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August 18, 2007

Comments

Stephanie Glazer

John,

Thanks for the Guest post. I'm in IT and had no idea about this - the songs in these videos get some things a bit wrong, but a surprising amount of things right. But then, he is Christopher Guest, a talent I have always found to be very insightful, whatever the subject. I went to YouTube and saw both videos - and the second one is twice as good. Have you seen it? Can you tell me if Guest did these directly for Intel or did he work with an ad agency or web company? I'd like to tell our marketing folks who came up with this. We could use their help!

Steph

John Bell

Not sure who arranged this for them but quite likely it was their ad agency - feels like an agency did this....

Peter Lee

John,

They were done by a guy named Michael Jacobs, at an agency called MRM Worldwide. I know because I just read an article about this very subject in the New York Times this morning. Here's the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/17/business/media/17adco.html?_r=2&ref=media&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

I haven't seen the videos yet, though I am of course familiar with Christopher Guest. Does he usually do commercials? I think of him as a film director.

George Mitchell

Why must people need to admire multiple confirmed drug cheats?

How is Roid Landis life relevant to hard working people?

How does racing on a team of busted and/or confessed dopers (Phonak (13) & USPO (9)) create solid morale for non-pro-atheltes?

Why did Landis threaten Greg Lemond in writing on a public forum and then supervise a cell phone threat of a USADA witness, felony witness tampering?

Why did Landis father-in-law die of gun shot head wound within ten days of his steroid test 'B sample' confirmation?

Why do endorsed dopers always lie? Hamilton, Landis, Basso, Heras, Joachim, Andreu, Armstrong, Museeuw, Pantani, Riis, Ulrich, Zabel, Aldag, Millar, Virenque, McGwire, Bonds, Jones, Montgomery, White, Jacobs, Collins, Gatlin, Romanowski.

Why is commerial marketing never a sport?

Kay Bawler

Folks,

As someone fascinated by the world of viral marketing, I was really enjoying this blog discussion. But Mr. Mitchell's post seems, excuse me for saying this, rather insane. Can someone please explain to me what the heck he is talking about, and how it is even 1% germane to an otherwise terrific conversation?

John Bell

Not sure that George is really "on topic" here. I merely mentioned that the man he refers to spoke somewhere. I suppose he has a Google Alert set for the man who shall not be named. Still, I am reticent to take the comment down as it does relate to marketing in its own oblique way (the risks of endorsement in sports)

Ebo

Mr. Bell,

Thanks the the wonderful Christopher Guest Video. Great stuff. As one of the comments on YouTube attests, this is yet further proof that the man can find the "funny" in anything. And for my money, this kind of communication goes a long way towards elevating the "cool factor" of a brand whose marketing image is rather staid.

Harvey

Who is Christopher Guest?

Stace

Great post John - as a video person this will be helpful in assisting my clients with defining what they want their video projects to be/become (some things just won't play in the entertainment category, and some projects NEED to be there!). Aristotle had something going with those Categories, to be sure.

Guest is fabulous - to answer Steph's question, many fine feature directors do ad and industrial work through repping companies. I've read Guest as associated with one of the big names but it doesn't come to mind at the moment.

George Mitchell

MEMO to file:

All TV mass media sports marketing depends on endorsed drug cheats and/or criminals.

eg: Nike proudly endorses:
Marion Jones
Justin Gatlin
Michael Vick
Barry Bonds
Jasn Giambi
Lance Pharmstrong (LIFE WRONG bracelets)
Tim Montgomery
Regina Jacobs
Kelli White
Tori Edwards
Michelle Collins
LaTasha Jenkins
Kobe Bryant (rape, philandering)

Apparently, only cheaters can follow a winning script for TV theater of the absurd.

That's why Roid Landis must be sanctioned.

Design for MySpace

Dear Jon - Thank you for sharing christopher's video. He is a class-act and perhaps the best humorist I've seen in ages.

John Bell

I am a big fan of Christopher Guest and believe sing this caliber of talent to make videos in the entertainment category is smart. The question remains - how do you keep the budget down so that it makes financial sense to go in this direction? It's one thing for Intel to hire Mr. Guest once. On the other hand, I think many marketers underestimate what it takes to create a really clever video. Since silly backyard videos can go viral - every one should be able to do it. Shades of "The Player" - the scene where the upstart executive says, "we don't need writers..."

will zweigart

With well over 65,000 videos being uploaded to YouTube every day on average (and that's an old stat), achieving a notable viewcount for a static corporate video (it's viral 'cause we said so) is pretty crazy. Agree 100 percent that creating some level of engagement with a much smalller group of customers is what you need to look for, and if a video helps you do that, great. Problem is sometimes we end up exerting most of the effort thinking up sweet video ideas.

Watch Movies Online

Great Post john !! Thank you for sharing with us. I am big fan of Christopher Guest. He is a class-act and perhaps the best humorist I've seen in ages.

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