This is the end, beautiful friend…

Well it may not be the end, but that’s besides the point.

I began my journey into the depths of the blogosphere 9 weeks ago today. It’s almost needless to say that it’s been quite a trip. This is only my fourth class in the Integrated Marketing Communications program at West Virginia University, and this assignment has perhaps been one of the hardest for me to follow through on. It’s not that maintaining a blog is one of the hardest things in the world to do, it just takes a lot of creativity and endless dedication. Despite the difficulties that I’ve faced (coming up with interesting topics, increasing readership, etc.), this has been one of the most valuable educational experiences I’ve had in quite some time. Afterall, it’s not often, in the college environment, that you actually get “hands on” experience. Most of my undergraduate courses required nothing more than simple regurgetation (which isn’t that difficult for an information sponge like myself), so it has been a treat to actually “test” the waters for once and catch a glimpse of what the real world has to offer.

As you know, blogging has come to the forefront of emerging media in recent years, though it is likely that this medium too will fade into obscurity. Twenty years from now we may think to ourselves, “why on Earth would I want to write a blog, but our efforts would not have been in vain. As I discussed in a very early post, media doesn’t just become obsolete, it evolves into something more suited to the times. The newspaper of yesterday is the Kindle download of today, and it is likely to become the hologram of tomorrow. Always remember,  media content will always exist, though it may metamorphose into something brand new. On the other hand, some mediums may return to the forefront of marketing, like a phoenix from the ashes it will rise again. If there is one thing that I have learned over the course of this project, it is that if there is a need to reach people, marketers will find a way.

Throughout this blog, as well as in class discussions, I have questioned the very nature of emerging media. My efforts have not been to belittle the practices we have looked at, but rather to understand them, at their core. As children’s book writer Lloyd Alexander once said, “We learn more by looking for the answer to a question and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.” I am a naturally inquisitive person, and I would much rather learn from my own mistakes than have the solution to the problem handed to me. Marketing can be overwhleming at times as we typically face problems that do not have a yes or no answer, nothing is black and white. Moreover, there are no formulas to help us solve the problems we face each day. As media evolves and consumers become increasingly difficult to reach, it is crucial that we remain vital and fresh in an industry where our most trusted strategies are perpetually past their expiration date.

Throughout the last nine weeks it has become increasingly obvious how powerful a tool a blog can be, in the right hands. Blogs can be used by companies to start an actual conversation with their public, affording them the opportunity to get to know their customers and for their customers to get to know them. Let’s not forget all the other forms of emerging media out there as well. Today, marketers have a high-tech arsenal of tools at their disposal. Anything from viral marketing to social networking could turn out to be “just the tool for the job”, so don’t discount them.

In the end, this has been more of an experience than an assignment. All You Can Eat may not have turned out to be the most influential IMC blog in recent history, nor am I the best writer in the world, but it served as the first steppingstone in my journey through the world of marketing, and for that I am grateful. For now, this will be my final post. However, I have a feeling that this is not the end of All You Can Eat. This has been a wonderful outlet for all my stray thoughts, and it will once again fulfill that need when the urge arises. Thank you all for your support.

Being that this class and blog focused on emerging media, and since I’m a huge fan of The Office, I thought I would leave you with a clip of Dwight Schrute and his thoughts on Second Life. Enjoy.

Viral Marketing Revisted

I only touched on the topic of viral marketing once since I started this blog, so I’d like to touch on it just once more before our class comes to a close.

