Category: media

Apple’s ad won the Holidays

~ Jim Eltringham ~ 1 Comment

It’s too bad that Apple’s “Misunderstood” commercial probably won’t end up being replayed every single year, the way the spots touting Hershey Kisses and M&M’s do. It was the best commercial of this holiday season, and it looks like Apple spent lots of time looking at Google’s advertising handiwork.

The ad features a seemingly self-absorbed kid spending the holidays messing with his phone, only to reveal that he’s been carefully crafting a video memory for everyone.  The message is self-serving: that technology which isolates us actually brings us together.  But it’s well done, and who doesn’t have some nostalgia for big family get-togethers?

Best of all, without a word of dialogue, it tells a story.  You know this family loves and cherishes each other. From the joy of the first greeting to the ice skating and sledding to the grandmother’s wistful tears on Christmas morning, they enjoy each other’s company.  They’ll treasure the memories when they look back on this video.  And, of course, Apple hopes you’ll look at it and remember the idealized Christmases of your youth, tugging at your heartstrings the way “A Christmas Story” reminds you of that toy you wanted.   Niagara Falls, Frankie Angel.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhwhnEe7CjE

America’s Gone Burgundy

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

For a fake news anchor, Ron Burgundy sure gets a lot of work, doesn’t he?

Will Ferrell has been pimping Anchorman 2 like crazy, all in-character as Burgundy himself.  You’ve seen him peddling Dodges – which Ferrell does for free.  Today, Emerson College attracted the attention of transparent eyeballs everywhere by renaming their communications school after Burgundy for a day while Farrell bums around campus in costume.  Last week he showed up on a North Dakota newscast; tomorrow, he hosts SportsCenter with David Koechner.  (Whammy!)

Adweek posits that the Month of Burgundy will change how movies are promoted.  (That’s probably not true: not every movie could be promoted this way.  Martin Freeman will not spend a month walking around Boston looking like Bilbo Baggins.)

This may seem scattershot, but look closely at this promotion strategy.  It’s actually quite targeted; Farrell and Company are not just throwing anything against the wall to see what sticks.

The audience for Anchorman 2 is most likely 18-35 year olds – and probably the men in that group more so than the women.  The youngest are college students who enjoy the brand of humor, the eldest are people in their mid-20s when the original came out last year.  They are the people dropping cable and consuming entertainment mostly online.  

The idea of Ron Burgundy chilling on the quad at Emerson probably appeals to them, as does the YouTube clips of Farrell showing up in character on a North Dakota news set.  The best chance to reach this group through live TV is probably sports.  Not only does that make the SportsCenter appearance effective, but Farrell’s pro-bono Dodge commercials run during Sunday afternoon football games.  That’s some great real estate to get for free.

It seems like Ron Burgundy is everywhere these days, but don’t be fooled: Papa Burgundy probably knows just what he’s doing.

Why Google wins

~ Jim Eltringham ~ 1 Comment

Google is one of the most ubiquitous companies on Earth.  It’s not just where we often start out looking for information (even if we end at Wikipedia), it’s in our emails, phones, tablets, and browsers.  Google’s success comes from mining data from all those points and selling advertising based on that information.  It’s products are easy to use and useful.

But when Google makes its point that you should use their products, they don’t mention all that.  They don’t say, “Hey, everyone’s using Google!  Get your Google today!”  They don’t even present their products as superior to their competitors – a strategy others have tried.

Google tells a story.  Check out this video of a lost Indian boy who used Google to find his long-lost family:

With attention and political energy turning to the 2014 election over the next six months, this is a good concept to keep in mind.

The Ruben Sierra of Viral Video

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

Making the rounds of sharing this week is the video of Marina Shifrin resigning her post at Next Media Animation.  Shifrin, who used to make news videos, dances through her resignation while the subtitles tick off her reasons for quitting – most notably, the fact that her “boss only cares about quantity and how many views each video gets.”  Her video, she contends, “focus[es] on the content”:

It would be easy for some curmudgeon to yell that Shifrin is looking for creativity in the wrong place – that work is about making money, rather than fun and games.  But that wouldn’t be entirely appropriate.  You’ve probably heard of her former company, Next Media Animation – or at least seen their work.  They make those funny, Taiwanese animated videos about the news.  In 2010, they made this one about the Thanksgiving-weekend revelation that Tiger Woods was playing a few rounds outside of his marriage:

Shifrin wasn’t working at a gulag making plastic widgets for export, she was making funny, creative news videos.  NMA’s website brags about their speed, and that’s pretty important when your company’s key product is so heavily dependent on news cycles.  Ditto for quantity – NMA has released two videos already this week, one for the government shutdown and one for Lane Kiffin being fired by USC.  The company is based on producing timely content that attracts viewers and stays ahead of the news.  It probably means working off-hours (since Taiwan and America are on opposite sides of the globe).

