what now for weird al?
The Catch Up Lady chats about a recent Wired article on Weird Al Yankovic. And how his act is now done by teenagers on YouTube from the safety of their living rooms. He perfected the music video parody, and then the internet gave us all the means to produce them on our own.
Catch Up Lady has a couple of ideas on how Weird Al could own social media. I've got a feeling that Weird Al isn't so worried. But I like that his name is only a misspelling away from Wired Al. That should be his new thing.
Labels: music, parody, social media, trends, video, youtube
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:42 AM
0 comments
make lists, watch video. who needs to get work done?
SmashLab is an awesome design firm in Vancouver and they're also the creators of wondertool MakeFive. Make five is the most massive collection of top five lists in all of the universe. You can explore, comment, or join in and make your own lists. It's an entire community based on lists.
If that wasn't enough to keep a bunch of designers busy, they've now launched a video podcast. A vidcast. A video blog post. (Can we just call them videos?).
Marketing geeks: pay attention. This is an awesome example of how to better connect with your community, fans and potential users. Let them meet the people behind the product, get to know you, and feel connected to you. Eric and the gang have created a really fun piece that will have you wishing you worked in Vancouver. At SmashLab. In the meantime, you can make lists.
Labels: blogging, social media, video
posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:03 AM
1 comments
send this to that person in your office who isn't registered
Maybe you've already seen this video. But there are probably five people that are in your circle of friends who haven't seen it. And since the deadline to register for voting is quickly passing, you might want to give them the inspiration to do so.
(Just don't send it to anyone that might be offended by hearing the word sh*t or f*ck once or twice. Because this is the uncensored version. And that could make the prude in the cubicle down the hall's head explode.)
Thanks for the inspiration, Missy!
Labels: video, viral, youthmarketing
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:42 AM
0 comments
brandstalkers: ready for stalking.
What if you could turn your brand over to your fans, and have them do something really cool for you? That's what Brandstalkers asks. A new marketing concept from a group of brand fans ready to do whatever it takes to get your brand some attention.
Here's the deal: You agree to hire them. Providing they're actually fans of your brand, they'll produce something for you. They maintain 100% creative control. You let go. If you like it, they release and distribute.
Their first project is a magical marker fueled party for a restaurant in Australia called Guzman Y Gomez. Let's assume that this is the most amazing Mexican food that you've ever eaten. Ever. And you love it so much that you have a magic marker party. And paint your friends up real good. And then take it to the streets....
(Side note: Is Australia way behind us or way ahead of us? Are 80's new wave mullets just hitting the cozey little island, or have they come back in style and not hit the U.S. yet? Oh, how I hope they're coming back.)
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:37 AM
4 comments
let's get crafty
Craftylicious opening for a totally crafty movie. Really cool work. Thanks Matt!
Labels: creativeinspiration, film, video
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:12 AM
0 comments
how to make your website more human
Absolutely totally love this pitch presentation found on Herd. Daring, bold and hilarious.
Labels: adindustry, video
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:17 AM
0 comments
red alert remix. it's got a good beat.
Video game freaks will be stoked about the new release of Red Alert 3. And there's no better way to celebrate than a mix of boobs, guns and military dudes set to a good dance beat. Wins every time.
Red Alert remix features a host of B-listers, including Jenna McCarthy, George Takei, Tim Curry, JK Simmons, and other names you might not recognize. Come for the guns. Stay for the party!
Labels: ads, gaming, video, youthmarketing
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:56 AM
0 comments
england's hot spot for animations
4mations is like a YouTube for animations. Our friends in England may really dig this, as it's produced in partnership with their famous Channel 4.
Right now, it looks to be mostly stuff from their side of the pond. (You know, all that high brow stuff featuring people with accents.) We need to hop on and start adding South Park videos, and other sweet examples of American ingenuity. And stupidity.
Labels: video
posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:07 AM
1 comments
how to do youtube advertising
This is the kind of advertising that I don't mind watching with YouTube videos. Totally awesome. From Sean Howard, via twitter
Labels: ads, gaming, video, youthmarketing, youtube
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:30 AM
1 comments
how to talk to your kids about drugs
This series of videos for the Partnership for a Drug Free America made me chuckle. Not sure who I like more - Uncle Ron, or Patsy. Both equally awesome.
