Youtube (Google) and Officemax have come up with a rather creative viral youtube campaign.  Below is a screen shot of the preferential Youtube placement to generate additional views on Youtube.  The number of impressions this Youtube channel is generating must be massive (so this must have been a big advertising deal - probably worth $250,000):

Below are more pictures of the OfficeMax Youtube channel and the video with the advertisement:

The videos are rather funny and viral as the actor tries to pay for things with nothing but pennis.

It’s hard to say whether or not this is generating additional business for OfficeMax.  I would certainly hope so as it has probably cost them a lot of money to produce and place on Youtube.

If you are a fortune 500 company and interested in developing edgy viral content advertised on Youtube we would like to help you produce the marketing campaign.  Please contact us for more information.  We can only take on this project if you have a minimum of $50,000 to invest into it.  We can develop an engaging consumer based website, viral youtube campaigns, and purchase premium Youtube video placement to make the campaign go viral.  Kudos to this creative and entertaining online viral marketing campaign from Youtube (Google) and OfficeMax.

I seem to be hearing from everyone these days that High Fructose Corn Syrup is extremely bad for you.  But not from from Corn manufacturers - who would have guessed?  Below is a screen shot of a banner I recently noticed on Yahoo:

I was thinking this might be a bait and switch advertisement or even a co-reg path offer.  Instead it is a marketing campaign from the Corn Refiners Association and it’s purpose is to inform consumers that High Fructose Corn Syrup is not unhealthy for you.  Below is one of the questions in the quiz:

This website claims that under the US Food and Drug Administration HFCS is “natural”.  What is “natural” you might ask?  Whenever I see a word in quotations, or when someone makes that gesture with their hands, I always know something is amiss.  I dont know if High Fructose Corn Syrup is healthy for you or not.  I do know marketing - and it seems like the corn manufactuers in this country are worried they are going to lose out on profits if they don’t educate the junk food eating masses about how “natural” High Fructose Corn Syrup is.

I leave you with Mark Bittman from the New York Times:

If you are a corporation looking to develop an online marketing campaign and interactive website like Sweet Surprise.  Please contact us and we would be happy to help you create a campaign that is not blatantly full of bullshit like Sweet Surprise. If you have comments about High Fructose Corn Syrup or the Corn Refiners Association I would be interested to hear what they are.

The above website, NY Girl Of My Dreams, is a great example of a non-commercial message that went viral online.  I was suspicious of this website and story when I first read it on Yahoo:

I figured it was a lead in to Yahoo Personals, but it was a news story from Reuters.   Quite a way to find love in today’s chaotic and internet age.  The website is a simple html page with what looks to be a hand drawing.  Anyone can create a website like this, but how do you make it go viral?  How did this tall skinny-dork and subway rider get his website out to millions of people in New York, the US, and now the world?  Did he start with craigslist?

Please leave your comments on how you believe this tall skinny dork was able to viralize his romantic campaign.

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.

Online affiliate marketing can be your bread and butter if you are an advertiser looking for traffic. Banner Blindness Inc. can help your business develop an affiliate marketing business. If you currently advertise a direct response product, free-trial offer, digital good, etc… we would very much like to hear from you. Many marketers don’t fully realize the incredible opportunity they have through Affiliate Networks such as NeverBlue Media, Hydra Media, Azoogle, Copeac, CPA Empire, Xy7, Clickbooth, MaxBounty, etc… With tens of thousands of publishers you are sure to get traffic; and the best part is you only pay for conversions.

If you are interested in getting your offer on numerous affiliate networks, please email Support@BannerBlindness.com or call 843-425-3566

While touring the Thailand country side I was amazed at the number of large scale manufacturing facilities that were for sale or sitting vacant.  I can only imagine that in parts of the former Soviet Union, Western Germany, and third world countries there are excessive amounts of manufacturing and large scale industrial complexes sitting vacant.  The marketplace for purchasing and selling these massive facilities can best be optimized through - The Internet.  I don’t know of many websites that connect buyers and sellers of these awe-inspiring facilities.  Can anyone say business opportunity!?  eBay is certainly a great place to list these facilities; I regularly see strange pieces of real estate for sale on eBay in Brazil, Costa Rica, and other American retirement destinations.

