Jaffe Juice

The Launch of the Living in High Definition Podcast

This is a little backwards, because I still want to spend some time over the next couple of weeks outlining the single most signficant project we've worked on at crayon, namely Panasonic's "Living in High Definition" community and commitment.

We've had the pleasure and privilege to work with Panasonic North America on a truly landmark effort - actively demonstrating that Living in High Definition changes everything.

And what better way to bring this to life than through a High Definition video show, presented by one of the real stars of the program, Laura Pollack, a mom and a community member.

The LiHD Podcast is a bi-monthly snapshot of the best of what the community has to offer. It's a showcase which operates on three levels:

• Internal i.e. within the community - motivation for members; a showcase of recognition
• External i.e. outside the community - a portal or window into the community; a source of promotion and membership acqusition
• Both - a source or resource filled with tips, tools, tricks, how-to's and inspiration

Making this podcast happen are the fine folks over at For Your Imagination (FYI)

So take a look, subscribe to the show and while you're at it, join the LiHD Community.

Living in HD Podcast, Episode 1 from Living In HD on Vimeo.

Leveraging Video for Conversational Marketing

Yesterday I moderated a panel at OMMA on Leveraging Video for Conversational Marketing. While my panel was talking, I was writing down notes and promised to upload them to those in attendance on my blog.

Some of the points might seem esoteric, but there are some good nuggets nonetheless

I have a douchebag on line 3 for you

Looks like Bud.TV is flexing a bit of short-form muscle.

If you think about it, Bud.TV should be the anti-GEICO-caveman in terms of being authentic, irreverent, risque, ballsy, brash, honest, true.

My advice...take it to the next level. Release the uncut version of this footage. Piss off a few people along the way if necessary. This is on-demand heaven.

Way to go, Schu....I owe you $10 for the swear jar

From the sublime to the sublime

Yesterday, I was asked to do a taping for CNBC (it will air today and as soon as I know the time, I'll update this post) The thing was that I was also coaching my daughter's softball side (sponsored by crayon)

So we had to schedule the taping around the softball practice. How's that for prioritization!

I just found it quite surreal that I was in a suit in a studio at 3.15pm and on the field in shorts and a T-shirt at 4pm.

The future of Bud.TV

According to Ad Age, Bud.TV drew 152,000 unique visitors last month (March), 40% fewer than February's 253,000 visitors, according to numbers released today by ComScore Media Metrix. A-B executives have said that they hope to draw between 2 million and 3 million visitors per month by early next year to the online network, which is costing the brewer somewhere between $30 million and $40 million.

The new "Direct to Consumer" venture from Anheuser Busch has come under a lot of scrutiny and criticism of late, but I want to take this opportunity to throw my weight (90%) behind Bud.TV...or at the very minimum the idea behind Bud.TV

Personally, I believe that special interest groups (read: media companies) are responsible for a good chunk of the pushback from the various State Attorney Generals. There is so much hypocrisy involved that it makes me want to puke. We can run alcohol advertising on the Super Bowl, but online is somehow different...

But I digress.

I think it's early days for Bud.TV and I really hope A-B stays the course. On one hand, they're not in the content game and getting involved in this kind of effort is a committment, as opposed to a one-off campaign-like investment. On the other hand, the quality of content on the networks isn't exactly worth writing home about either...

Personally, I'd love to work on Bud.TV - take that anyway you want to. I'm just saying...

Here are some tips I'd give the executives over at A-B (you may be doing this already, but as a blogger that has not been engaged I wouldn't know):

1. You don't need to be running 24x7x365. Start with an anchor tenant like The Sopranos became for HBO and work from there
2. Liberate your content - the more platforms you make Bud.TV available, the more likely it will be to be consumed and embraced
3. Consider bite-sized programming chunks like Current.TV
4. Deploy extensive conversational programs, including blogger/podcaster/influencer outreach.
5. Build community around the content and encourage active participation and co-creation
6. Explore ways to link purchase of product to Bud.TV - reward your customers and turn them into the stars
7. Use traditional media to advertise (yes, advertise) Bud.TV.
8. Use your packaging to promote Bud.TV
9. Use every single one of your Super Bowl commercials in next year's game (XLII) and then pull out of the Super Bowl never to return. The chaos will make even Bob Garfield smile
10. Above all...experiment experiment experiment and be prepared to make mistakes. Your reported $30-40 million investment will be well worth it if you learn from your mistakes and innovate intensely.

There's a lot riding on this and I think there are a lot of people who want you to succeed. There are also a lot of people who want you to fail...don't be distracted by them. Cheers!

