American politician’s are able to get elected because they use traditional “scare marketing” tactics to prey on the weak minded. Below is a screen shot of an advertisement put out by John McCain:

The advertisement reads, “Is it ok to unconditionally meet with anti-american foreign leaders?” You are then given the option of clicking “yes” or “no”. The advertisement appeared on Youtube under the Charlie Rose channel (which is great by the way). The advertisement was hyper-targeted probably through relevant keywords (further demonstrating google’s impressive content advertising system).  You are then directed towards this landing page:

The landing page above is a squeeze page (it doesn’t matter whether or not you agree with John McCain’s political stance) where you can give up your email; where you will probably be sent political messages and requests for donations.

It sickens me to see John McCain (2008 Republican Presidential Candidate) to phrase the “Iran Question” in this way. US political rulers need to get it through their thick heads; that just because someone doesn’t like you, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t meet with them or have no lines of communication with them.  That’s just plain stupidity and childish. It reminds of me of adolescent young boys fighting in the playground - they often end up becoming good friends later on because they “communicated” at some point.  Most countries/people mature after a few years as a result of communicating with “perceived” enemies.  American media, politicians, and the world seem to have “anger” issues with Iran for producing nuclear products; as well as making anti-zionist/Israel rhetoric. These are both serious issues that correctly piss people off. However, it is immature and potentially more harmful to American’s if people like John McCain are elected and further ruin potential relations with “trouble makers” like the Iranian President.  More dialogue and communication is the answer to increasing national security in America.

Opening lines of communication with your perceived “enemies” does not harm American’s in any way. Bullets and military weaponry harm people. Words do very little. The lack of words are the root of the problem. In all relationships - unhealthy communication is generally the biggest problem.  Governments are just like everyday people (which they actually are) - and they generally have problems because they are bad at communicating with one another.  Advertising campaigns like the one above are solely intended to empower American politicians. Instead of fostering better relations with Iran, American politicians would prefer to create more conflict, in order to empower themselves once in office.  In summation, John McCain sucks and is going to suck even more if he gets elected.  With marketing scare tactics like this - he might just do it.

Viral video marketing is much more an art than a science; there are ways to scientifically increase your chances of making your video go viral. Banner Blindness Inc. has consulted and developed technical capabilities to produce and distribute online videos with the intention of making them go viral. Making an online video go viral is no easy task, however; it is not impossible to get million and millions of unique views. There are numerous methods to achieve thousands of views on your Youtube, Revver, Facebook, MySpace, Break, Cracked, etc… video that you upload. All videos that we produce for clients utilize an embedded URL to generate traffic for your website. Whether you are trying to sell a product or increase brand name recognition - we can help. Please watch the video above to learn more about our Viral Video production services and viral video distribution services.

To have a viral video produced and syndicated for your business please call 843-425-3566 or email Support@BannerBlindness.com

The video above is from Youtube director CasimirN and he discusses spam and how prevalent it has become in society today. CasimirN also has another interesting film on the differences between Television and Internet Video:

I’m posting this not only because the above videos are entertaining, but because I want to demonstrate what social media is. By linking to this Youtuber’s channel I am increasing his view count, his potential subscribers, and thus potential website visitors (if he has a website). This is how SEO ultimately works and how you can gain natural online social media - by producing great content and having others promote it for you; naturally of course.

Below is a picture of Universal Music Group’s YouTube channel page:

Universal Music Group already has over 4800 music videos uploaded into YouTube.  Julianne Hough was the first music video that appears on the UMG YouTube home page.  Appearing on the UMG YouTube channel is a great starting point for artists looking to explode into super stardom and massive recording success.  The UMG YouTube channel home page shows that they are are the most viewed and most subscribed out of thousands of YouTube publishers.  Surely, the recording industry is rapidly changing in both content distribution and monetization strategies.

I don’t have much time to offer my readers a thorough analysis of the rapidly changing music industry.  However, I will offer the following two suggestions for aspiring bands on how to make money from their artwork (music):

1.  Get on Youtube, and get on Youtube fast.  Get on any video sharing website you can get on.  Spreading your music through music videos is a time tested and proven method to increasing your fan base.  Hence the ever famous, “Television killed the radio star.”  Now, “Youtube killed the television star”.  In fact, that’s a great song title for some aspiring band looking to go viral online - you can have it; your welcome!

