning, special promotions or with a simple Free Shipping Day.

Samsung Galaxy Note: Who is Notasso?

In order to show the immense diversity of creative possibilities of the new Samsung Galaxy Note, Spanish street artist Notasso was asked to participate in a new campaign from Samsung, named after the artist himself, Who is Notasso.

What Channels Influence The Social Consumer?

Nowadays practically everybody consults the web in any kind of way when it comes to purchase decisions. So for CMOs out there it’s vert important to understand that some aspects of digital marketing deserve more attention than others…

The Last Advertising Agency On Earth?

As CSO I love disruptive ideas that can break through conventions. I love commercial ideas that leads creatives into new directions. And I do not like the lame excuses I so often hear: “but that’s our current business model”. Change it, losers have excuses! That’s why I love this video…

Corporate Social Media Summit – Part III

ViralBlog were kindly invited to join the Corporate Social Media Summit hosted in London on the 28^th and 29^th of November. This is the final part of our full coverage of both days.

Addressable TV: Re-evolution Of The Medium TV

One-way communication and Television ran the show for about 60 years. We now welcome CMOs to the re-evolution of the medium Television. Will Addressable TV finally make TV the efficient and accountable marketing medium…

Viral Friday: FedEx Guy Throwing My Monitor

A weekly viral video chart of ViralBlog, showing the 5 most popular viral videos, commercials, games or user-generated videos, carefully selected and ranked by popularity, viral impact & spread.

The Perfect Storm: Retail And Social

Boutiques are dying off, big multi and mono brand retailers are taking over the show. Online shops are increasing, e-commerce is being perfected and social commerce is on the rise. Does this mean our physical shopping experience is about to whither away?

The Changing Costs Of Christmas

Christmas, the time we all come together with families and friends to celebrate this special holiday. As 2011 is almost coming to an end let’s take a look at how UK consumers spend their hard earned cash for Christmas.

To use one thing is sure. TV will transform to more channels, more platforms (cable, ip, connected), more screens (pc, tablet smartphone), open distribution and VOD.

We also see non-linear players like Hulu, Netflix, Google, Apple and Disney entering the TV arena. And we’ll see Web TV, Social TV and Addressable TV…

Our study also includes Interactive Broadcasting, the revenue opportunities with T-Commerce and other disruptive forces that ROI driven CMOs should embrace…

So is TV R.I.P? Definitely not. TV is still the global king in terms of media spend. However, Internet is the emperor in several markets already.

Digital already disrupted many industries. And digital will certainly shake-up the linear thinkers and wake-up the medium television that has been sleeping for over 60 years.

CMOs and Media Buying firms will certainly embrace targeted audience buying.

We fear for Broadcasters and Media Owners. It will take them years to change their nonlinear DNA. And they will not embrace the accountability that will disrupt their existing business models.

Leading but linear trained Format and Production companies will encounter many difficulties to manage the new nonlinear ideation. That is simply not part of their DNA and without an extreme sense of urgency, their learning processes will take many years.

Will that time be offered by the powerful and extremely profitable internet companies that will enter this arena? Guess again!

Larry, Mark and the rest of the SF gang are known for their hunger for TV Dollars.

They have already passed the tipping point of world domination and they will not be shy to demolish TV and Media companies bottom-up…

We would like to read your opinion in the comments below. And please share this study with your peers and followers.

On sites with video people stay 8.33 times longer than sites with text and photos only. So that makes video sites very sticky, and thus offers CMOs great places for brand engagement.

Most brands do know the power of online video already, but not all might know about the benefits of embracing micro-video for brand storytelling or brand engagement.

So I would like to start by offering you 2 very impressive videos about the power of online video.

You might want to share this article to co-workers, since sharing is caring.

If you want more video updates follow me on Twitter.

This video gets most of my kudos. Hope you find it impressive too…

The next video gets the rest of my kudos. It offers other great insights about online video. Watch it below.

Micro-Video

Having said all above and having seen all above I would like to switch to micro-video as promised. Micro-video is short format online videos.

Maybe you have here or seen the following services already? Below I will give several examples of fueling brand storytelling with micro-video…

You might not have heard of Tout, but NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal sure has. So has Li Ka-shing, one of Asia’s richest men. Tout is like a Twitter for video instead of words.

With Tout people can capture life’s true moments and create 15-second video status updates captured on their smartphone, tablet, or webcam.

Keek also is a great platform to capture and share micro-videos with.

Tout and Keek services make sure that videos can be shared instantly with Facebook Friends, Twitter followers etc.

Twitvid is a network that connects you with the latest and greatest videos on the topics and people you find interesting.