That’s a tough job, so you couldn’t blame anyone for saying it isn’t for them.  But Shifrin’s self-indulgent resignation video says a little bit more. Specifically, it says “Be careful about hiring me, because if we have a difference of opinion, I’ll try to embarrass you.”  Working at an online video company while complaining about needing to come up with content frequently that attracts views is like former New York Yankee Ruben Sierra, after being traded in 1996, complaining that the Yankees only cared about winning.

The team at NMA seem to be taking it in stride, though:

Email: The Once and Future King

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

Harvard’s Nieman Foundation had a post today about The Slurve, a daily digest of baseball.  (While I don’t subscribe, I see plenty about it on Twitter and Facebook from intelligent, baseball-oriented friends to know that I probably will at some point.)  Blogger Adrienne LaFrance opines that journalism-by-newsletter may be underrated:

After political reporting and editing stints at The American Conservative and Business Insider, [Michael Brendan Daugherty] decided to quit his job and launch The Slurve, a daily baseball newsletter that began last March on the eve of the 2013 baseball season.

Dougherty saw the opportunity to create a bespoke editorial product for an audience that was inundated with great baseball coverage but had to traverse a huge swath of the web to find it.

Daugherty’s model is subscription, not advertising-based.  He has built an audience and feeds it with great content, and the subscriptions continue.  It’s similar to the model magazines may have used in their heyday, but without the high costs of printing and distribution.

The Slurve is not the first to use such a model.  A few years ago, the National Journal’s Hotiline was required reading when it popped up subscribers’ inboxes right around noon; Ben Domenech’s The Transom treats center-right subscribers to news and analysis each morning.  At some point, LaFrance speculates, specialty email list curators might find seats in traditional media.  She may be right; former Hotline editor Chuck Todd has certainly done so.

In making her point, LaFrance may have hit on something traditional media need more of as they claw their way into the digital age: a direct conduit into the inbox.  Sure, news organizations love to invite viewers to “join the conversation” on Twitter or Facebook.  But doing so is a thin attempt to appear multi-directional: CNN really doesn’t care what you tweeted about Syria, even if it posted your tweet on the air.

News organizations are a one-way conduits of information.  People who know stuff about the world are paid to tell you about it, if you’re interested.  If they are interested in finding your eyeballs online, they would be wise to reach out through your email inbox.

Crossroads GPS vs. Bankrupting America: Which Video is Better?

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

Let’s get it out of the way up front: Bankrupting America wins.

Crossroads GPS released this video this week:

It’s pretty funny – the sarcastic tone and the point of view – as a mock government promotion – make for a great political video.  It probably won’t change many minds on Obamacare, but it will take people who are leaning against it and help illustrate why the program is so flawed.  For people who instinctively dislike Obamacare, but aren’t quite sure why, this illustrates it in a funny way.  If this aired during the local news, you’d stop and take notice.

It calls to mind this video from last month from Public Notice’s Bankrupting America.  The Office parody (which I’ve already gushed about) pokes fun at government’s excessive spending.  Bankrupting America’s effort enjoys good acting and writing, but doesn’t have quite the same production value as Crossroads GPS’s commercial.  What it does have is the potential to illustrate all that’s wrong with a big government mentality.  It plays on people’s notions of inefficient government, but doesn’t ask the viewer to make the mental heavy lift of deciding on a policy position.  The single episode that has been released has the potential to blossom into something more that entertains first, and leaves impressions about bureaucracy as a by-product.  As satire, it’s more effective than the Obamacare video, as a political messaging device it is less efficient.

You might take notice of Crossroads GPS’s video if you saw it in the background.  But you’re interested in seeing more about the characters in the Bankrupting America video.  You want to see more of the protagonist deranged boss and the Carter Administration holdover who just doesn’t care.

Walt Disney once said, “I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained.”  Both of these videos are funny, but Bankrupting America has the potential for a broader appeal because it does a better job of staying true to that mindset.

 

 

How MLB Started ARod’s Punishment Early

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

America has had more than a week to digest Alex Rodriguez’s 211-game suspension by Major League Baseball.   ARod’s legal team has rattled their sabers a little more, suggesting legal appeals to the suspension on top of the current Player’s Association appeal already underway.

Leading up to the suspension, the chattering class of the sports journalism wondered if Rodriguez would face a lifetime ban, effective immediately, under the “Best Interests of Baseball” power that has allowed previous commissioners to ban the likes of Pete Rose and the Black Sox of 1919.  But for MLB, putting Rodriguez on the field might be the best option.

Unlike the other players suspended for cheating, who are taking their lumps immediately, Rodriguez will run out each night in front of tens of thousands of fans.  Many of them may be buying tickets solely to boo him.  He’ll get no break at The Stadium, where the fans would give him guff even when he didn’t have the stench of cheating wafting off of him.  For the next month and a half before the Yankees’ lost 2013 season mercifully ends, Rodriguez will be front and center.  Discussions about him will not be abstract, conducted through attorneys and spokespersons.