2.  Monetize through alternative methods - selling records is a joke.  Selling sponsorships, iTunes, memberships, online VIP access, signed posters, signed iPods, etc…  Be creative, you can’t sell CD’s anymore.  Only Mariah Carey can, and thats because its an experience, not because its more convenient.

I think a lot of people are angry at the large record labels for suing web users who don’t pay for music.  It seems like anyone who has used the internet has downloaded “illegal” music at some point in their lives.  But Universal Music Group is taking a step in the right direction - instead of fighting the massive consumer based movement they are empowering it through their YouTube channel.  Now the only question that remains is - how do they plan on making money through it?

I’m constantly impressed with the way that marketers and Google are creating advertising campaigns on Youtube. The example below is a marketing campaign for the upcoming summer blockbuster: Get Smart. Well, it’s not quite a block buster yet, but with marketing like this I have a feeling it will be.

Viral video marketing like this is very effective in generating brand loyalty. Over a million people have watched the Get Smart Youtube contest and thousands are uploading videos to participate. I doubt the numbers will be anything substantial, but it is certainly generating quite a bit of cognizant buzz about the movie. When the movie releases people that have seen the Youtube video will certainly recall the video they saw online and will probably opt to see Get Smart verses other movies.

This GetSmart viral video has the components of other successful online viral video marketing campaigns that Youtube has helped create: users participate in the conversation. When “users participate” by uploading videos of submitting any form of user generated content the marketing campaign is a success. Numbers, therefore, become the most important component of user generated marketing - you want as many people to participate as possible. So make it easy to participate! This Get Smart campaign is simple to be a part of; videos submitted are no more than 15 seconds.

If your company is interested in crafting an online viral video that includes user generated content - please call Banner Blindness at 843-425-3566 or email Support@BannerBlindness.com

Are you a major corporation looking to make a dent in your online marketing initiative? Well I hope so. YouTube can help your corporation take its brand to the next level. I would argue that YouTube offers one of the best branding and direct response opportunities on the web today. Youtube is the #7 website in the world and has tremendous analytical tools and budgeting capabilities to help you meet your advertising needs. You can check out YouTube’s branding and media kit to help you determine whether YouTube and its publisher partner network will help your corporate branding and advertising strategy.

I prefer to see our clients invest their advertising dollars in YouTube instead of Facebook Advertising. It seems like Facebook is dead right now. Their “ppc” advertising system is great for performance based marketers. But it has severely hurt their large corporate clients looking for unique branding opportunities. Facebook offers some interesting integrated advertising opportunities at an expensive price tag. I have only seen a few large corporate clients actually purchase the sponsored profile pages. Youtube on the other hand is being embraced by major corporations in a big way. Banner Blindness is partners with Buck Hollywood - one of the top YouTube channels - and we see how much is being spent on partnered YouTube advertising buys. Quite a bit is spent on CPC Youtube advertising. Michael Buckley is interested in more private label advertising deals for his blog if you are interested - please contact us. I’m confident that major corporations can cost effectivley make a huge impact by doing large branding campaigns across the YouTube partner network.

When conducting a branding campaign on YouTube advertisers don’t have to pay CPM rates. Since you don’t have to pay CPM rates you can easily gauge the effectiveness of your advertising campaign by determining your revenue per click. A typical click on YouTube from premium publishers will cost you around $.40 cents I believe; but of course it varies. You also have to realize that for $.40 per click, if this is more then what you typically pay for CPC advertising, you are getting a whole lot more. Our partner Michael Buckley was receiving Red Stripe beer advertisements on his latest YouTube broadcast. Red Stripe beer company is not paying for these ads to be shown - they are paying for these ads to be clicked on.

Notice in the advertisements above that Red Stripe is encouraging their audience to get involved. Beer companies, tobacco companies, auto companies, consumer product manufacturers, etc… realize that showing advertisements are not enough, you need to get your audience involved. How can you get your audience involved? Through user generated media! If you offer prize money and a platform for users to generate media, you will have more then what you know what to do with. Some of it is so good that you can actually put it on TV and have a kick-ass commercial.