Without much effort, you can discover what you’re interested in, follow channels, and get pushed videos that you find entertaining. Twitvid is also a place to connect with people who share your same interests in video and entertainment.

As Twitter users and most marketers already know, Twitter limits you to posting 140 characters of text, which is referred to as a “tweet.”

But sometimes, as a user, you want to express more in your post to your audience on twitter. And in the case where you want to be a lot more engaging, you can post up a video.

And as you have seen before: online videos can be great conversation starters and ignite storytelling. Also around a brand.

See for example how Arnold Schwarzenegger used Twitvid to share his micro-video messages with the world.

In one-way broadcasting or to ignite conversations or to start movements, brands could develop a micro-video webisode or soap on Twitter. This is how P&G started the soap on television 60 years ago!

How cool would it be to launch a brand story every week with micro-video?

And how about BBC Three? They invited their audience to be Funny in 15 (seconds) in its search for new comedy talent?

Broadcasters, media and entertainment companies could use this in a much broader way to hunt talents, do online auditions etc.

And funny in 15 or 20 could also be used by CMOs towards passionate groups. To provoke brand fans and advocates to share their love for the brand or product. That could easily fuel passionate stories or love for the brand…

Smart CMOs would like to build a brand that can provoke the feeling that goes beyond the brand promise. They can turn that promise into an experience.

The art of spreading good by brands should really go beyond corporate social responsibility.

A domain that is overrated and used by brands in a forced way too often. If CMOs frequently study consumer insights by doing social monitoring – in a specific domain or around a subject or their brand – they will discover that people are all about passion, passion, passion.

And passionate foodies, sneaker freakz or other passionistas will talk back to you. And share their experiences with brands and their peers.

And micro-video offers even more opportunities to brands that focus on Gen-Y audiences and screenagers.

But with online video please remeber: content is king, distribution is queen. But metrics is the emperor.

Last week on ViralBlog among others “CMOs Discover The Power Of Online Video”, “It’s Back: Elf Yourself 2011 Is Here!?” and “What Is Your Slavery Footprint?”

What Is Your Slavery Footprint?

Recently released campaign with a goal to raise awareness of human trafficking by showing consumers how many of the forced laborers around the globe have contributed in making stuff you own.

CMOs Discover The Power Of Online Video

Why are CMOs of leading consumer brands now massively embracing the power of online video? Some leading brands are doing 60 Million online video views per quarter already. And the global display and online video spend will be $200 Billion by 2020, as stated by Eric Schmidt.

Research – Impact Of Trust Grows

TNS have launched their latest version of the Digital Life study conducted with over 70,000 people in 60 different countries. Not surprisingly, the importance of online and social conversations were highlighted as crucial to brands.

Viral Friday: Carrie Underwood’s Skin Secrets

A weekly viral video chart of ViralBlog, showing the 5 most popular viral videos, commercials, games or user-generated videos, carefully selected and ranked by popularity, viral impact & spread.

It’s Back: Elf Yourself 2011 Is Here!

With 2011 Christmas just behind the corner, companies can’t wait to expose themed marketing. Some are so epic that they can be re-launched every year – see Elf Yourself 2011 edition here. We think it can inspire a few CMOs as well…

Social Commerce, Have You Started?

Organisations go where people go or as nowadays brands enter the social area. For the next step it’s making sure the brands can offer products and services through various social channels. Learn more about the power of Social Commerce…

Besides Google, who else in the ecosystem should really care about social video advertising? Maybe leading brands like Coca Cola or P&G – and global networks like WPP and Omnicom?

Global social video advertising spend will be massive and grow from around $1,5 Billion in 2011, to around $7 Billion by 2015. This forecast comes fromIAB, Nielsen and eMarketer. But not all social video spend is on their radars yet…

Big brands like Unilever and T-Mobile have understood TV Commercials, Audience buying and GRPs for decades. So should we really be surprised that social video advertising will be massive soon? Both brands already pushed 66 Million paid video views each -onto the web- in Q2 2011.

Internet veterans know that ‘new’ internet revenue streams can be off our radars for quite a while. And the same goes for social video spend. Most of that is still being booked under Display advertising at IAB and Nielsen. And if they do not publish it, how will you get it on your radar?

However, if objects are still off our radar, does it mean they do not exist? Declaring them UFOs could also be called pretty stupid defensive tactics.

Even in the cold war it’s all about having accurate intelligence. Realtime ‘intel’ preferably, without latency. And certainly not latency like months or years!

So CMOs that are trying to re-engineer their brand, make sure to embrace social video as a meta trend. Use a videolytics and full social metrics technology like ViralTracker, to get your social video ‘intel’ right.

