An open letter to Comcast On Demand

Dear Comcast On Demand:

Every time I turn on my TV's On Demand I am startled by the loud, annoying music you use. You know the music I'm talking about. It's not only slightly aggressive, but also way too repetitive. By repetitive, I mean it's the only music you use. Perhaps something a little more mellow, or perhaps (even better) no music at all. When the On Demand screen appears, I know I'm using On Demand, I don't need the music to remind me, oh, and kind of scare my children too. I love the On Demand service, having quick access to Thomas the Train is essential in my home. I just don't like freaking out my kids every time I flick the switch (err, hit the button).

What do you say Comcast? Will you take care of this little matter for me? I'd really appreciate it.

Sincerely,
Dave Delaney

Spongebob No Pants

Have you seen the Burger King commercial where a man rises out of a tub of suds to crack a Spongebob Squarepants joke to his wife? Either had I.

Today I was reading the latest on AdAge when I came across the story. Apparently a group of people lead by a Rev. Wildmon have started a ruckus over the nudity in the ad. I should note, there is no nudity in the spot.

Now go ahead and watch the commercial and decide for yourself.


I'm starting to think that the Reverend works for the ad agency who came up with the spot. Think about it. What a brilliant way to make your commercial go viral (note the YouTube video above). All you need is a spokesperson against the product or advertisement.

A Google Blog search found the ad has been talked about all over the web.

So what do you think? A grand conspiracy, or are people actual lame enough to actually find the ad offensive?

YouTube

Google's YouTube appears to be facing some serious battles ahead. Viacom filed a $1 billion lawsuit against the site, while NBC and News Corp entered into a joint venture designed to rival it.

It's pretty sad that so many media companies are trying to copy YouTube in order to make a buck (well, millions actually). Yesterday I was searching for a Stephen Colbert clip to share with a few friends, when I remembered that Viacom own Comedy Central. A month or so ago Viacom ordered YouTube to remove all videos of their properties.

I was forced to to use Comedy Central's archaic video streaming tool. I should also add that I had to watch a commercial before the clip. The load was slow, commercial annoying and they have no searching capabilities. I had to scroll through the videos until I found what I was looking for. I won't take the trouble again.

Many of the networks have actually embraced using YouTube, like NBC and their The Office promo contest for example. That's good thinking, because the show will get huge promotion if they are available on YouTube - it's as simple as that.



The video of the Colbert Report is hilarious. I had planned to share it with some friends and post it to another blog. The clip would have become viral, thus, The Colbert Report would have increased in popularity some. This is the essence of viral marketing - it's all about word of mouth, and the ease it is to share information.

YouTube is a marketers dream tool to promote a program, movie, etc. Rather than trying to sell advertising through pre-roll on other video players, firms should stick to using what has become the industry leader for online video.

The day YouTube starts forcing it's users to watch commercials before videos is the day users will find a new video sharing tool.

Super Bowl

Super Bowl fever begins with Rassi Interactive. The advertising company has created a site where consumers can score the Super Bowl ads in their Ad Bowl. This is a great idea to increase site traffic and raise user interaction. Plus, visitors will return to see how their votes counted.

It's exciting to be in the States this year, so I can actually see the ads as they air. Although, realistically, I'll probably watch them online again anyway.

Last year GoDaddy.com was very clever. They created loads of buzz online about an ad that was too hot for the Super Bowl. If you recall, the previous year they used this spot.

Last year the word was that the spot they had created was banned from airing during the Super Bowl. GoDaddy used this ban to their advantage and invited people to visit their web site to view the ad during the Super Bowl.

Web traffic increased hugely, plus they didn't have to cough up millions of dollars for a :30 second spot during the Super Bowl. Very clever indeed!

Good Morning America on a flatbed?

I was watching Good Morning America on ABC this morning. I noticed that the windows had a winter scape behind the set. The weird thing is that the background was slowly scrolling across. This means that:

a) I'm losing my mind
b) They've moved the set to a flatbed truck
c) Something is awry with their blue screen

Anyone else see this?
D