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A recent study from the mobile advertising network Madvertise showed that pre-roll ads before mobile video games created major ad awareness. The 2-month long study showed an incredible 255% increase in ad awareness from pre-roll video ads on the game ‘Need for Speed’. So what does this mean?

It may mean that pre-roll video advertising is more effective on small mobile devices than on larger desktop computers. Why? It may be because on your home computer, you can easily click away and open other browsers, and ignore pre-roll advertisements. On mobile devices, this is much more difficult. Since the games tested are targeted mostly to young people, its shows that pre-roll advertisements are possibly more effective on youth demographics that others. Now we all know that pre-roll advertising campaigns can be effective, but it is surprising to see such a higher level of ad awareness on mobile devices.

Ahead of Facebook’s IPO, it seems like they are throwing around some ideas to help monetize their site. If they are going to convince major investors to pay more to buy into Facebook than any other tech offering in history…well it makes sense that they are going to entice investors with new ways to make money. What is scary, is when a successful formula is changed simply to squeeze out a few more bucks to impress investors. And a Facebook ‘pay to post’ model, seems to be one of the worst ideas that Facebook could ever have thought of. It completely destroys their user experience, and gives a huge advantage to Google+. But it seems like they are actually testing a pay to post model right now. 

The idea is simple, if you have important posts (I’m getting Married…or whatever) you can pay (up to $2.00) for that post to stay near the top of your page allowing more people to see it. Now adding that free feature (allowing you to move selected posts to the top of your page) would be incredible, and it would certainly be used frequently. But users and Facebook have already signed a long social contract. Users will NOT pay Facebook to post content, and in exchange Facebook will deliver ads to their page. It has worked out brilliantly, but a move to both pay to post content AND have ads delivered on your page will feel like a ‘double dip’ to users. We will see if Facebook actually allows this feature to go public, but certainly Google will be looking on with great interest.

With the rise of apps on your phones, tablets, and gaming system it was just a a matter of time before video advertisements were on their way. Most mobile apps (well the free ones) already included text-based advertising embedded into the app. But starting soon, your favorite apps mid have pre-roll video advertisements.

Google announced a partnership with BrightRoll targeting mobile apps on their Android market, and Microsoft is developing video advertising for their Xbox 360 apps. Which means for some apps (like Hulu) you may soon be watching two sets of advertisements, one delivered by the device and the other by the actual app. Not good news for those who hate advertisements, but it is good news for those who enjoy free apps. These companies need to monazite their business some how, and as video advertisement opens up, hopefully more free apps begin to appear on the market.

My first memory of AOL was probably the same as yours, those little free internet access discs mailed to every home in America about every other week. In the mid-90s everyone had stacks of those CD-Roms sitting around their home office. But after a merger with Time Warner, the eventual death of dial up internet, and the rise of giant internet search and portal sites like Google and Yahoo, it seemed like AOL was in a death spiral.

Over the past year AOL has decided to invest heavily in content in an attempt to be a destination for news and video. Basically their hope is to become a stronger rival for Yahoo. First they purchased the Huffington Post for $315 million, and now it seems they are focused on video content. AOL recently launched a new video programming and curation page called AOL ON Network that is reported to contain over 300,000 videos and 14 different channels! Now that is a incredibly heavy investment in video content. Content looks to be mostly news, style, food, tech, and celebrity based.

This could be a good move for AOL, but they have to understand that just as the internet provider and search market became flooded in the early days of the web, online video sites are equally as saturated today. If they want to get people to return to AOL for the first time in years, then they are going to need to create some pretty incredible programming. AOL ON needs a hit, and at first glance their two original series look unappealing. While I may not fall into the show’s target audience, they both feel like failed network sitcom pilots. Hopefully AOL ON can find some successful original programming, because they will need it if they are going to attract viewers back to AOL.

‘How much does a video cost’. If I only had a nickel for every time I have been asked that question! For a producer, its an incredibly difficult question to answer, but I completely understand that video pricing can be a mystery at times. So my goal for this blog is to cut through all the jargon and come out and explain exactly how I price videos. Hopefully this helps you readers better understand the process and can help you as you plan your next video project.