Most of these massive complexes can probably be purchased for pennies on the dollar.  With rising inflation across most western countries the costs of material are going up; and for many US manufacturers shifting operations to third world countries is the only way to stay compeitive in a global market place.  Recently, Intel announced a $600 million dollar semi-conductor manufacturing facility in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Banner Blindness Inc. (my company) currently has far too many projects in the works to invest in an eBay type website for large scale manufacturing and industrial.  However, if any readers of this website would like to invest in a project of this sort, please email Support@BannerBlindness.com or call 843-425-3566 and leave a message.  The following is my proposal to potential web investors interested in this project:

$5K will buy you 49.9% of the website.  I won’t relinquish control of marketing and business decisions.  This is purely a long term investment and you will receive a 49.9% controlling stake in the company.

Value of company at time of initial investment will be $10,000.  For $5K you will own 49.9% of the company.

Banner Blindness Inc. will own 50.1% of the $10,000 company.

The website will be built within one month

The website will undergo testing and optimization in the second month

The website will launch in the third month.  In the third month Banner Blindness Inc. professionals will initiate a marketing and advertising campaign as well as hire independent writers, content producers, and “listers: around the world to document and bring forth vacant large scale properties in third world countries.

The fourth month should result in dozens of listed properties and hopefully a sale of one large scale property.

Potential customers will be able to call in to our offices in order to learn more about the property.  Potential customers must sign an NDA and agreement to enter into business with the website only.  We will outsource all legal actions to an international legal firm in order to pursue companies that purchase property as a result of our exchange.

Why not just steal this idea and do it yourself?  Well, you certainly can!  We just currently lack the funds, but not the talent or employees (as we have over 30 on retainer in India), to build our projects and even handle some of the marketing.  So once again, if you are interested in investing in this web start up, please email Support@BannerBlindness.com or call 843-425-3566 and leave a message.

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.

Ask.com receives 1-4% of US search traffic and is finding it impossible to increase that number. Chances are, Ask.com will never be able to increase that number to a reasonable rate. So what is Ask.com doing to possibly increase those numbers? Not a whole lot: they are firing 40 non-producing employees and “focusing on married women looking to manage their lives.” I could care less what Ask.com does to increase their traffic and revenue numbers - because I don’t use it for search purposes or advertising purposes. We recently tested out some offers that would be perfect for “married women looking to manage their lives” and they performed horribly. The content network is filled with click-bots and will rob you blind. In our opinion, if Ask.com wanted to make a serious move, they would return to their origins and re-brand Ask.com as AskJeeves.com again. Yeah, all their re-branding dollars they spent on Ask.com would go to waste, but people still think AskJeeves, not Ask. Case in point: Howard Schultz closed Starbucks for an hour and had the whole country talking about it. Accept defeat, re-brand-brand, and move forward.

All online marketers understand the power and importance of paid search. Here is a video I shot when at SES with Acquisio that goes over their paid search bid management software. I’ve gone through the tutorial and it is a very reliable and easy to use bid management and API uploading tool for Google search, Yahoo search, and MSN search.

We recently conducted an interview with an affiliate marketing manager at Azoogle Ads Inc. Below are the results of this interview:

1. Tell our readers about yourself and what you do at Azoogle Ads? Do you have a picture to include?

Here at Azoogle I literally do it all. As well as being A senior affiliate manager I also have the ability to bring new advertisers on. In other words if you have any way of making money through CPA advertising come to me and I will expedite the process. No picture, I dont want to burn out the retinas of your readers - I’m that hot.

2. What are the hottest affiliate markets to be in right now and what are the best methods of promotion that your top affiliate marketers use?

Ringtones, dating, and seasonal offers

3. Where do you see the mobile marketing going in the next 1-3 years.

Continued to be regulated a lot more but at the same time higher quality for the advertisers which could lead to higher CPA’s. Mobile billing will begin to roll out. You will be able to purchase anything you want using your cell phone. Companies like paypal, google, and others will have this option shortly. Your cell phone will be billed or your credit card.

4. Where do you see Azoogle going in the next 1-3 years - what are some of Azoogle’s new product offerings.

Azoogle will continue to be the industry leader in affiliate marketer. Product offerings are dependent on the advertisers that utilize our services. However, Azoogle is rolling out new ad platforms to support advertiser needs.

5. Care to comment on the state of Florida and Azoogle - where are you guys now?

No comment. You can search for Google for the latest news. Lets talk business!

6. Do you have affiliate marketers that soley focus on seasonal offers? What are the best seasonal offers?

Yes we have tons of affiliates that focus solely on seasonal offers. I actually recommend this. For seasonal marketers their biggest day of the year is Valentines day BY FAR. In fact some people say that Valentines Day is a hall mark holiday, I call it an affiliate marketers holiday.

