Snoop Dogg and Rico team up for Airline New Zealand

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Some time ago I did a blog post on Iceland Airline’s quirky online video to promote its airline, you can check it out here. Lately I’ve stumbled across some funny videos from Airline New Zealand which are random and a little controversial. It seems out there advertising is the new norm for the airline industry, which is known for its more generic promotions. Check these videos out from Air New Zealand’s online marketing campaign, keep in mind some, of course, were offended but perhaps that was Air New Zealand’s plan to get attention. One if its videos has pulled almost 6 million views.

Bare Essentials

There are a couple of videos. The first one has almost 6 million views, and is basically a safety video with a twist. You’ll know why it’s called ‘Bare Essentials’ when you watch it.

Rico

This was probably the commercial that got everyone in a huff, however it only has 300,000 views. Lots of innuendo here. Apparently Air New Zealand staff are upset that this is their mascot (Rico) though I find it funny, what do you think?

Snoop Dogg

This is the latest video from Air New Zealand with Snoop Dogg:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ICVXftJu0M&feature=player_embedded

Dog Obesity – very serious and very funny

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Check out this video, done for dog obesity. The video links to an RSPCA website however was not commissioned by them. I thought it was a great video that could have worked really well in raising the issue if that was one of RSPCA’s goals.

It has over 9 million views so far. I came across it after looking up information about what to do when finding a stray cat, as a kitten had showed  up at my house.

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Very, very useless wedding video

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In today’s news, British couple are suing a camera man for a useless video that ruined their wedding memories. The couple Martin and Heidi Shubrook literally cried when they saw the mess that Clayton Bennett (cameraman) produced.

‘He failed to record the couple signing the register, cutting the cake, most of the speeches and the bride and groom’s entrance at the reception.’ [from news.com.au]

‘video that included shots of guests’ feet and backs.’ [from news.com.au]

How can people be so reckless and selfish. I mean this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, you could give it at least a little bit of effort. Anyway the couple sued the camera man and won, however, not surprisingly the camera man is broke so he is paying the couple in $30 installments.

I have no idea what this guy is doing.

The only thing I’d like to add is where did they find this guy? If you’re going to be getting someone to film your wedding make sure to obtain references or videos of past work. At least make sure the guy has a website. It’s not worth it to take a risk, especially on a wedding.

Also check these lines out:

‘He turned up to our wedding with scars all over his face and said he was a cage fighter. He looked a mess.’

‘During the day he went missing and we found him at another wedding.’

The couple

It’s so bad it’s almost funny. Shame about the couple having to live with that crap video.

The moral of this story is that if a price for a wedding video seems too good to be true it usually is. You get what you pay for and I do think this couple tried to save a couple of hundred bucks by hiring a random and they paid the price.

Read the story here: http://www.news.com.au/world/martin-and-heidi-shubrook-claim-wedding-photographer-ruined-their-day/story-e6frfkyi-1226025236335#ixzz1HCAtHE3U

2 minute pre-roll ads… but you can skip them

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I was browsing the internet yesterday and I stumbled across an ad format on YouTube that I’d never seen before but was very clever. Basically you know pre-roll ads, where ad plays before the video starts. Well this was a pre-roll ad, but it went for 2 minutes giving you an option to skip it if you wished.

The 2 minute ad was actually really funny, it was an ad for a mouth freshener that looked like a toothbrush and they were mocking apple. If I find it I’ll add it to this post.

[Update: just found a post on Mashable about this, you can check it out if this sort of stuff interests you: http://mashable.com/2009/11/11/pre-roll-ads-youtube/ ]

Behind the scenes – insight into your company

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One great way to use web video is to give potential clients a behind the scenes look at the inner echelons of your company. People love this stuff. It allows them to find out more about who they will be dealing with, and there’s something in us that makes us curious about how other human beings go about their day.

Channel 9 did a great job with a video diary they took of a team covering Cyclone Yasi. It was interesting to me to find out how a remote news crew operate and I hope it’ll be interesting for you too. Enjoy.

There’s some other stuff the major networks are doing now. For example, after a show finishes they give out a web address where people can go and chat live on video to the newscasters about it. I might be covering it later.

Have a good one!

Have a good one for now!

The year of mobile video has come… and gone

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Now days you can watch videos on your phone no matter where you are. It seems it wasn’t long ago that it was the stuff of sci-fi movies, now it’s common place. Even in Australia, where 3G connections aren’t great, phones can stream high quality video content.

Check out this video below about just how far we’ve come:

How Far We’ve Come

Do you remember the James Bond film where he is controlling his BMW on his phone? I’m not sure which one it was exactly, I know it was the one with Pierce Brosnan. Check out what some kids in China did recently:

Here is an interesting statistic:

  • 100 MILLION YouTube videos played on mobile devices everyday

That number will only continue to sky rocket.

