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November 2nd, 2010
by Teri Rogers
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Online Video Facts That May Surprise You

Occasionally I get sucked into the Internets. You know what I mean. You start out looking at one random thing and, before you know it, hours later, you’re off on a tangent and discovering things you can’t get enough of. This week, stats about online video hooked me. I started reading some stats from comScore’s annual video matrix that was published in the spring and, well, they’re pretty compelling. Here are a few:

• The average U.S. Internet user watched 186 videos per month.

• 183 Million Americans watched a total of 33.9 billion online videos in the month of   May alone.

• YouTube, naturally, is the top dog when it comes to online video content viewed at 143.2 million unique viewers, with Yahoo! Sites coming in at 55.1 million unique viewers.

• Facebook is rocking it as an online video portal, coming in third overall, with some 46.6 viewers (only a million more than Microsoft sites.

• Americans viewed nearly 3.6 billion video ads in July, with Hulu generating the highest number of video ad impressions at 783 million.

• comScore calculated that video ads reached nearly half (44.5%) of the total U.S. population an average of 27 times in the month of July alone.

• More video is uploaded to YouTube in 60 days than all 3 major US networks produced in 60 years.

• From 2005 to 2010, Online video grew at a phenomenal rate of 910%, versus 114% for the Internet and 0% for TV.

910% growth? Oh yeah, video is everywhere. And now you know why I spent so much time checking this out. It’s an optimistic sign for our industry – and certainly our experience in the work we’ve been producing this past year back all this up. These ad spending stats from eMarketer back all this up as well.

eMarketer Online Video Stats

And the world of video content production has changed significantly. Back in the day, the agency world (and thus my world), used to focus on the :30 spot. Today, there are less ads and more branded content. We see less advertising produced by creative teams at agencies and executed by motion graphics firms and more content produced by way of partnerships between advertisers and content producers. For consumers who live in a fragmented world and who are constantly bombarded with stimuli and messages of all kinds, one piece of content (e.g. that :30 spot) just isn’t enough. Smart marketers are adopting a strategy of enveloping their audience in a fog consisting of a variety of messages rather than hitting them over the head with just one message.

And the reason for the messaging has changed. The website has become the hub of a brand’s business operations and a significant place for brands to engage their customers. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and other social media outlets are becoming equally as important, and viewed as a complement to a brand’s website. Thus, it’s critical that branded video content is created with these different venues and varying strategies in mind. Sometimes the content is developed for brand enhancement purposes, sometimes it’s to entice them to a site, sometimes it’s goal is to engage website visitors once they get to a site, and keep them there longer. And other times, it’s developed for lead generation purposes. And more goals mean more content.

I think the future of video content is pretty clear. I bet at T2 + Back Alley Films, we’ll just keep producing more of it and doing it less expensively. It only makes sense.

October 19th, 2010
by T2 + Back Alley Team
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Experience Design – Driving Engagement And Sales

We spend a lot of our time focused on experience design. The goal is always to create content that engages consumers and provide experiences using video, mobile, location-based technology, digital billboards and other experiences. That those experiences be memorable is key and always what the creative team is charged with bringing to the table. That the experience design drives sales and compels people to action, is even more key.

Mobile and location-based experiences are on savvy marketers’ minds these days, as they are great at helping create buzz and compelling consumers to do something. Jimmy Choo’s Foursquare scavenger hunt during London’s fashion week is a great example of a location-based initiative that not only created a ton of buzz, but also drove sales as women ran all over London in search of the current “it” shoe.

We worked with the folks at PRNewswire to create a scavenger hunt experience based on QR codes for use at the PRSA annual conference held in Washington, DC this past week. This created not only excitement for conference attendees, but also doubled as an experience (and a competition) that served to make the event even more memorable. Additionally, it created a lot of buzz for the PRNewswire brand and, ultimately, got a lot of PR and marketing pros thinking about how they could use experience design in innovative ways for their clients.

Want to know more about how companies can use strategic media placements and a variety of new and emerging channels to engage their audiences? Join us for a FREE webinar sponsored by PRNewswire this Wednesday, October 20th, at 12 PM Central.

The panel will be moderated by Michael Pranikoff, PRNewswire’s Director of Emerging Media, and he’ll be joined by T2+Back Alley Films’ Interactive Experience Designer, Garrett Fuselier and the very smart Amy Webb of Webb Media Group.

For more information and to register, click here.

July 15th, 2010
by Teri Rogers
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What the Frack? This is What I Love About Filmmaking

I always tell people that the reason I got into this business is because it is such a powerful medium.  A single film has the power to influence – to motivate – to raise awareness – to change a point of view.  And making a documentary film, in particular, gives the filmmaker a unique opportunity to reach down deep inside and produce a piece of art that tells a story — a truth.  That gives the filmmaker a powerful platform that can affect change.   But you can see all that for yourself, if you just take a minute to watch this documentary trailer.

Gasland was directed by Josh Fox and it was the Winner of the Special Jury Prize – Best US Documentary Feature at Sundance in 2010 and it also screened recently at Cannes. Fracking is not only happening all across rural areas in America, it’s spreading to Europe and Africa, too.  Property owners are tempted by very lucrative offers from big energy companies and, given today’s economy, it’s not surprising that some opt to take the money and run.

I think this is a huge deal – and I agree with Josh that this is a situation that deserves a big spotlight aimed right at it – and this documentary definitely does that. If the trailer intrigued you at all, and you want to do more, visit the Gasland website. Request a screening in your city. Make a donation. If we all just did a little, we could make a huge impact.

And that, my friends, is why I LOVE documentaries. I love watching them. I love making them. I love their inherent power to make a difference.