As you might already know, any strategy (created by marketers) that encourages people to pass messages to friends, family, co-workers, and even perfect strangers can be considered viral marketing. These viral messages spread via peer-to-peer networks over the Internet (social networks, email, chat rooms, forums, etc.). Despite the fact that our society has a relatively short attention span, viral marketing remains one of the most effective IMC techniques in use today. What happens when a company hasn’t encouraged individuals to spread their message? What if the company that encourages individuals to “spread the word” is an entity like YouTube, which allows users to upload and share anything  (as long as it doesn’t break copyright law (wink, wink)? Is it still considered viral marketing? If you ask me, it would be wrong to exclude these videos from the viral marketing category just because the process was not initiated by the company that created the original message. Most of the messages I’m talking about were meant for TV audiences, but with high quality video and high-speed Internet connectivity on the rise they work just as well, if not better, in an online format…

Over the last few weeks I’ve spent quite a bit of time on YouTube just watching random videos. In the time I spent on the site I noticed that quite a few television commercials have made their way onto their massive P2P network. Why do I find this interesting? Well, they piqued my interest because they were not just shameless plugs posted by the companies who created them, rather, they were  caputured and uploaded by YouTube users like me, and like you! Anyway, as I perused the site I came across quite a few “ads” that had already received well over 2 million views within a few short months. Many of the ads I watched were posted by mulitple YouTubers, so many of these page views could be combined for some extremely impressive view statistics (reaching into the 10 – 20 million range). One of the most notable commercials I found on YouTube came from Durex (of Durex Condom fame). This allegedly banned commercial features “balloon” animals getting it on in a variety of  poisitions from the Kama Sutra. After watching the video, and wiping the tears of joy from my eyes, I noticed that it had received nearly 3 million views in just over four months. Add up the stats for each instance of the video on all of YouTube and you’ve got one powerful viral video…

Although nearly all of the commercials I have watched on YouTube over the years have not been posted by the company that created them, those companies are given  a great opportunity to reap the benefits offered by the site. By allowing users to capture and upload their commercials these companies are given an unprecedented opportunity to see what they’re doing right, wrong, and everything in between. The view counter for each uploaded video would, under normal circumstances, give a marketer great insight into how popular their traditional ads are. However, when these statistics are combined with actual YouTuber comments, the public’s reaction to each message becomes crystal clear. There is really no perfect subsitute for good old market research, but this might be as close as one might get to “free research”.  Unless there is automated software that allows a company to track their success on sites like YouTube, each company would have to do a little ground work to discover the treasures that await them, but it is definitely worth the little effort required.

As our 619 class comes to a close, I remain flabbergasted by how powerful emerging media has become, and how these tools will become increasingly useful as time marches on. It’s topics the one I’ve discussed today that prove to me that marketing isn’t just changes formats, it’s evolving. Just because one form of media becomes less than ideal throughout the years, doesn’t mean that there isn’t already another medium ready to take it’s place. I think the idea of virally spread TV commercials on a site like YouTube proves that just because we TIVO our favorite TV shows in order to fast forward through the commercials doesn’t mean we aren’t getting our daily dose of marketing exposure. After seeing some of the page views on the commercials I mentioned earlier, it appears that at least more than a few of us are willing to sit through a commercial, even this rare phenomenon only occurs in an outlet like YouTube.

I leave you now with two of my favorite viral commercials, brought to you by Chi Chi’s Salsa! Enjoy, and don’t forget to tell your friends to watch them too!

All Your Googles Are Belong to Us…

This week in the wild and wacky world of IMC 619, our class discussed the theories of search engine paid placement and paid inclusion, which are common marketing tactics that keep the lights on at corporate headquaters of companies like Google Inc. and Yahoo. Although some of you Web savvy surfers may already know what these two terms mean, allow me to fill the rest of you in on the basics behind these commonly used marketing tactics. Paid placement is when a search engine company (Google for example) allows other companies to bid and pay for premium ad space (usually in the form of text links) near the top and side of your Web browser. You probably know these little buggers as “Sponsored Links” or “Sponsored Matches”, and yes they’re paid for. Paid inclusion is another marketing tactic used by search engine companies where these “Sponsored Links” will appear in your organic search results. However, ads that are part of a paid inclusion program are not labeled like their transparent counterparts.