Flash vs HTML5

Most people have an iPhone these days, just remember iPhone does not play Flash. Don’t ask why, Steve Jobs decided it to be that way. What this means is many video based websites are not viewable. The solution is either:

  • YouTube – even though YouTube is Flash Apple has made an exception for it. Smart move on their behalf.
  • HTML5 Player – this is a player that looks nice but is running on a combination of JavaScript, CSS and AJAX. In other words it’s not Flash and will run on iPhones/iPads. HTML5 is a new technology and while Flash is fine, the lack of support on Apple mobile devices makes it less than the ideal choice.

Also remember you can program your web page to display either Flash or HTML5 depending on the device. This is what our technology is able to do.

The good thing is, Head Studios can work with your current marketing strategy to deliver video content and its benefits and you don’t have to worry about device compatibility. On one hand Apple has complicated the process of content producers to get good quality video to the end user, but on the other hand it has opened a market for companies that understand the potential pitfalls of video content and help clients.

Give us a call if you’re thinking of using video in your current marketing strategy – 1300 TEN 700.

Pixelate 2.0 – iPhone app, change colours before changing colours

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iTunes has just released a new awesome app Pixelate 2.0. It’s like magic that saves you time by allowing you to visualize how a colour will look on your wall, without even lifting a paint brush.

It does this by using an enhanced algorithm that makes visualization of any thing colour quick and easy. It also gives you the ability to zoom, so it makes colouring even easier.

Just incase the colour you wanted didn’t exist in the colour palette, it also gives you the option to take a photo of a particular colour and you can add that into the current colour palette.


The amazing thing is, not only does it work for your walls it also works for your furniture, cars, and even clothes. I’ve got a feeling that this app is going to be a success, amongst car buyers, shoppers and even interior designers. I’ll be definitely using this app the next time I go car shopping or shoe hunting.


Amazing how technology can change the standards of how we live so quickly. Click here to download the app for $1.19

HootSuite – 1 stop shop for all social networks

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I don’t know how long HootSuite has been around for but I just wanted to point out how much life is easier now with Hootsuite.
Hootsuite is basically 1 account that controls all your social network accounts. So instead of having to copy and paste to all your social networking sites such as, Facebook, Twitter, Linked in, WordPress etc. You can now do this all by signing up to Hootsuite.

Not only does it give you power to post on all social network sites, HootSuite also gives you live feedback and analytics for all the social networks sites you hook up.

There’s even a free iPhone and Android app click to download the app. This app enables you to post to all your social networking sites while you’re on the go. In fact, I’m going to use HootSuite to post this blog on all our social network sites. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn.

Love Technology.

Watch BBC online + flying penguins

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To launch the iPlayer, a website which allows you to watch the last 7 days of BBC programming the network made a commercial with penguins. The beginning of the commercial looks like a regular BBC Widlife documentary until well… let’s just say it gets more and more absurd. The video has over a million views (1.7 to be exact). It is true that while low budget video pieces can and do go viral often having a big budget never hurts! It’s just as funny reading the comments of people proclaiming “Fake” and asking if it was real. Check out the video below

One great thing about big budget viral videos, you can have a bunch of ‘Making of’ videos that will get quite a few views themselves:

And while we’re on the topic of big budget viral videos, check out this oldie but goodie from Carton Draught:

Secret sauce to over 20K Facebook Fans

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I was on Facebook the other day and saw an ad for a Facebook page promising to help companies get Fans for their pages. The way the page was structured was that you had to ‘Like’ it in order to view a video. Check out some pics below. The guy claims he gets over 70% conversion for everyone that checks out his Facebook page.

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The Facebook page as it appears before it's liked. Pretty much if you don't like the Facebook page you can't get the video.

Also once you ‘Like’ it he shows you a video, more like a teaser clip, for his video tutorial on how to get Facebook fans. Then he asks for your email address to get the full tutorial. I haven’t watched the full tutorial, but I do know that many people would, so now in a matter of minutes he has a new fan plus that person’s email address to market to.

After you like the Page, you get a short video and are asked for your email in return for a short video tutorial. Nothing for free in this world!

Not sure what this person’s revenue generation strategy is, but I assume he has a premium paid course that he markets to his current list, which includes his 22,000 fans. I think he has more than one Facebook page because in the video he is discussing a Baseball Fan page that he has.

Also if you check the menu on the left there is an option called ‘Share Get 10K’, if you click on it, you’re presented with a screen of your friends, whom you can select to be Invited to his page. Remember that once you join a Facebook Page you get updates in your News Feed every time the Page announces something. It’s great to keep people engaged, especially if you’re targeting a younger market who use Facebook to communicate more than email.

You can invite your friends the Get 10K Fans page.

One more thing, the video is from Sorens Media, a video content delivery platform. They’re doing some great work with Facebook integration, check them out here and check out the Get 10,000 Fans Facebook page here.