I loved the Old Spice ad when I first saw them on TV. And that's saying a lot, because with my DVR I hardly watch commercials anyway. But there was something about that sexy man speaking straight to me that got through my advertising filter.
Clearly, those ads were popular with lots of people besides me. Old Spice took that popularity and ran with it - turning the TV ad into an online viral video sensation.
But instead of just uploading the video to YouTube and hoping people would watch, Old Spice took their viral campaign a step further by creating a whole series of customized videos aimed at celebrities and random twitter fans. The results were hilarious, extremely popular, and effective. Since the online campaign launched, sales of Old Spice body wash have nearly doubled!
Interested in learning how to replicate this online video success story? These resources will help:
The YouTube Biz Blog - my favorite place to read about innovative ways businesses can use YouTube - just published a list of lessons learned at VidCon, the recent gathering of the YouTube community. There's nothing revolutionary on the list, but it's full of good advice for anyone hoping to break out and become a YouTube star.
There are so many online video contests going on that I can barely keep up! That's why I've made it easier for readers to submit their contests for promotion on the Desktop Video site.
The new Video Contest Submission Form lets you enter the relevant information about your video contest and point readers to your webstie so they can learn more and submit their videos.
I hope this new process makes it easier for sponsors to promote their contests, and for readers to find exciting opportunities to win big with online video!
Over the weekend, YouTube announced that the site will begin offering support for 4K video.
If you're not familiar with 4K, you're not alone. It's basically the highest resolution available, much, much bigger than 1080p full HD.
So, while it's kind of neat that YouTube is allowing users to upload and watch such high-quality video, the whole thing seems a little pointless to me. YouTube points out that the ideal screen size for viewing 4K is 25 feet wide, 4K cameras are extremely expensive, and watching 4K video online requires a super-fast internet connection.
Given those limitations, I don't expect we'll see many 4K videos on YouTube anytime soon.