So, what  did our class think about these practices? Well, nearly all of my classmates agreed that search engine companies are running a business and have just as much of a right to earn revenue as the next major corporation. Honestly, I can’t disagree with them, nor can I come up with another way for these search engines to make money outside of sponsored links. In addition to the money making power of paid links, our class also agreed that the practice of paid placement might actually make it easier for consumers to find the goods they’re looking for. For example, if a consumer is looking to purchase a digital camera, a simple Google query (Digital Cameras) will return a plethora of sponsored links from companies waiting in the wings to fill the consumer’s desire to own one. Despite the fact that our class, as a whole, didn’t have any issues with these commonly used marketing practices, I find myself “on the rail” where paid inclusion is concerned.

As I mentioned earlier, paid inclusion is the practice of putting sponsored links in an Internet users seemingly organic search results. Many companies that do this claim that the results are still based on editorial reviews of relevancy, mathematical algorithms, and page rank, however, I feel as though this practice has a lot of potential to disrupt the flow of information on the World Wide Web. Currently, it is nearly impossible to tell whether or not paid links have been included in your actual search results. Going back to the example of searching for a digital camera…what if a consumer is simply looking for information (previews, reviews, tutorials, etc.) about digital cameras, and their search results are tainted with paid advertisements (links)? Are these results truly “relevant”,  in accordance with what kind of information the consumer is actually seeking? If we leave relevancy issues up to a computer system and small teams of editors, fate is in favor of error occurring and the consumer having to dig further for the information they seek. In my opinion, if a Web surfer is seeking unbiased information about anything, a company should not impede upon their information seeking processes. Knowing that there are trillions of possible search engine query combinations, it seems as though marketers, more often than not, could redirect the flow of information that the Internet was originally intended for. Furthermore, if even more relevant search results are pushed to consecutive pages, chances are in favor of the fact that the consumer may never see them as most Web surfers never make it past the first few pages of search engine results.

In the end, I see no problems with the use of paid placement, but paid inclusion seems a little shady to me. I’ve known about both of these practices for quite a few years, but what about the rest of you? Were you aware of the fact that your favorite search engine could be including paid results? I have a tendency to browse through many, many pages of search results after a query has produced them, but some of you may not. Personally, I would at least like to know when these paid links have been included in my results. If you think about it, we may not be directly in contact with these companies, but we are building a relationship with them through our simple interaction, and in any interpersonal relationship (just go with it) disclosure becomes increasingly necessary and can be used to build trust or to show that you are trustworthy. If these search engine companies and their sponsors are keeping these things from us, does that show that they are trustworthy, or are they simply breaking our trust in them. They say what we don’t know can’t hurt us, but in the end, it usually does. Maybe it’s time for some marketing practices to be made known, and to allow consumers to decide what they’re willing to sacrifice for their services. I know that I don’t want to pay for each search engine query I make (which is a lot), but I also don’t want to receive biased results…

Social Media to the Nth Power

If I were to rank each for of emerging media by how many times it comes up in our IMC 619 class I would have to say that social media has a stranglehold on the number 1 spot. With all the talk of Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Audioboo, and 3D worlds like Second Life, it becomes apparent that social media is where it’s at. However, I came across something extremely interesting in my journey around the World Wide Web the other day, social media for your social media. At this point in the semester, you might think that I have gone completely off my rocker, but you’d be wrong. Prepare to be dazzled…

So, our writing assignment last week asked us to redesign the Website for  our favorite product. I chose to redesign SecondLife.com, which some of you might not consider a “product”, but oh well. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Second Life, its a Web based social network where users create an avatar and use it to interact and communicate with other users around the globe. In addition these features, the entire Second Life world has been built from the ground up by Second Life users, from buildings to the clothes that each avatar wears. Users can also participate in the Second Life economy by buying, selling, and trading everything from Gucci sunglasses to acres of land, and yes, for real cash money (Cha-Ching). While I was doing a little research on Second Life I stumbled upon a site called Avatars United, which is (of all things) a social networking site for avatars…Talk about having a second life! *By the way, Second Life also features spaces and products from many, many major brands. Check out the vid below for a tour of some of their in-game spaces!

