Power Video

Online Video Contests

Contests are a hot topic these days, especially at Fliqz. A good percentage of our prospects ask about video contests and how well prepared we are to support them. Our answer is always, completely! We've hosted several contests over the years for all kinds of clients. One recently highlighted by BNET was our 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame' contest by Fliqz customer, MLB.com, sponsored by Baby Ruth. Naturally, the MLB implementation was impeccable and the contest drove hundreds of submissions in just a few weeks. 

Fliqz is well equipped for video contests with configurable, embeddable upload tools, robust viral features, and extensive video approval tools. One of our core competencies is User Generated Content (UGC) and our ability to manage all file types. Have a look and see for yourself, here's the winner of the Take Me Out to the Ballgame contest, Adam Wilbur:

Fliqz Powers Internal Staff Training for Purina Care

It's painfully clear that Fliqz is a big fan of the "pet", as you can see by the number of pet-related video implementations we power like Dogster, Catster, Next Day Pets, YouPet, CatChannel, etc. It's also clear, yet not so obviously, that we power several internal video solutions for many professional businesses including FootSolutions, TMobile, and now Purina Care, a Veterinary Education and Training Site. Purina Care has a very nice implementation which you can view here, complete with a 16:9 video player and slick playlist. 

Nice job Purina!

The Insider's Kitchen - Cookin' with Video

StarChefs.com is the "Magazine for Culinary Insiders", providing a wealth of cooking delights ranging from delicious Carrot Cake recipes to Escargot Ravioli, Parsley Velouté, Pernod Foam. They do a stellar job firing up your salivary glands with a bevvy of talented hosts, well-produced videos, and an elegant layout. Take a sneak peak into where the true craftsmen and women hang out to learn top culinary tips and tricks of the trade.

Professional video production, marketing, and distribution

BizBoxTV is starting a video revolution, and is doing so with a very slick video presentation on their website BizBoxTV.com. They've integrated a Fliqz 16:9 player on the home page with a nice Featured list as well as Channels, Shows, and Networks.

BizBoxTV is in the production game, helping businesses build their brands on the Internet with highly engaging video tools. Give them a shout if you're looking for top notch OV marketing services: bizbox@bizboxtv.com, or 403-999-3973. 

Here's a sample of their work:

Fliqz loses CEO

The Fliqz CEO is no longer Benjamin Wayne but rather, the "YouTube Is Doomed" guy according to Simon Dumenco of AdvertisingAge.

http://www.fliqz.com/aspx/pressdetail.aspx?PressId=136

In an article posted yesterday to AdAge.com Simon interviewed Benjamin touching on his highly controversial piece in The Business Insider back in April regarding the megalith's projected $470M loss in 2009.

Aside from the hoopla, the in depth piece also includes conversation regarding online video ROI and how marketers can measure returns. Have a read at the links above.

Enjoy online video.

Using Twitter for Business

Admit it, you thought Twitter was nothing but mindless drivel the first time you heard about it. Like me, you reluctantly signed up for an account, searched for your friends, followed them, and Tweeted about your weekend escapades, your deadly hangover, the killer PB&J you just ate...blah, blah, blah.

Then you heard about JetBlue, Zappos, and Woot! using it for business purposes, successfully. Define successfully, you thought to yourself. Well, if you exposed your brand to a new user, saved an upset customer from canceling, made a deal, sold a product, or simply sent someone from Twitter to your site then, you've succeeded at something. And you did it with little to no overhead and insane margins. Nice job.

We've been using Twitter at Fliqz since October of last year and I can honestly say, it's been a success. We talk to our customers as well as prospects in a quick, easy, concise, and direct manner. It's a fast-food nation, people want info and they want it now. Kudos to Ev and Biz for understanding their Millennial brethren and delivering up a hot, greasy bucket of fast-food communication.

Read more about our Twitscapades: http://www.fliqz.com/aspx/pressdetail.aspx?PressId=135

Follow us @Fliqz and enjoy online video.

Monetize the page, not just the video.

You've heard me say it before, video advertising just isn't there yet; targeting (metadata, transcribing transcripts), relevant/related inventory, appealing/appropriate (typically non-UGC) content, you name it. Don't get me wrong, I'm a believer in online video advertising and have high hopes for it as there are valiant efforts in play to figure it out. But until that time people, get your ROI by taking advantage of every opportunity harnessing the engagement factor of video which is to say, monetize your pages with video rather than just monetizing the video itself.

The average user floats onto your home page via a Google search and clicks away within a few seconds after passingly scanning the page contents. With video on the page you can up that 4 second drop off to 4 minutes with engaging video content ever so gingerly placed on a page along side high value leaderboards, skyscrapers, MPUs, windows, banners, AdSense, etc. You're exponentially increasing the viewership of (and hopefully click thru) your ads by capturing the attention of your audience with a vibrant combination of words, sound, and action.

I'd like to share with you a beautiful example of this seemingly endless blather by pointing you to Fliqz customer, OpenSports.The elegantly designed OpenSports Video channel captures audience attention with great shows along side high value ads from MLB, and a page sponsorship from State Farm Insurance, PLUS pre-roll ads within the video complimenting the State Farm page sponsorship. Now that's a trifecta! Nice job OpenSports!

Enjoy OV!

A firm grip on UGC.

Fliqz customer, Dogster.com has had a UGC (user generated content) presence on their dog social network from early on in their product strategy. People love their dogs, so much so that they'll film them doing anything, anything at all including working out on a treadmill (see video below). Is it useful? Are you a better person having viewed the video? Probably not, but I laud anyone's passion and if you're passionate about your dog then by all means, shoot video and share your creation with one of the best dog lovers communities on the Internet today.

Enjoy online video!

Online video advertising, c'mon baby, you can do it

We've heard it before and will hear it again, and again, and again during this economic downturn that marketers are moving online, taking their budgets to the Information Super Highway, specifically to online video. It's been reported many times that online video advertising is growing as it is more targeted, better tracked, and more easily reported.

A recent study by BrightRoll of interactive ad agencies found some interesting insight on how agencies will spend their money in '09 and why:

• 87% of agency executives plan to spend more of their online advertising budgets on video in 2009
• 71% of survey participants view online video advertising as a complementary medium to television
• A majority of respondents estimates CPM prices to be at their lowest, and 20% thinks the price of pre-roll will drop to half what it is today
• Prices of pre-roll continue to fall (early Q2 data suggests this trend will continue) 

We've found online video advertising CPMs, in general, to be rather lack-luster as well, unless videos are clearly defined within the metadata, and ads are available to be served against those videos (typically found in proprietary content). The problem, once past these hurdles, seems to be one of inventory. There just aren't enough ads that fit...perfectly. Sure, you can serve an ad for toothpaste on a YouTube video of a kid knocking his teeth out doing a rail slide down a 45 step handrail, but will anyone click on that ad...especially the 14 year old kids watching them? Nyet. 

I enjoyed this peice on the subject from MediaPost where agencies and web publishers banter on whether it's a matter of inventory shortage or abundance. As previously stated, I believe it to be a problem of the right ad for the right piece of conent. What do you think?

Bust a move with VirtualTourist

Fliqz customer VirtualTourist always has intriguing videos from around the world displaying exotic destinations, bountiful beaches, and on occasion Zulu dancers. In this video we are privileged to experience, first hand, the tribal dance of the Zulu in a video uploaded from a VirtualTourist user. Check out the lil fella in the front trying to get his groove on...