Note to NBC and other networks - upgrade your servers

So I'm sitting in my hotel room (Hilton) in Chicago and attempting to download an episode of Heroes via iTunes. I began the process at the Admiral's Club in New York using my T-Mobile Hotspot subscription and carried on here.

Progress report: 179.3MB out of 470.4MB - 3 hours remaining!

That's right...3 hours. Who has 3 hours in a hotel room to spare? (and if I had begun this process outright, it would have been 5 hours)

Given the massive and continuous shifts to more access, heavier file sizes, paid downloads of multimedia etc., many of which happen on the road, shouldn't both the hotel chains, but most definitely in this case, NBC et al be investing in faster connections and supersized servers respectively?

The half empty glass is half full (or is it?)

Information from a newly released study conducted by IRI and TiVo has demonstrated the inevitable: lower product sales within TiVo homes. Within the CPG category, one product saw a sales drop as large as 12%, where two other unnamed brands registered declines of 5% and 1% respectively.

First blush indicates the intuitively obvious, namely that TiVo is the Grim Reaper for TV Advertising. No question. But then again, it does also allude to the hypothesis that TV advertising works (after all, sales were higher in non-DVR homes)

Yes and No. As I wrote in Life after the 30-second spot, the question is not whether TV advertising works or not, it's how well does it work. And one thing most people will agree on nowadays is that it's not working nearly as well as it did in the past.

Ultimately, there are many variables in play that make it rather challenging to determine a one-size-fits-all conclusion at this stage. For example, the 12% brand was in a particularly price sensitive category and thus, it stands to reason that the TV advertising served a superficial purpose of blasting across a price point i.e. maximum reinforcement of a minimal proof point.

Furthermore, who's to say that the 12% wasn't already coming from an equity base which a) has been steadily declining and b) was a minority compared to the overall existing wastage.

The DVR-homes are most likely not buying any less of their daily or weekly essentials. They're just getting their information from other expanded sources, experimenting with new brands and most likely purchasing house-brands which they know are the same brands anyway minus the packaging and the premium. If they're smart enough to buy a TiVo, they're probably smart enough in terms of how they shop.

DVR-homes represent consumers that are higher up on the media-evolution chain, but it's just a matter of time before most (if not all) homes follow suit. And when that happens, those double digit percentage point drops are going to need to be made up elsewhere...

(via Ad Age)

Opening bid on insanity: $1,250

Some dumb idiot bid $1,250 on the Aqua Teen LED sign on eBay.

But will he or she tune in?

THAT'S the $1,250 question!

Linkety-Link

• Merriam-Webster released it's 2006 update which included the terms spyware, ringtone and mouse potato. Seems the first two have been around forever and should have been included ages ago...but I'm a little stumped on the third. Is this even real? Seems like this was concocted by TV people who can't figure out the net...perhaps it's because they have too much spyware on their computers????
• The inaugural golden poo award goes to Sony for 2006's best flog (alliwantforxmasisapspandafakeflogalongwitharrogantglibandpatronizingcopy) Mission Accomplished?
• Edelman under the gun again for giving away free laptops w/Windows Vista to key bloggers. BL and I share the same POV (and I suspect we're not alone): there's nothing wrong with giving away the laptops, provided a) bloggers disclose this information to their readers and  b) bloggers are allowed to express themselves freely (i.e. making room for a negative/neutral review...otherwise it's PayPerPost)
• "Brands navigate the blogosphere" from brandchannel.com. Haven't read it yet, but it looks good...
• Predictions ahoy...Wall Street Journal reports on 5 trends for 2007: 1) Fewer ads, 2) Jazzing up search, 3) "Me" Media, 4) Making a Choice, 5) New Yardsticks. 1) is common sense but I wonder how many media outlets will follow this lead; 2) how long is a piece of string? If the sum total of search innovation is "funny" one liners and mirroring TV jingles, it's time to short Google; 3) Love this i.e. the idea of brands associating themselves with influential individuals - it's a complete 180 variation on celebrity endorsement; 4) You think? Permission-based marketing rules; pre-roll commercials sucks and 5) As I often say, if you want to get the right answers, ask the right questions. The sooner we move from reach-based/potential/panel based superficial metrics to "proof of life"/actual/real reflections, we're all in a better place (except if you're traditional media that is)

Viacom's best decision of 2006?

According to paidContent.org, Me Too Tube (the Orbitz of the Video CopyCat business) might have just lost one of its founding honchos in the form of Viacom. It's all conjecture right now, but come on, do you really think a bunch of metaphorical old white guys are going to get over themselves, get out of their - and each other's - own way, park their egos at the door in the process of getting this "You Tube Killer" Hail Mary off the ground?

I think not.