When I first landed on AvatarsUnited I thought, “Okay, this is interesting. I’ve never seen a social networking site where people can get together and talk about their in-game lives.” As I perused the site I discovered that all of the content on the site is strictly related to each user’s in-game life, users are forbidden to expose your own true identity! So, in the end, Avatars United is a social network for social  networks. As users sign up for the service they create profiles for their preferred avatar, whether it lives in the Second Life Grid or within the World of Warcraft. Users upload photos and videos of their in-game conquests, sexual or otherwise, to share with their friend…If you ask me, this place is the mother of all Facebooks. If the Internet were a fractal, where everything you saw was nothing more than a repeating pattern, Avatars United would be the final piece of the puzzle.

In the end, I suppose that this type of site’s existence is really no big surprise. With social media rising to the forefront of emerging media it’s almost expected. However, I simply cannot believe that we now have social networks for social networks.  Have we gone off the deep end, or is this just the next step in the natural progression of social media and 3D worlds like Second Life and World of Warcraft? Are we so disconnected with reality that we need avatars to interact with one another on a daily basis? If you ask me, it seems as though we’re experiencing a massive communication meltdown. With the advent of in-game social networks like Avatars United, who needs real friends anymore? I think what amazes me most is the fact that we even have a need for social networks devoted to other social networks. Is it not enough to have a social network where these people just talk about their in-game lives as themselves, not an avatar? Oy, the very idea of this makes me a little crazy!

On a side note, I would love to know where all these people find the time to live an entire second life. Between work, school, and family my time is extremely limited. I barely have time to blog most nights, let alone watch my favorite TV shows with my wife without being distracted by all the tasks at hand. Is anyone else dumbfounded by this site’s existence, besides me? Every time I think about Avatars United, I can’t help but picture Xhibit (of Pimp My Ride fame) promoting this social network for social networks…Exhibit, take us out!

Designing for the Web, it’s a lot harder than it looks…

This week in the wild, wonderful wonderful world of IMC our class discussed Web design (the good, the bad, and the ugly). Well, not really, but we did discuss many of the different concerns that come to mind when you’re even remotely thinking about designing or redesigning a site. Furthermore, our weekly assignment asked us to choose and redesign one of our favorite sites. Don’t even get me started on that. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve been struggling with that task all weekend.

Anyway, one of the concepts of Web design that a classmate brought up was the idea of dropping the pursuit of perfection and focusing on pure simplicity. One site that came to mind when reading her discussion post was Craigslist. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the site, it is a locale based community bulletin board that has everything from discussion forums and want ads to emplyment opportunities and personal rants. Check it out at Craigslist.org. I’ve been using this site for years and always thought of it as the bastard child of Piet Mondrian. It’s not too pretty, but dammit, it’s organized (in a natural sort of way).You see, Craig (of Craiglist) wasn’t going for perfection. Sure, he could have created the most glorfied bulletin board the world’s ever seen, but then again, you can’t beat the classified section of Hillbilly Holler! Anyway, even though Craigslist is rather drab, aesthetically speaking, it serves its purpose with great vigor!

So, I’ve spent the last week trying to heed my classmate’s advice (to pursue imperfection), but it’s tough. Nearly everywhere you go on the Web today there are beautifully designed sites. However, in the end it’s all for nothing if the site you’ve designed doesn’t serve its purpose, and serve it well. While professional photography and videography can help, in my eyes there is no better way to improve a site than to just make it work. Our IMC lesson this week outlined a few research studies and one of them actually showed that something like 65% of consumers won’t buy from a poorly designed Website, and some of those people will even stop purchasing the brand altogether (even offline). That’s reason enough for me to be terrified of ever pursuing a career in graphic design!