Other meta trends to watch in the social space are F-Commerce (your shop in Facebook), Social TV, and Social Gaming. And Mobile is your targets’ next gateway to brands, communities and commerce.

So adjust your radars. Since social video is happening with the speed of light. In 2011 leading brands will be serving 10 to 15 Billion paid social video views. So be pro-active and embrace the meta trends. Don’t fall for the surprise attack.

Now back to YouTube.

Since Google acquired YouTube, consumers have been massively broadcasting themselves. But the Millions of eyeballs have never been properly monetized by YouTube.

Why not?
Simply because YouTube lacks strategic commercial brainpower in the field of media and advertising. They are in huge need of a smart Chief Strategy Officer and a Chief Revenue Officer.

But there might be hope for YouTube. Why?
Because Google is building the largest Display and Video Ad Exchange in the world, which includes Audience buying and RealTime Bidding (RTB). And this will certainly make Google a significant player in Display and Video.

But, Video and Social TV are fields Google just does not seem to understand. They might get Google TV right the 3rd or the 4th time. But for now, Google TV is perceived as a piece of crap by many, something that should have stayed offline.

And Google+ has indeed gained a lot of buzz and users lately. But when people start comparing Google+ to Facebook I think: come on, you can’t be really serious about that?!

Google is becoming to look like Greedy Gordon Gekko. And it will really need to re-think its strategic long term approach.

Google, have you really forgotten about the nature of Internet? The Web is owned by the people, not by media owners. People might eventually hate Google’s strive for intrusiveness.

People simply will not accept all the intrusive pre-roll commercials that are blocking the UGC videos they really wanted to see. So Google, your greed is not good. You should load balance your pushy TV commercial approach, because we will massively zap away from your web properties. The Web is not TV.

So do not only push commercials in front of our UGC video content. Do not push your overlays at each web video. It’s simply too intrusive for consumers.

Try to work around the video every now and then. That approach will be more relevant for branding and much less intrusive for users. Google, if you are that eager to claim TV ad spend, look at TV Billboarding and Non Spot TV as well.

An example of around the video or branded skins can be found below. It can be offered very relevant and based on keywords, but way less intrusive. So consumers do not have zap away to avoid another one of your intrusive pre-roll commercials.

If for example Go Fast would buy 500 Million skinned views (branded billboards around the video) – targeted at UGC videos that are tagged with i.e. ‘extreme sports’ – Go Fast might increase it’s aided awareness with +20 in one year. Go Fast might even get a brand lift up to Red Bull levels this way, in a period of 12 months.

Just try it with MetrixLab and see what happens within the exposed target audience. Go Fast might turn from mindshare into heartshare, this way?

And, skinned videos would make YouTube money. And that might fulfill Google’s greedy need for ‘money speed’.

Branded skins would make brands more engaging and less intrusive. And less intrusiveness would make more consumers happy. It could be really simple, to create a triple win like this. But it would need strategic brainpower.

But YouTube is already pursuing the large TV budgets.

Talks of providing $2M-$5M seed funds to agents and producers (Endemol, Howcast, Electus etc) who commit to episodes. So YouTube’s new pitch is: want to buy a web series for $3.5 Million?

Some examples to make the story tangible and concrete?

YouTube has pitched advertisers on funding big-budget web shows featuring stars like Kobe Bryant, Lady Gaga and “Dancing with the Stars” host Brooke Burke, asking millions of dollars to make them happen. The pitches are part of YouTube’s foray into Hollywood for polished, TV-style web video that can attract the kind of advertisers that devote most of their ad budgets on TV.

The concepts were pitched as branded entertainment, shows created for or in conjunction with advertisers. YouTube is separately trying to seed the market for professional web video by funding as much as $5 million in startup costs for producers to create YouTube content channels around advertiser-friendly categories like food, fashion, sports and comedy.

The celebrity shows that YouTube recently proposed to advertisers – so called YouTube Originals -would make the video site, best known for user-generated content and music videos, look more like a traditional TV network than ever before, according to pitch documents obtained by Advertising Age.

For instance, says Ad Age:

“Dream Makers,” a series in partnership with “Big Brother” producer Endemol that would feature Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant rewarding “outstanding young people” with with the “dream of a lifetime.” YouTube is asking marketers for $1.7 million to exclusively sponsor a run of six to eight five-minute episodes.

“The Incubator,” a series from Ben Silverman’s Electus featuring 36 short webisodes with 10 entrepreneurs as they turn ideas into businesses. The price tag: $3.5 Million for six months of exclusivity.

And, most ambitious, a live Lady Gaga concert in New York proposed for 2011, streamed on the web through YouTube and Vevo. Price tag to sponsor the one-off event? Nine Million dollars for a sponsorship along with Samsung, including a presence on Lady Gaga’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.