Labels: ads, nonprofit, video, youthmarketing
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:56 AM
3 comments
google earth = new hot video tool
Chemical Brothers + film makers + artists + photographers + GOOGLE. What do you get? A really cool video. From The Denver Egotist
Labels: film, google, music, photography, video
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:31 AM
0 comments
watch your favorite songs sung by art students and internet geeks
Lip syncing. Reserved for select artists like Ashley Simpson or Milli Vanilli. Lip dubbing is for the rest of us. It's fun to watch, fun to produce and fun to share with friends.
Finally someone's created a nice place where you can watch them all together. The Vimeo Lip Dub Stars. From BenKunz, via Twitter
Labels: creativeinspiration, pop culture, video, viral
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:21 AM
0 comments
tally: video with twitter is really cool.
We have a client Tally (I'd say that I've changed her name here, to protect the innocent, but I haven't). Tally loves reading our blog. Except for when we post videos. Because they're too disruptive to the work flow. Because you know - you can kind of work, participate in a conference call, and sort of half pay attention while reading blog posts. (You do the same thing. Admit it.) But video is different. Video requires most of your attention. And that's where Tally draws the line.
The social media developments in video this year have been nothing short of amazing. So many wonderful tools, and so many possibilities. The other day, I posted on 12 seconds, a tool that lets you record 12 second video clips.
Viddler just upped the ante. You can record 15 seconds of video with Viddler. But it's not the 3 seconds that makes the difference. It's how Viddler integrated their tool with Twitter. Viddler and Twitter. Together. So now you can post a quick video clip and tweet it at the same time. That's video-micro-blogging awesomeness.
Tally: stop working. Forget about productivity. Your company will run itself. You should just spend more time goofing off, and watching videos. I believe you may enjoy this one.
Labels: mashup, social media, twitter, video
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:23 AM
2 comments
the video revolution continues
There's a new fun video micro-blogging tool in town. 12 Seconds. You can record up to 12 seconds of video and share it with your friends. And everyone else. This is a cool idea for one-way video bloggers. People that want to post clips, but don't really care about interacting (so much) with the people that watch them.
I watch the clips and I immediately want to interact and respond (in video) like you can with Seesmic - but it's not like that. You can comment (blog style) which is certainly better than nothing.
This will be an interesting tool and community to watch. If nothing else, it's more proof that video is HOT. Anyone using it yet, and loving it?
Labels: blogging, social media, video, web2.0
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:43 AM
0 comments
paper: what a waste.
INFORM - the people behind the uber successful production of the Secret Life of Cell Phones has done it again. This time, they're putting paper into perspective - with the Secret Life of Paper.
What a cool example of how a non-profit can create educational entertainment that furthers the cause. Well done.
Labels: green, nonprofit, video, viral
posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:11 AM
2 comments
how to make a snowboard video fun
You'd think that just about everything has been done in the world of snowboard videos. And that watching dudes ride rails would get boring after a while.
Mike Benson proves otherwise, and re-imagines the snowboard video by adding a single wonderous effect. Totally, totally awesome.
Labels: action sports, video, viral, youthmarketing
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:50 AM
2 comments
those copywriters really know what they're doing.
Send this to your copywriter friend. She'll hug you. (Yes, it's long and in French or something - but you can deal with it. Trust me.) From Mave Gibson, via Facebook.
Labels: copywriting, creativeinspiration, video, viral
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:00 AM
1 comments
welcome to the font conference
It's over a year old, but still funny if you haven't seen this. From Where's My Jetpack?
Labels: adindustry, design, typography, video
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:11 AM
1 comments
behind the scenes with obama video
Here's a really cool post featuring some behind the scenes juice from the director of video field production on the Obama campaign.
There are a bunch of interesting links and details - like the fact that the average viewer of videos on BarackObama.com and YouTube.BarackObama.com is 45-55 years old, and those viewers want long-form content - proving people have more attention span than we usually give them credit for.
Good information here that could be applied to a variety of brands and campaigns.
Labels: politics, trends, video, youtube
posted by darryl ohrt @ 6:24 AM
0 comments
incredible idea just waiting for you
AdFreak points to a really sweet idea just waiting for an opportunity.
A choose your own adventure series on YouTube. Watch this one, and you'll get the idea on how this could work. AdFreak is right. This is soooo ripe for a really cool promotion or branding campaign. Let's do it.
