The web is … well, that’s obvious, isn’t it? The web is what you make of it. It’s amazingly informative and blazingly deceptive. And increasingly, it’s video. Which is the point of Google’s new spot. Why does Google hope to build its brand — and its YouTube viewership, Chrome browser usage, and search engine business…
Tag Archive: authenticity
The power and permanence of video
I’m going to borrow from this week’s emergencies to demonstrate that video is very useful in establishing an authentic narrative. Or distorting it. In the first example, we have a mashup of senatorial comments on the “safety” of nuclear power… something a lot of Japanese people, who rely on it for 40% of their electricity,…
When interviewing is bad, it is awful
It’s easy to tell when the interviewee is nervous or distrustful of his director. They’ll say things that they know the director expects to hear … nothing surprising, dramatic, or the least bit interesting. It’s all just an exercise in “talking points”. Authenticity comes from seeing a person visibly passionate about what they are saying, stretching the limits to make a point…. reaching for the best possible way to say it because they care about the topic and they want the director, who is a stand-in for the entire audience, to understand.
Mike Whitmore knows how to use video
I’ve been following Mike on Twitter since sometime last fall. We haven’t met yet but I already feel like I know him, because I just watched his two promotional videos on the web. The first one uses stop animation to tell a story about his company: I like the simplicity and friendliness of this approach….
The Post-Barnum Era
Do you think I’m right when I observe that we’re all required to inform all the people, all the time? The audience is now in command. Their interest drives traffic. Their research exposes fraud. Their complaints turn hot into not, and their enthusiasm turns home businesses into powerhouses. SEO has a bigger impact than CEO. And there’s a fool fired every minute.
Marketing to women begins after the sale
As Holly Buchanan points out, women are more risk averse, more cautious, I would say more practical and more empathetic. … Women are wired for empathy, and men need a lifelong relationship with a woman or two to even start thinking that way. … I’m the one who is much more likely to drown his sorrows in a shopping spree. Always had pretty much the camera I wanted or the computer I “needed”. And I suspect that I’m not the only guy in the forest who acts that way…
Best of the Pre-released Super Bowl spots – 1
I love this Hyundai Sonata ad… strong visuals and music that create a question that holds our attention until the payoff punch. And very well written, with a strong branding statement about quality.
Bad videos lack authenticity, relevance
This one just came across one of my linked-in groups… Now that’s a really bad video — done by a firm in London to promote something called “City Gateway”. I frankly don’t have any idea what they do or why it’s significant, but they obviously spent some money and wrote a script and thought they…
Still loving stills, but appreciating the authenticity of video
It seems to me, on balance, that high-def video ought to be the medium of choice whenever a company wants to convey gravitas and credibility; small video cameras are the best way to deliver photo-journalistic impressions. For dramatic storytelling, cinema is still the king… But for sheer artistic impact and the crystallization of imagination or reality, still images have regained a lofty place near the center of the visual pantheon.
The debt ceiling test: communicate or fail?
Like many Americans who worry about the future and wonder about the best policy to pursue, I watched the President’s speech Sunday night, and Rep. Boehner’s immediate response afterward. They offer a sobering lesson on how ineffective the use of video be when we care about our message the most. Don’t let the high stakes…
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