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CREATIVE

There are two kinds of videos, ones that need creative work and those that do not. Generally corporate videos, interviews, or filming events rarely need creative conceptual ideas. Basically you just need talented camera operators and editors, but rarely do you need original concepts, unlike TV or web commercials that need  scripts, and storyboards. The difference between producing a online video that finds 1000 viewers or 1,000,000 is the creative concept. In my opinion, the creative work is the most important aspect to creating popular videos, and companies should invest in creative if they want to be successful.

Expect to Pay – $500-$5000

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PRODUCTION

How many people am I going to need to pay to produce the video idea we have created? How many actors are there, one or ten? How many lights do we need, how many cameras, do we have to rent a location, build a set, create some props, do we need special wardrobe or special effects? The costs for production can be incredibly varied and it will all depend on what the creative concept will be. You should discuss how much you would like to spend on the entire project with your team during the creative process, it will help them create ideas that can be reasonably produced.

Expect to Pay – $2,000 – $50,000

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POST PRODUCTION

So we shot some AMAZING footage and the idea looks like it could be a hit. So all we have to do now is put all the pieces together! Well you will need to hire a video editor to create the video, but you may also need other post production elements. Is there going to be music in the background? Will this be someone originally created for the video, stock music, or a popular song that you will purchase the rights for? Will you need a professional voice over artist? How about graphics and titles? Do you need some very cinematic 3D titles to appear or do you need to insert some special effect into the videos?

Expect to Pay – $1,000 – $10,000

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MARKETING

The video you created is perfect, it is fun to watch and really helps tell the story about your brand. You can’t wait for people to see it! Are people going to be watching this on television, online, or both? If on TV, what channels, shows, and times would you like the video seen? If online, how will you direct traffic to this new video? How much are you willing to pay per viewer for an advertising campaign? What keywords would you like to use and what demographics are you targeting. After you have produced a great branded video, you will need to create a plan to make the video successful.

Expect to Pay – $1,500 – $25,000

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A video campaign is an investment, and you need to be wise about where you invest. Successful campaigns will not only have great ideas but great execution and great marketing plan. Don’t try to find the company that can produce a video for you the cheapest. Find a company that you can trust and explain to them your budget and your goals for your video campaign. Make sure they do not spend all of the video budget on one aspect of the video because that is what they feel is their strength. The better you can make every aspect of your video, the better chance the video has to be successful.

In a move that I think is pure genius, cult TV show Arrested Development is not only coming back to produce 10 new episodes for Netflix, but they are also revealing them all at once. This is in direct opposition of how television series have been operating for over 60 years, but in my opinion it is an incredibly wise move. The reason for serial television shows have always been about advertising. You spread your episodes out over time so you can maximize your advertising revenues and exposure.

But technology has changed and so has viewing habits. People don’t want to wait for 2 or 3 months to watch an entire series anymore. With On Demand content, fans of shows have come to expect downloading entire series with the click of a button. Many friends of mine actually wait to watch episodes once the series has wrapped at the end of the season to start their marathon viewing sessions.

If this strategy does work, and Arrested Development becomes more successful as an On Demand show instead of a weekly series, this may begin to change other digital strategies. If you have created a branded education series, the old logic was to spread your content out over time to give viewers or web visitors reasons to come back. But maybe attention spans have simply grown too short for this strategy. Maybe it is now better to simply give your customers all the content you have as fast as you can produce it. The truth is that there are countless ways for consumers to find content now, and you can’t expect them to come back next week or next month. There is so much noise in the digital landscape, that if you can finally break through and connect with a viewer, the best strategy may be to give them all the content they could want or else they might just forget about you.

Soon your online web chats are going to get much more interesting as real-time mapping motion tracking software becomes available. Check out this great video on vimeo by Arturo Castro and you can see him transform into celebrities such as Michael Jackson and Paris Hilton with the touch of a button. As his head moves, the celebrity face movies acting like a virtual mask.