Labels: creativeinspiration, video, viral, youtube
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:21 AM
0 comments
look what's cookin'
Animation and production studio PES shows you what they're capable of with a little Western Spaghetti.
If they can make this out of candy corns and rubber bands, then imagine what they can do for your project. Nice work.
Labels: adindustry, video
posted by darryl ohrt @ 6:09 AM
1 comments
yes, google does know everything. everything.
The Googling shows what you can do with Google's "My Maps" tool. A tool so good, it knows everything about you. Everything.
Labels: google, search, social media, video
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:17 AM
0 comments
it all starts with a girl.
A super inspiring piece, all about a girl.
Think you don't have a strong enough production budget? Think only irreverent productions go viral? Here's a wonderous example of the most simple production, masterful copy writing and an emotional message coming together to make something beautiful.
From Shari, via Twitter.
Labels: copywriting, nonprofit, video, viral
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:35 AM
2 comments
stick this in your muffler
Two fun videos for Fiat. Here and here.
I would assume that if you try to put a baseball in your muffler pipe at home that your car will explode, the baseball will not be pitched at the right angle to swing at it with, and your car will not fly. But you never really know until you try, so don't let me stop you.
Labels: automotive, video
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:14 AM
0 comments
church on wheels
Here's a really cute piece on the moving of a church. It's a few months old, but is getting picked up and buzzed about. John Deere should be all over this. What a spectacular positioning of their brand.
Labels: architecture, automotive, video, viral, youtube
posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:08 AM
4 comments
how to share your reel.
While researching interesting brands and people that we'd like to meet on the Plaid Summer Tour, coworker Sara found Laika. A super cool animation and production facility in Oregon.
Their work is stunning - but that's not the only thing you should check out. Their site allows you to view their reels - and put together your own reel of their work, in any order you'd like. And then share it with friends.
They've thought hard about their audience - agencies and people who hire animators - and understand that there are several people that are a part of that decision making process. By allowing the sharing of a custom reel, everyone in on the decision can see the same work. Awesome work. Awesome marketing. Totally, completely awesome.
AND - I discovered that they produced the new spots for Soy Joy - which rock, btw. See the spot in my custom Laika reel.
Labels: 3d, adindustry, ads, Flash, illustration, video
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:37 AM
2 comments
we the people, in order to form a more perfect union...
The preamble to the United States Constitution is one of the only things that I can now recite from memory thanks to my wonderful education at the School House of Rock.
Now you can enjoy the very same preamble produced by a group of wonderfully choreographed humans. Thanks SwissMiss!
Labels: creativeinspiration, video
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:34 AM
0 comments
this would never work with skinny jeans
The latest Levis internet production is out, and it rocks. Gotta love that Levis is letting lose and having fun. It's working.
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:16 AM
0 comments
video to watch again and again
Really cool video produced from the desktop of a Mac. This may have you watching again and again. And again. And Again. From 30gms.
UPDATE: Here's an attempt at producing the same video, on a PC.
Labels: apple, mac, music, video
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:25 AM
0 comments
ghosts, aliens and doomsday. now all in one easy to find place.
The internet is buzzing about ParaTube, the video sharing site for all things paranormal.
I wanted to share their most watched video with you, by embedding it here. But they don't allow that, without logging in. That's a poor decision by the creators of ParaTube. Sharing is what will make this successful - not forcing user logins.
That aside, there's some fun material here for ghost hunters and sci-fi fans. And for people who believe that it's all going to end in 2012. (The world. Not ParaTube. I'm sure ParaTube will live on through at least the 2020's.)
Labels: social media, video, viral
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:19 AM
0 comments
write all over your videos!!
YouTube just launched the most awesome feature - annotation. Now you can make comments and add speech bubbles all over your videos! This opens up an entire world of possibilities for cool creative ideas. Soooo many ideas. Our heads might explode.
I just added annotations to the last video from our 2007 PlaidNation tour, in about 6 minutes. Watch it, and get stoked for this year's tour!
(annotations currently only showing in the version here, not the embedded version above. Obviously, YouTube is still working on bugs.)
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:53 AM
1 comments
world re-created on paper
Isn't it great when ads can make a statement, and be cool production pieces, and be ads too??? Really, really loving this clip that promotes the Samsung F480.
I guess this was produced on a Samsung 480. But I'm not sure. Maybe it's just a cool video with a Samsung 480 title at the end. Or showing that with the Samsung 480 you'll be totally in control of the world, like it was a piece of paper. Yeah, that's probably it. I need some Samsung 480.
