Push Button Ads

Daily, as navigators of the internet, we are asked to ‘click here’, ‘like this”, ‘Tweet that’, blah, blah, blah. The process of clicking or touching these digital buttons and links is routine and uninspiring. We’ve become a bunch of online zombies, schlepping around from one site to the next hoping to find something interesting or at the very least something new and different. We’re modern day explorers, wanting to be surprised, desperate to discover.

The online advertisers story tellers of this generation have the incredibly difficult task of creating content that breaks through the noise. They need to deliver something that inspires, surprises and pushes on the audiences’ emotional button. Below are two video examples that do just that. Not only are they worth clicking on but they take button pushing to a whole new level. We won’t say anymore because we don’t want to ruin the surprise but let’s just say ‘things are about to get real’.

Heart Attack! by Soul Pancake

A Dramatic Surprise on a Quite Square – TBS

Reflect and Swim Forward

Friday the 13th, the perfect day to reflect on the past and gaze ahead to the future? We think so. Really we just needed an excuse to highlight the ‘Startup Life’ photo gallery we just posted on our Facebook page. Clicking through these photos brought a single tear to our mature 20-something faces, so we thought, ‘heck, let’s share them on our humble little Facebook page‘.

Sometimes it’s necessary to purify yourself in the waters of nostalgia (whoa, that’s deep). We’re proud of the rivers and streams we’ve explored to-date and excited about the uncharted waters ahead! Swim good friends.

I’m about to drive in the ocean
I’mma try to swim from something bigger than me
Kick off my shoes and swim good, and swim good
Take off this suit and swim good, and swim good, good
— Frank Ocean

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Branded Content on Target?

At Conversated we talk a lot about ‘Proven Web Stars’. There are thousands of examples of one-off YouTube videos that drum up millions of views, but what excites us the most are the consistent content creators — the individuals or groups who create and share videos on a weekly basis.

Todrick Hall fits that description. Since finishing 16th on season 9 of American Idol, Todrick has leveraged his passion for music and dancing to become a burgeoning star on his YouTube Channel. He has shared over 80 videos online but there’s one in particular that caught, not only our attention… but BEYONCÉ’S too! The video is entitled “Beyonce End of Time Target Flash Mob.”

Beyoncé’s stylist saw the video on YouTube (along with over 4 Million other people) and passed it on to Beyoncé. Mr. Hall’s performance made such an impression on Beyonce, that she posted the following thank you video to her YouTube channel.

Beyoncé’s “Todrick Hall, Thanks!” video has been viewed over 500,000 times! Now how’s that for earned media? Todrick Hall’s Target flash mob may not have been directly backed by Target (does anyone out there know? Fess up!) but there’s no doubt they’ve benefited from it’s success. When’s the last time you saw one of the world’s biggest celebrities make a reaction video to a standard TV commercial? By partnering with proven web stars, who have an organic following online, there’s no limit to how far your brand’s message can reach!

Congrats Todrick on your success, like Beyoncé, next time we’re in Target we’ll be dancing in the aisles!

Brew Some Good Branded Content with Maxwell House

Maxwell House’s Brew Some Good initiative is almost a year old now but it may still be ahead of it’s time. The coffee company’s campaign encouraged people to ‘Take an Optimism Break’, but instead of serving coffee they served feel good story telling through video.

The most inspiring video in the campaign, as it relates to branded content, was their use of Jessica’s Daily Affirmation video (embed below). If you’re not familiar with Jessica’s Daily Affirmation, it showcases 4 year-old Jessica standing in front of a bathroom mirror shouting out positive statements regarding her life. The home video was uploaded to YouTube by her father in June, 2009 and has since been viewed over 9 million times.

Maxwell House took somewhat of an anti-advertising approach, a la Patagonia with their remix of Jessica’s Daily Affirmation (embed below). An approach not typically seen on TV. The commercial opened with the following super: “Instead of watching a Maxwell House coffee ad, how about we all take an optimism break?”. Sandwiched between that and their BrewSomeGood.ca call to action were 20 unedited seconds of the original Jessica video.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Especially if it’s relevant and on brand.

Jeep + VOYR + Kanye West

The year is 2012. Advertising isn’t about signing an influencer to endorse your product. Advertising is about aligning yourself with an influencer and winning over their community, harnessing them as your own. A great example of this was Jeep’s VOYR + Kanye West campaign. Jeep (in conjunction with VOYR) leveraged the most anticipated concert tour of 2011, Watch the Throne, and gave Kanye fans exactly what they wanted: all-access.

Throughout the Watch the Throne tour, Jeep served up behind the scenes videos of the creative process and work that went into executing Kanye’s artist driven spectacle. The branding was subtle. The content was superb. The tour recap below illustrates how the confluence of Jeep, VOYR, Kanye West and social media allowed the campaign to garner a phenomenon amount of earned media.

Whether you’re a fan of Kanye or not, you can’t argue with the success of Jeep and VOYR’s Watch the Throne campaign. We’re looking forward to more collaborative ideas like this surfacing in 2012!

Update: An extended version of this was posted on The Mark News. We humbly suggest you read it.

We’re a Part of Co.Create Nation

A few weeks ago, Fast Company did us a huge favour. They framed and defined the business we’re in and gave it a name — Co.Create Nation. They’re suggesting a new realm of business has emerged, one that blurs the worlds and lines between Silicon Valley, Hollywood, and Madison Avenue. That’s a bold outlook, and one we agree with wholeheartedly.