Some of the series pitched by YouTube will never see the light of day, or a studio may opt to get their own sponsorship and proceed on their own. Some have already come to fruition: Howcast’s “Chief Household Officer,” pitched by YouTube as a 10-week series for $2.8 Million, is running on YouTube with a sponsorship deal from HP.

YouTube has been in the branded entertainment business for some time, but its involvement in selling the shows and working with Hollywood studios signal new ambition to win major marketing budgets. Indeed the price tags suggest YouTube is seeking higher ad rates than seen typically on TV.

Assuming YouTube can deliver a hefty 100 million views to a series for $3.5 Million in six months, that’s still a cost-per-thousand viewers of $35, higher than a typical TV ad rate of $20, and more in a league with Hulu, which sells TV spots on the web for $40.

YouTube can’t be faulted for a lack of ambition. Top YouTube execs like to say they’re creating the next generation of cable TV, built and scaled for the web. But instead of 500-odd channels on TV, YouTube is making a play for the “next 10,000,” appealing to all sorts of niches and interest groups.

While not unheard of, YouTube’s asking price is significantly higher than the typical budgets for web series. If YouTube can get its asking price, it will change the economics of online video and add another significant player in the market, along with Hulu, Netflix, and perhaps soon, Amazon.

“Every time you see a YouTube or Hulu or Netflix move into original content creation, it’s more opportunity for brands,” said one agency exec to Ad Age. “It’s a bigger playing field and more ways to reach an audience.”

A very interesting piece of work Advertising Age, thank you for sharing those insights with us.

Back to Google.

Should we give Google more hints for free here? I guess not. I do like many of the Google services, but I think the Greed is not good.

Google really respected the heart and soul of the Internet for many years. Google seems to be in last phase of its transformation from being a humble underdog, towards becoming an arrogant greedy monster?

I can at least understand why more people state: Google, turned from friend to frenemy. And might soon become the Web’s and consumers largest enemy.

Back to YouTube.

Are you sure that pursuing the TV budgets is the smartest strategic commercial idea available?
Are you sure you are on top of the latest digital meta trends? In some markets TV budgets are already lower than Online revenues…

I know it’s a very small market. Almost perceived as a Zoo. And that’s true in many ways. But the Netherlands – country of tulips, wooden shoes and windmills – might be a benchmark to your strategic team. If you have one.

The Netherlands has been the pilot market for music and bands for decades. If successful in that small Zoo, success will be guaranteed in other markets as well.

The Netherlands has also been the first country in the world with a very successful Social TV format called: The Voice of Holland. The format was created and produced by John de Mol’s Talpa. And broadcasted on RTL.

Soon Talpa sold its format to the BBC in the UK and to the USA. Most likely the UK and US broadcasters will leave out the so successful Social Interactions and Second Screen.

But the Netherlands seems to offer more very interesting benchmarks…

The advertising revenues in our small, crazy Zoo for example. Net TV spend in 2010 in the Netherlands was € 863 Million.

The Net Online spend (inc. search, display, video etc) in 2010 in the Netherlands was € 962 Million.

So Online topped TV with € 99 Million in 2010.

So depending on your own strategy and vision: do you see countries with borders or markets with opportunities? So let’s assume other markets might follow, would it be smart that structure would follow strategy?

Should YouTube be chasing TV budgets? Or focus at Online? Why do I get the feeling that your mediocre Chief Strategy Officers are stuck at tactical planning. Maybe the YouTube CSO team, should plan a trip to the Zoo called: the Netherlands?

And about the intrusive approach, Google you start to look like cowboys. Cowboys that are rushing for gold, chasing away the Indians.

Remember the Indian and the Dead Horse strategy?

Some insights from the old Indian story: When you notice you are riding a dead horse, get off!

However, in corporate life, we often seek another strategy, to deal with such a problem:

We look for a bigger whip
We change the rider
We tell that we have always ridden our horses this way
We establish a committee that will analyze dead horses
We travel to other places, to see how they ride dead horses
We create a task force that will study ways to get new life into dead horses
We hire outside experts who to profess to know how to ride dead horses
We develop a training program that teaches employees, how to ride dead horses better
We benchmark our dead horses to other dead horses
We send out RFPs to see if there are cheaper dead horses available
We establish a separate profit center for our division dead horses
Next we will spend a fortune on advertising, to promote dead horses

Well, I am aware that the Cowboys survived. And most Indians did not.

But I really hope that the land called ‘the Internet’ will keep some of its nature and heritage. So we can all keep living our lives in harmony, enjoying that same piece of land…

Source: IAB, eMarketer, Advertising Age