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:45 AM
0 comments
star wars & snowboarding. two great things that belong together.
If George Lucas had video tools like this when he was 19, imagine where he'd be today. Oh, wait.
Gnar Wars. Gnuff said.
Labels: action sports, creativeinspiration, video
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:25 AM
0 comments
world of wifecraft: marriage counseling 2.0
What if you could use games like World of Warcraft to help you through real life? World of Wifecraft is a guide on how guys addicted to MMORPG's can get along in life. By treating life just like a quest in the game.
Send this clip to the person in your life that's obsessed with World of Warcraft, or other MMORPG's. So funny.
Labels: gaming, pop culture, video, viral
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:33 AM
2 comments
how to explain social media to your boss
Here's a tasty video treat that explains how social media works. After you send it to your boss, maybe we could all send it to the airlines. Seems like they need some help figuring things out.
Labels: social media, video, yummyfood
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:50 AM
1 comments
you've seen this before
It's great when someone comes along and does something that you've seen a hundred million times, and makes it fresh.
Optical illusions. You've seen most of these when you were 6 years old. But Samsung just made them fun again. Nicely done.
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:04 AM
0 comments
when employees become talent
Poorly produced national sales meeting videos are the new black. And this gem from the Home Depot kicks ass. From MTLB.
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:34 AM
1 comments
how to send off an employee
When Art Director Tim Blount left Modernista, they sent him off with a video, to remember the good times. Not just any video. But a shot by shot remake of Journey's Separate Ways. Awesome.
Labels: adindustry, video, workplace
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:33 AM
2 comments
what if life were facebook
What if real life were more like Facebook? From Tim Brunelle, via Twitter.
Labels: facebook, social media, video, viral
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:22 AM
0 comments
three search engines walk into a bar...
Sounds like a cute promotion for a company's services...until it goes on way too long, and is mis-handled in the blogosphere.
There's a back story here, that's FAR more interesting. Trust me. Read the comments to the post over at Make the logo bigger, for the real entertainment.
Here's the thing - if you're going to produce a promo piece using other people's intellectual property (like songs), and use logos without permission, in an off-brand way (like Microsoft and Yahoo), you might want to be careful about throwing threats around. Not that that's what happened - I'm just just being hypothetical, of course.
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:28 AM
5 comments
some people need to shave more than others
Those people at Philips really know how to shave a guy. This is a pretty cool twist on showing product benefits from someone who might know a thing or two about shaving some tough hair.
This is already all over the internets, but I really like The GirlRiot's review of this spot, best.
posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:44 AM
2 comments
how is microsoft still in business?
It is absolutely astounding that this exists. That money was spent on this. That people approved it. I know the money must flow out of faucets over there, but couldn't you hire a better conceptual team for this?
At first, you'll think it's bad on purpose, and all a part of the joke. But as you get about halfway through, you realize there's no punch line. It's real. Real embarrassing. Reboot, please.
posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:00 AM
4 comments
in the old days, creative people actually worked for a living.
On your most stressful day of slamming out emails, or creating wonderful things by clicking a mouse, take a look at this piece on how they made the HBO show open. In the old days, before computers.
This would be a funny concept for a behind the scenes piece that shows the making of something obviously digital, but pretend that it was produced in an old school way. I can already see this in my head, and trust me, it's genius.
Labels: adindustry, creativeinspiration, video
posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:31 AM
0 comments
who says print is dead?
Totally awesome fun with flipbooks. Outstanding.
posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:16 AM
0 comments
vbs tv really rocks
If you haven't checked out VBS.tv yet, you should kill some otherwise productive time today. Led by Creative Director Spike Jonze, they've really built a wonderful dashboard of content, and some awesome films. I got hooked on the North Korea episodes this weekend. Once you start watching, you won't stop. Thanks Devon!
Labels: film, inspiration, video, youthmarketing
posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:25 AM
1 comments
chrome and fire and lense flares, oh my.
From the band that brought you the groundbreaking music video DANCE, comes a super rockalicious tribute to cheezy motion graphics.
DVNO is a sweet video celebration of chrome, fire, animated neon and everything else you still see on the small-time news channel intros. Awesome reminder of yesterday.
Labels: design, illustration, music, video
posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:11 AM
2 comments
fresh video entertainment for media buying geeks
This