There’s so much goodness in Fast Company’s Co.Create Nation welcome letter that we thought we’d share a good chunk of it verbatim:

Today, a new creative map is taking shape, as the barriers between these businesses fall away, spurred by a swarm of adventurers and explorers. For companies and consumers, actors and artists, marketers and musicians, there is no turning back. On the contrary, this is the wave of tomorrow.

The 2010s aren’t the first time purveyors of technology, entertainment, and advertising have forged new ground. Back in the 1930s, they melded minds to make soap operas, a form that propelled the new medium of radio with sponsorship from some of the nation’s most famous brands, like Procter & Gamble and Lever Brothers. That successful dynamic also led to the popularizing of television in the 1950s and established what we now think of as the traditional entertainment business model.

Now that model is being rocked by a new creative class armed with smaller, faster, cheaper technology and turn-on-a-dime maneuverability. The new creatives are frighteningly efficient and productive as hell. Their art might be sponsored, but that won’t stop you from quoting, copying, and forwarding it to friends. They rely on YouTube accounts, social-media followers, and an almost punk-rock assault on the status quo. They glide between disciplines and negotiate ethical boundaries with ease. They’re the ones at DreamWorks Animation pushing Intel for faster chips to process animated movies while urging Madison Avenue to deliver 3-D advertising. They enlist Vans or Old Spice to pay a premium for captivating or sidesplitting web videos, then spin their creations into a series for Bravo, Discovery, or FX. They’re the reason Hollywood talent agents, New York publicists, and San Francisco startups are partnering to pitch branding campaigns with corporate giants.

The tribes on this new map reflect the flexibility and potential of the emerging Co.Create Nation. Artists find like-minded ambassadors in commerce to tap a massive new audience. Commerce discovers richness in authenticity and art.

If you’re still foggy on what/who makes up Co.Create Nation, check out the infographic below (click for larger).

Exploring creativity in the intersecting worlds of branding, entertainment, and tech is something we do everyday at Conversated. High-five to Fast Company for championing Co.Create (fastcocreate.com). We’re beyond excited to watch this space grow!

Cats Are So Hot Right Now

It’s no secret that cats are the most popular animal online. Destination site’s like I Can Has Cheezburger are evidence of a cat dominant internet culture. The masses love to share, create and LOL at any media featuring these small domesticated animals. No one is safe from their one-two punch of cuteness and hilarity.

Earlier in the month a Toronto based agency, John St., poked fun at the ever growing popularity of cats online with a video, titled Catvertising. John St. used the video to announce the fictitious 2012 launch of the world’s first Catvertising agency – a new division of John St. that will produce, film and seed cat videos all in-house.

Like many cat videos before it, Catvertising has now been viewed over a million times, solidifying the fact that cats are so hot right now. With Catvertising top of mind, it gives us great honour to introduce you to our resident cat video expert, Final Cut King. We describe Final Cut King as Michael Bay meets Cheezburger Network. Sounds crazy but once you watch Jedi Kittens and Jedi Kittens Strike Back it will make complete sense.

Jedi Kittens

Jedi Kittens Strike Back

Okay, so who wants to make some Catvertising? We have a Jedi Kitten Trilogy that we need to finish!

Ellen Gets It

There’s no secret formula that you can follow to create a viral video. Content has to go viral on it’s own. Sure you can give it a healthly push through various channels but in the end that alone isn’t going to get you on Ellen.

Yeah that’s right, we said Ellen. For millions of people a video hasn’t gone viral until they’ve seen it on Ellen. Ms. Degeneres has become a daily curator of some of the best YouTube has to offer. Ellen flags her favourite Ooohhh!, Awweee!, Woowww! and Hahahah! moments and invites their creators to her show. The results are heartfelt segments that become original content with the Ellen brand wrapped around them. She creates a more interesting story for her audience to share — “Did you see that cute little girl from YouTube singing Nicki Minaj’s Super Bass on Ellen?”. Not only are you going to check out the original video of the cute little girl but you’re likely going to seek out Ellen’s YouTube video of the cute little girl on her show.

It’s a classic win, win, win scenario. The content creator is ecstatic to be on TV, Ellen gets to dance and the audience is entertained. At Conversated we do our darndest to curate video creators that trigger the same emotions mentioned above. Those Ooohhh!, Awweee!, Woowww! and Hahahah! moments are key ingredients to a brands’ success. Not just online but offline at the water cooler.

Below we’ve posted two of our viral favs that Ellen has featured, starting with the aforementioned cute little girl.

Cute Little Girl Singing Nicki Minaj’s Super Bass = Awweee!

Kina Grannis’ In Your Arms Jelly Bean Stop Animation Music Video = Woowww!

Chipotle’s Back to the Start Video

One way to have your brand’s content actively sought and shared online is to play on your audience’s heartstrings. Chipotle did just that with “Back to the Start”. The animated short, by film-maker Johnny Kelly, depicts the life of a farmer as he turns his family farm into an industrial animal factory. He ends up seeing the light and reverts back to the more sustainable option, his original family farm.

The film’s soundtrack is a Willie Nelson cover of Coldplay’s “The Scientist” (available on iTunes). Proceeds from the sale of the song benefit the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation. Also worth checking out is the Back to the Start – Behind the Scenes video. The time, effort and talent that went into this production is unbelievable. Not sure if it’s possible but we’re even bigger Chipotle fans after seeing this video. Who wants a Barbacoa Burrito?