Well, that’s enough out of me for this evening. I leave you now with some of the best (NOT) Web sites I have ever encountered via http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/worst-web-sites-of-2008.html If you like your news in complete and utter disarray check out the link to Havenworks, or if you prefer buying your formal wear from a retailer with great fashion sense and who plays the bagpipes, check out Yvette’s!

AudioBoo…Who Comes Up with This Stuff!?!

It’s been a long weekend, and by long I don’t mean long and relaxing. I’ve spent the last two days working on yet another IMC paper, and I’m still nowhere near the finish line. Anyway, as I sat in my burlap lined cubicle at work, feeling like I was rewriting my own version of the Neverending Story, I heard a tiny “pop” from my speaker…thank heavens for Facebook IM. At that point in the day I needed a little distraction, but little did I know I was about to learn about a new social media application that I would find myself blogging about a few hours later.

What is this new social media application you say? Why it’s AudioBoo, of course! AudioBoo is an iPhone application that allows users to create audio blogs from the comfort of, well, wherever they might be. Wanna check it out? Okay, fine…here’s the link (audioboo.fm). Anywho, AudioBoo is actually pretty cool, even if you’re not really that into the whole social media thing. I do Facebook, but don’t tweet and all that jazz, but it’s still entertaining. Speaking of Twitter, after looking over the AudioBoo site, and listening to a few Boos, I decided to see what was happening on Twitter.com, and boy was I surprised (or not). Apparently, AudioBoo is using Twitter, or is it Twitter is using AudioBoo? Who knows, but someone is using someone here. Apparently, you can already link your Boos to your Twitter account. I think my buddy Dave said it best when he said, “Take that 140 character limit, I’ve got seconds on my side.”

I can see where this new tool can become extremely useful where marketing and media is concerned. With the addition of AudioBoo to the new media world, we no longer need access to a keyboard, just a microphone and a few good thoughts. Companies, who might already use Twitter, can now give instant consumer updates in glorious 2-channel stereo! As long as Gilbert Gottfried doesn’t starting booing, I think we can all benefit from the technology. From what I understand, The Daily Athenaeum, WVU’s student paper, is going to start using AudioBoo immediately for all their blogging needs, and with the addition of a Twitter account we’ll never miss a beat with what’s happening around campus.

I never cease to be amazed at just how fast technology develops. It seems like just yesterday that I was sitting in front of my console TV, in my British Knights (BKs), playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on NES. Today, I can watch TV, listen to music, take photos, and do a million other things with one tool…and it’s a cell phone. Nuts I tell ya, NUTS! Anyway, for now I leave you with a sample AudioBoo from my dear friend Dave titled, Dave Reads Ingredients – Chunky Prego Spaghetti Sauce…I know, right?

Listen!

Welcome to Your New…Home???

One of the topics that we covered this week in IMC 619, Emerging Media and the Market, was that of 3D (virtual) worlds. I happen to be ahuge fan of console gaming, and I own both an Xbox 360 and a Playstation 3, so I consider myself “experienced” in the realm of digital environments. Anyway, while both Sony and Microsoft offer users the opportunity to create their very own digital avatar, only Sony allows you to place that avatar in a massive online environment where they can create their own space and interact freely with people from around the world. Welcome home, Playstation Home…

Now, I’ve never played World of Warcraft, and I’ve only dabbled with Second Life, but I’m pretty sure that Playstation Home takes the the virtual cake in the digital world. As far as the marketing value of 3D  worlds goes, well, the possibilities are seemingly endless. However, for the sake of giving you some insight into this topic, here’s the short list of why marketing professionals are flocking to this new medium.

• Consumers interacting with a virtual world have are granted the ability to experience things that are simply not possible in the real world.
• Consumers are able to try new products and services – risk free!
• Consumers, or Avatars (if you will) can become product ambassadors, who spread the word about products and services and answer other consumers frequently asked questions.
• Virtual worlds have the ability to showcase streaming video and still photos on demand, enriching the consumers overall experience.