This may just be the beginning. As the technology improves, you may soon be able to download avatars of all your favorite celebrities and be them for a day. You might appear as a digital Kanye West as you chat with your buddies online. Online dating will become much more interesting with this video technology! Imagine the incredible opportunities for entertainment and interaction once people can choose what or who they want to look at. It may also provide interesting opportunities for companies to allow their fans to ‘become’ their spokesman and really interact with their branding. Imagine doing your very own ‘Old Spice’ commercial in your own bathroom as a virtual ‘Old Spice guy’. Should make for some fun Youtube videos.

Tupac returned to life this past weekend at the Coachella music festival. Taking the stage with fellow rapper Snoop Dog, he performed one of his most famous hit songs. The digital resurrection was created in the form of both highly realistic 3D modeling, motion capture and holographic rear projections. The process is reported to have cost well into the six-figures for the 5 minute performance. Not quite affordable, but is an incredibly interesting opportunity for future holographic performances of past artists. Will we be one going to a local theatre to watch a live Beatles concert or maybe Elvis can indeed finally be found alive?

Shockingly, no brands have utilized this technology for their own projects. When will we see the first viral hologram campaign? Maybe a young Muhammad Ali standing in front of  a Foot Locker talking to patrons? If the technology will allow it, it will only be a matter of time before some company utilizes it.

If you haven’t seen them on just about every blog or website online or watched them mocked on the Daily Show, then please check out Google’s new augmented reality glasses. Its still just a prototype, but they have a nice little video to show what the ‘power’ of such glasses might be. But are they really that impressive?

Augmented reality is a way to use digital devices to add to what you see in reality. For instance if you see a billboard and hold your smartphone up to it, a interactive advertisement may appear on your phone blending what you see in reality (the billboard) and what you see in digital space (the ad). It can be interesting when done right, but at this stage it very rarely is done right. The technology isn’t there yet.

So along comes google with the brilliant idea to take all of the wonderful things Google brings to you (maps, search, sharing) and take them from your smart phone and put them right in your face. Part of me sees that this is the logical next step because technology seems to get smaller and smaller and more personal. So why not just have a little computer screen right on your eye telling you where to go and what awesome new deals are around the corner? Seems pretty futuristic right?

Well in the end to me it seems a bit gimmicky, and I doubt that people e are going to want to wear custom google glasses. I of course have never used one before, but it feels like it would be awkward to deal with constant pop-ups in your field of view. The great thing about your phones is that you can keep it in your pocket when you want to use it and take it out when you do. It stays off your face. I just don’t see this as the next step, to me it feels like it will be a underused technology. Sure advertisers will love it because you will be able to know exactly where people are and exactly what they are look at or for in any given moment.

But I just don’t see it widely being accepted. Phones will not be going anywhere, and it will still be the main source of communication until this technology is so small, that maybe it can fit on a contact lens and can be easily turned off on off. That kind of technology might be a decade away, so until then, don’t count too much on augmented reality. Remember how we were all supposed to be using Virtual Reality body suits and helmets by now? Those devices invented in the 1980′s were suppose to be the next step in gaming technology, but they were never accepted because they simply were not practical. Gamers playing today are very smiler to the gamers of the 1980s (staring at a television and holding a controller). I see the same thing with thing kind of communication.

Dollar Shave Club has an extremely simple business model; Netfix for razorblades. A simple low cost monthly service that brings razors to people’s homes each month. Dollar Shave Club decided to swing for the fences on a branded viral video and it looks like they have a home run. With 4 million views in only 3 weeks, this video should help launch this new start up. But what made this successful?

1. It was funny.
2. It was risky
3. It offered a service that people will want

Now every commercial producer will think their idea was hilarious, but to me what stood out in this video was how risky it felt. It just didn’t feel like a ‘corporate message’. Sure the delivery was similar to the ‘Old Spice Guy’ videos, but this video is just a bit more edgy. It pokes fun directly at the competition and the use of profanities just scream ‘this not a commercial’. In the end, it feels very natural and honest. The video is funny and it introduces a product and service very successfully. Congratulations to DollarShaveClub and Pauliluproductions.com.