Since the suspension for Rodriguez is so much more severe than any of the other players, that type of debate would certainly benefit him, if only marginally.  Fans might lose their edge if the question becomes how long ARod should be suspended, rather than whether he should sit out.  Public anger against cheaters can only subside if the matter drags into next March with public enemy number one out of the public eye.

Instead, ARod will get an earful.

By creating a situation where Rodriguez is constantly in the public eye, MLB gets to watch its verdict vindicated in the court of public opinion.  When the jeers rain down on ARod, MLB will let the fans be the messengers to other players.  Public opinion will become clear to those who would be outspoken about the outsized suspension, as well as to players who are candidates to get caught in the next giant steroids scandal (like David Ortiz).

MLB will, naturally, be helped by Rodriguez’s apparent combination of narcissism and a complete and utter lack of self awareness.

 

Let’s Make a Deal: MLB Edition

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

If Ryan Braun dominated the sports headlines on Tuesday morning, Alex Rodriguez dominated the sub-headlines.  News of Braun’s plea bargained 65-game suspension for using performance enhancing drugs was followed near-universally with the question, “Now, what about ARod?”

It’s a relevant question: Not only is Rodriguez one of the most famous and hated players in any sport, but like Braun he’s a repeat visitor to the PED circus.  But just because it’s a relevant question doesn’t mean it’s the best one.

Soon after Braun’s suspension news broke, Buster Olney was on the phone with the broadcast team calling Monday night’s ESPN telecast of the Yankees and Rangers.  Olney offered this insight: while Rodriguez is the biggest name on the docket, the player most likely to pursue a deal with MLB is Texas’s Nelson Cruz.  As a free agent after this year, Cruz is best served serving his suspension now and entering the open market as an available yet questionable talent.  If he waits, and the suspension gets handed down over the winter or next spring, Cruz might find it hard to sign if teams are unsure of his availability.

The astute Olney cut through the flash and the clutter to identify the real story – and good for him.  Now, back to the coverage of the royal baby.

 

 

A Rolling Stone Gathers an Awful Lot of Outrage

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

Boston is aghast (as are other cities) at the now-famous Rolling Stone cover depicting Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.  The picture is too kind, too glamorous, and too normal, say critics.  The story is online as of yesterday, but the outrage did not wait.

It’s surprising that the outrage has an anti-terrorism bent but that pro-Islamic groups aren’t railing at the implications.  Check out the sub-title of the cover:

How a Popular, Promising Student Was Failed by His Family, Fell into Radical Islam and Became a Monster

That’s a pretty loaded statement.  The implication is that radical Islam turned an otherwise normal boy into the type who would bring devastation upon the Boston Marathon.

This headline suggests that Tsarnaev did not have evil sewn into his soul;  rather, the corrupting influence of the radical Islamic community exploited his loneliness and confusion to brainwash him.  Of course the image is wholesome-looking – the thrust of this line of thinking is that this could happen to anyone.

One would think a group like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (which has apparently been silent on the issue) would have as many or  more problems with that cover than, say, Hot Air.

Is the Pope Absolving Sin Via Twitter?

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

Nope.  But that’s the quick and dirty understanding of today’s announcement that Pope Francis will grant the same plenary indulgences to those who follow his appearances on Twitter as he does to those who show up in person.  Mashable had to correct an earlier post that made the mistake, and other outlets have had a similarly difficult time understanding what’s going on.

Credit the Church with gamely trying to explain the tactic:

But a senior Vatican official warned web-surfing Catholics that indulgences still required a dose of old-fashioned faith, and that paradise was not just a few mouse clicks away.

“You can’t obtain indulgences like getting a coffee from a vending machine,” Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, head of the pontifical council for social communication, told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.

Unfortunately, even the framing of this quote reflects that the Church’s announcement wasn’t completely understood with the explanation.  (Sidebar: The phrase “old-fashioned faith” is a literary crutch.  Faith is not old-fashioned, as any modern religion can tell you.)  The entire story reads like the news that Newt Gingrich was paying for Twitter followers, with the expectation that a modern-day Martin Luther will nail 95 theses (each one 140 characters or less) to the Vatican door about why pardoning sin for a Twitter follow is wrong.

A better description is that those in attendance via social media will be treated like those in attendance in person.  The Church might have added that, much like angels and prayer, that which is unseen is often more powerful as that which is seen.  (Or, that which is invisible is often more powerful than the visible, if you prefer the new translation.)  In the parlance of our times, it’s the religious equivalent of working from home but not having to take a sick day.

Credit the Pope for opening up avenues for online communication, and making his appearances that much more accessible.  With that, though, comes the need to explain the faith to those who don’t understand it.  It’s not evangelism, it’s public relations.