So, where does Playstation Home fit into all of this? Well, if the answer was multiple choice it would be, D – All of the above. Starting with the first point above, Playstation Home, or Home as we’ll call it, allows consumers the opportunity to put designer clothes on their avatar (AppleBottom jeans ain’t cheap ya know?!), own oceanfront property (with Italian leather sofas I might add), heck, you can even watch a movie with your best friend in Spain (try doing that in the real world!). Anyway, you get the point…Home is an open environment and the sky’s the limit, well actually the limit lies in the size of the Home network, but whatev.

THe second point doesn’t need much explaining, but with Home consumers are invited to try out upcoming PS3 games free of charge. While this concept isn’t new, with downloads already available in the Playstation Store, it is novel in respect to the environment in which the game trial occurs. There’s even a video arcade with popular titles from amatuer developers! What a great way to get feeback before your product hits the shelves. We don’t want anything collecting dust now, do we?

Although I haven’t actually heard tales of the third point actually happening (consumers becoming product ambassadors), I have met and chatted with a few game developers in similar environments. This is a great way for a company to get to know their audiences and to recieve immediate feedback on the work their doing, even though I’m sure they get sick of hearing about every little bug that pops up after a games beta testing period has ended. Oh well, they should be more than happy to provide their fans with the best content humanly possible!

Last but not least, 3D worlds like Home give consumers the ability to view streaming video and images on demand. Home even manages to take this concept to the next level. Rather than streaming fullscreen video, Home features high def displays scattered throughout the landscape (like billboards) that constantly stream game and movie content for viewers to enjoy! Wanna learn a little more about Little Big Planet, Fallout 3, or Killzone 2? Enter their online domocile and check ‘em out for yourself! With themed storefronts and streaming media, consumers become completely enveloped in the world or console gaming with Home.

Overall, these environments really are a marketers wet dream. With unprecedented, live access to the masses, who could ask for anything more. With completely customizable spaces, unlimited amounts of streaming content, and a relatively inexpensive price tag who needs the real world? I’m moving to the Internet…If you’d like to learn more about Playstation Home check out the video below!

Global Strategery

As you might have guessed by now, this week’s lesson in IMC 619 dealt with multicultural marketing efforts, in the form of ethnic Web sites produced by major corporations. Our assignment for the discussion boards this week was to take a look at the multicultural Web site of three Fortune 100 companies and analyze the site that we felt did the best job of reaching the culture that it targeted. Everyone in our class chose very different companies, ranging from health insurance providers and cell phone companies to electronics  and  soft drink manufacturers.  Each of our target cultures varied as well, ranging from African Americans to Asian and Hispanic cultures.  Needless to say, our conversation this week was interesting and insightful, and in following this theme, several students brought up a few interesting topics, one of which was the idea of marketing discrimination.

The site I chose to analyze for this week’s assignment was Comida Kraft, which translates to Kraft Foods in Spanish. In my opinion, Kraft did an excellent job not only in translating the North American site to the Spanish language, but in customizing it to fit the needs of the Hispanic community. If you take a look at the pictures below you can see that Comida Kraft is almost a perfect match to its North American counterpart. Despite having differences in language and cuisine, Kraft has done a bang-up job of maintaining brand message consistency across two very different cultures.

Top-KraftFoods.com Bottom-ComidaKaft.com

After seeing a company like Kraft do such an excellent job in handling multicultural marketing, I began to wonder why more companies don’t follow suit. Well before a classmate brought up the idea of marketing discrimination, or the practice of not providing other cultures with marketing outlets that are at least equal to those that the primary culture is able to experience, I began to notice how many international Web sites seemed so different from the parent company’s main site. I realize that each company may be taking individual cultural values into consideration when designing a site for the international community, but it seems like the international community sometimes gets ripped off where in-depth content is concerned.At least in the case of Kraft, each culture receives treatment that is relatively the same, or at least remotely similar.