If your corporation is interested in finding out how Banner Blindness Inc. can help you carry out an effective You Tube advertising campaign. Please call 843-425-3566 or email Support@BannerBlindness.com

The # 1 viewed YouTube video today is Chinese propoganda. Below are screen shots:

I have to admit, the video brings out some valid points about Tibet being part of China. However, I don’t want to get into a political debate about whether or not Tibet should be a free nation or part of China. I would rather discuss the marketing and public relation aspects of using YouTube to espouse political views. To make a YouTube video one of the most watched videos, it is 99% of the time, viewed on a popular website with lots of visitors, and it becomes one of the most watched videos of the day, and then people visit the most watched videos of the day, generating even more daily views. This video receive a majority of its views from this chinese website. This video refutes all the negative press that US Media puts out about China, and hundreds of thousands of Americans have watched this. This hurts the Bush administration’s position on China and Tibet - and I think that position is pro Tibet and passively against China, as the Lama was just recently given some sort of peace prize from Bush. In short, YouTube is becoming a PR nightmare for powerful organizations and governments.

The above video by Jeremiah Wright discusses why America hates Barack Obama. This video is great negative PR for the Hillary campaign to shove in the front of white American’s faces. I’m fairly confident you will see this video on television shortly. Rev. Wright says, “Hillary ain’t never been called a nigga, she aint neva been passed up by a taxi because of the color of her skin, etc….” This video (to most white people) will scare them into voting for Hillary, and worrying what it would be like to have a “Black” president as the head of the United States. So Barack, get this video removed ASAP before if damages your campaign with “White Americans”.

The following is a screen shot of YouTube’s most popular video producers:

This is not an exhaustive screen shot, just the top 12, you can click the link above to view them all. These channels (youtube video producers) vary in number of subscribers and number of videos available. The number of videos available from each producer does not necessarily correlate with how many subscribers they have. The top 100 youtube video producers provide an excellent opportunity for you to advertise your product or service.

Banner Blindness has advertising/sponsorship relationships with nearly 70% of the top YouTube video producers (some YouTube video producers could care less about making money and are basically nihilists.) If your business is interested in conducting a YouTube guerrilla marketing campaign by sponsoring, cross promotional referencing, or doing integrated advertising with some of YouTube’s most popular entertainers please call Banner Blindness at 843-425-3566 or email Support@BannerBlindness.com You don’t necessarily have to spend big money to get YouTuber’s to link to you and to promote your business/service. Sometimes, all it takes is free products. Please call or contact us to learn how we can make your next product/service go viral online.

Swiffer created an excellent marketing campaign through YouTube that has received over 150,000 unique channel views.  Swiffer is offering $15,000 to whoever can create the best “cleaning break-up” video.  Two of the commercials almost look professional enough to be used on TV.  Swiffer is probably planning on using the best commercials on an actual television advertising campaign.  If your company is interested in creating a user generated advertising and promotional campaign - please contact Banner Blindness to learn how we can develop a similar marketing campaign.

Cities and corporations need to be vigilant in what their employees are saying - as there is a good chance that it can end up on Youtube, go viral, and decimate your reputation or brand. For example: AOL and canceling over the phone, Comcast sleeping episode, and now the Baltimore Police:

At the end of the video the pig (cop) even says, “Is that camera on? If I see this on youtu….” He immediately recognized the danger of what he just did - kudo’s to the kids for protecting themselves with the power of a camera, putting it on Youtube, then getting it Dug thousands of times.

Another great example of public servants getting ratted out through user generated videos:

The NFL and YouTube users are going at it just as hard as the Patriots and Giants did this past Sunday.  The David Tyree catch is one of today’s most viewed videos on YouTube.  But sadly, for fans, the NFL keeps filing YouTube copyright notices to remove Tyree’s game winning Super Bowl catch.

I can understand the NFL’s position - they aren’t profiting from letting people watch it for free.  But that certainly doesn’t stop EVERY SINGLE commercial that was run during the Super Bowl from being played on nearly every video sharing site there is.  Interesting convergence of internet and television yet again.  The cost of a 2.7 million dollar Super Bowl commercial really isn’t as expensive as most people think, as Super Bowl ads are going viral online.