7. Does azoogle allow affiliate marketers to push offers through co-reg paths?

No

8. What are some of the most innovative marketing tactics you have seen affiliates use so far in 2008?

Paid search is by far the most effective way to create an instant marketing campaign and have the ability to measure your results.

9. What do the top Azoogle affiliate marketers generate in revenue on an average on a daily basis?

Between 20-30K a day in revenue.

10. If someone is interested in becoming an affiliate marketer through Azoogle what would be your top three suggestions on how to make money?

1. Listen to their affiliate manager
2. Test everything, test everything again, then test everything again and again
3. Be ready to lose money before you make money

Below we reviewed McDonald’s flash based Chill Out lounge - and in short it’s pretty lame and doesn’t inform customers about their new brick and mortar Chill Lounges. I also recently came across this Lincoln MKS flash based website - and I have to admit, the designers did a hell of a good job. Still, I think flash based websites are lame, but this site takes it to a different level. The music, technology, 360 rotation capabilities, drag and drop interactivity, and other features make this one of the best flash based/consumer product sites I have seen in a while. View screen shots below:

Banner Blindness Inc. would like to propose to McDonald’s, auto manufacturers, consumer electronic manufacturers, as well as other large consumer product manufacturers - stop using Flash Based websites that offer you no residual SEO traffic, no dynamic flexibility, and high production costs. Instead: build interactive blogs! For example, in the case of the Lincoln MKS website; the designers should have produced a blog with daily blog posts that discuss the car, consumer testimonials, pictures, the car doing crazy things, etc… Flash based websites are static, and blogs are dynamic. They can be changed, added to, and manipulated on the fly.

If your company needs a consumer product focused blog please call Banner Blindness at 843-425-3566 or email Support@BannerBlindness.com

I look at banner ads more then most people - because I’m always looking to see how marketers are marketing online. I recently came across a banner ad on DrudgeReport.com that featured McDonald’s upcoming Chill Lounges. They seem like a “third place” (a place outside the home and office) where people can chill, consume, and utilize technology (music, Internet, communication tools). The following is the banner advertisement I came across and a screen shot of the flash-based McDonald’s Chill out lounge website:

The banner on the left is good for three reasons: its simple, has a hot girl, and has a call to action (that’s pretty much all you need in a good banner).  The website, like most flash websites, is flashy and full of interactivity. I personally hate flash based websites, as they take a long time to load, take a long time to interact with, and you regularly have to update your flash player. Flash based websites, like all things in life, have their time and place. I’m not sure McDonald’s Chill lounge website is very useful for users and actually explains what it is that McDonald’s is trying to accomplish - the launch of new lounge type spaces in their stores. I only know about the new rehab work being done in McDonald’s because I read it somewhere online. The flash based website, though cool and musical, fails to convey to current McDonald’s patrons and potential customers the new upcoming features to be found in McDonald’s stores.

Vator.tv is a website to help entrepreneurs connect with venture capital firms in order to secure financing. We were contacted by Vator.tv to be featured on their home page and shoot a video about our online marketing and web development company.

Savy online marketers are realizing that paying for skins on highly trafficked sites is one of the best ways to break through Banner Blindness. PerezHilton.com was featuring a skin by NBC’s new television show Lipstick Jungle (looks like another Sex In The City Show). Below is another website (CollegeHumor.com - owned by IACI) that regularly features skins, but I was unable to capture an example.

So how can custom skins break through banner blindness and help your business achieve dramatic online marketing results:

• Make sure the price of the skin is a low priced CPM, don’t just pay to have it up there for a week. Make sure you are being billed anywhere from .05 - .25 cents per CPM. Of course, this rate will vary with the website and whether or not it corresponds with the topic of what you are advertising. For the Perez Hilton example above, I’m sure NBC had to pay a pretty penny to get the customized skin - but the skin correlates with the targeted user demographic that Perez Hilton attracts.
• Skins should have a strong call to action
• Skins should feature something shocking or attention getting
• Skins rarely involve direct response marketing - most of the examples I have seen have been for new television shows
• Skins should practice the principle: Less is more
• If you are advertising a site, be sure to use analytics and track how many type-ins or clicks you generated

If you are interested in having a Skin developed to use on a highly trafficked site - please contact Banner Blindness to see examples of skins we have designed in the past and how they might enhance your online marketing strategy.