I’ve heard tales of profiling taking place in the marketing community, wherein certain companies will exclude certain audiences for a lack of financial means, but it seems to me that when it comes to marketing many of the products and services out there today, no one consumer should be immediately discounted according to concepts like ethnicity or financial status. Of course there will always be prestige items that the elite would not want marketed to the impoverished, I suppose. Has anyone around here actually experienced market profiling (or discrimination) personally, or does this theory only exist in the minds of people like me who tend to think about things like this incessantly?

I think what I’m getting at is this…If a company has a core message and wishes to convey that message to consumers, shouldn’t that company attempt to do so across cultures? The content could be customized to fit each individual culture, but in the end shouldn’t those core values  cross geographic boundaries? For example, Coca-Cola has a series of ads known as “The Happiness Factory” which demonstrate how much the company cares about bringing the joy of an ice-cold Coca-Cola to consumers, and the happiness that consuming the product brings to consumers in general. Am I wrong in thinking that happiness is not a universal concept? The campaign my have originally been created  for North American audiences, but wouldn’t it be pretty simple to communicate the same ideas across cultures? Perhaps many of these companies are acting in a culturally sensitive and responsible manner, but it seems to me that it is possible to provide audiences with very similar messages across cultures, as Kraft has proven possible.

Anyway, that’s enough outta me for tonight…

You have reached the end of the Internet…

I was just rereading my IMC 619 lesson from last week and got to thinking a little about streaming media. I think we often take things like streaming media for granted, as most of what we see is a “behind the scenes process”, we just know it works. I don’t often sit around wondering about how the episode of The Office that I missed last week was digitized, uploaded, and is being beamed from my laptop to my PS3, or how many gigabytes of information my stream contains. I just know that the fact that the Internet works, and that the fact that it does work is a miracle in and of itself.

Anyway, the reason that I got to think about streaming media is because I recently read about how Comcast is placing a bandwidth limit on every household. What’s the limit? 250 gigabytes, plain and simple. According to Comcast, 250 gigs of bandwidth equals :

• Sending 50 million emails (at 0.05KB/email)
• Downloading 62,500 songs (at 4MB/song)
• Downloading 125 standard-definition movies (at 2GB/movie)
• Uploading 25,000 hi-resolution digital photos (at 10MB/photo)

I realize that by those numbers, 250 gigs is a LOT of bandwidth, but will it be enough to support our insatiable media appetites for long? As streaming media becomes more and more popular, and High Definition becomes the new standard for many TV networks and movies, I can see where more problems can arise. Remember the good ol’ days when 512 megs of data was a heck of a lot of data? Well, by today’s standards 512 megs isn’t even enough storage for 10 of the photos I take with my 12.2 megapixel camera. My computer at work has nearly 16 gigs of random access memory in it, and that’s barely enough to make a quality PowerPoint presentation (you know you LOVE those!).

Anyways, I’m getting very curious to see how bandwidth limitations could play a role in the type of media that marketers will rely on in the future. HD photos, HD video, audio, and podcasts are already doing extremely well on the Web, and there’s no end in sight. Will these bandwidth limits be enough to sustain our digital needs as time goes on? As of right now these limitations are of no consequence, but if you consider the speed at which technology is improving I can see where it might. Will people in the future think of their bandwidth as a form of currency, only to be spent on things that they deem fit, which may or may not include marketing communications? Sure, badnwidth limits may grow too, as ISPs improve their servers and upgrade old networks, but by limiting people they are also saving themselves a lot of headaches. I can see where this type of limitation could improve the outlook for digital piracy, but will fthe words “intellectual property” even be included in the vocabulary of future generations. I know my own generation has no respect at all for nearly every type of intellectual property, I doubt we’ll see too much improvement in the next.

And the Oscar goes to…

Well, I won’t be giving out any Oscars this week, but we will be talking a little about the use of short films as marketing tools. Last week, inthe world of IMC 619,  our professor asked us to find a marketing short film and to talk about whether we thought the short was entertaining; whether or not the short resembled a movie or an ad;  if the short was effective from a marketing standpoint; and if the practice of using short films to subtly market products or services is ethical.

By Wednesday everyone had created their original posts and it was exciting (to say the very least) to see all the different marketing short films making the rounds on the WWW today. I had noticed this mediums increasing popularity, as it is a commonly used tactic in movie theaters, and some of them are quite entertaining. The shorts discussed in class this week came from companies ranging from Chanel and BMW to Stella Artois and Microsoft. Most of the ads were witty and entertaining, but it is the short films from Stella Atrois and Microsoft that I would like to discuss this week. Both of these companies have taken a unique approach to short films, however, I’m not exactly sure that the term “short film” is even an appropriate description for these marketing masterpieces.

For this week’s discussion my classmate, Mallory (check out her blog y’all), chose to analyze a “short film” brought to us by Belgian brew meisters, Stella Artois. Unfortunately, I can’t post the short on my blog, but I hope you’ll all check it out at www.stellaartois.com. After entering your age (how appropriate), and the page loads, click on the link at the bottom titled “Le Courage.” You’ll be treated to an adventure in beer, the likes of which have never been seen! What’s so interesting about this site is that we are treated to a short film/ advergame, reminiscent of the choose your own adventure books or interactive laser discs (Dragon’s Lair anyone?) we all grew up with (well some of us). In order to keep the viewing experience going it is necessary for the user to interact with the site. For example, in “The World in 1366″, the first in a series of five shorts,  are invited to balance the world (it was flat after all)  in order for our brewers to harvest the finest of hops after the short has seemingly played out.

The other site I would like to share with you, which comes from my own discussion post, is brought to you by Microsoft – Monopolizing the world, one day at a time. Anyway, this site is part of the launch center for Halo 3, Microsoft and Bungie’s 2007 blockbuster video game title. The site invites users to tour the John 117 Monument, which is dedicated to the battles that Master Chief fought throughout the Halo game series. The monument, an actual scale model of a massive battle scene, was photographed in steps and pieced back together allowing site users to glide through the battle scene unscathed by flying shrapnel from frag grenades. There is a haunting soundtrack playing as you fly through the war torn city, and appropriate sound effects (machine guns and explosions) play during your journey through the monument. There  are also some bright blue way-points that users can click on, which will treat them to information about the scene, or another short film from the highly acclaimed “Believe” series produced by Microsoft and Bungie. For those of you who haven’t seen it, the shorts in the Believe series are strikingly similar to WWII documentaries seen on the History Channel.  Here’s a short sample!

Anywho, like I said, I don’t know if these sites or their content can (or should) be classified under “short film.” I think I’m leaning toward calling them “interactive experiences”, but the elements of film are definitely there. To get to my point, I think the addition of interactive content is really interesting, especially where cinema is concerned. I’ve been exposed to many short films throughout my life, I was an art major after all, and they can often be long, boring, and confusing. I’m pretty sure that many short film producers don’t realize that they lose they’re audience in the first five minutes. As a society I’d venture to say that we have a pretty short attention span, and we don’t have the patience anymore for things that aren’t relevant to our interests. Basically, by adding interactive elements or allowing users to control the action, these companies were able to hold my (and maybe your) attention for a much longer period of time. Interactivity and customization aren’t the next big things, they are THE BIG THINGS! Most people I know, including myself, aren’t happy sitting idly at the computer, or the TV for that matter, so adding interactive elements to anything is a huge plus in my book!

So, what do you think? Does the addition of interactivity add anything to the experience? Is it good, or are we just asking people to do too much to get to the information they seek? You’ve heard my opinion, what’s yours?