Six months ago, if you had mentioned Dollar Shave Club to a room of people, you would have gotten all blank stares (even though the company has been around since June of last year). Today, there are over 4.5 million people who would nod their heads and smile. 4.5 million YouTube views. In just a few weeks. How did they do it?

A viral video incorporates strong planning, careful execution, and a little bit of luck. Fortunately for those of us who have never won the lottery, the strong planning and careful execution part carries a little more weight than the luck part. Can you design a video and guarantee that it will go viral? Maybe not, but by incorporating these lessons from Dollar Shave Club, you can at least ensure that it earns the right to be seen and shared.

Don’t Take Yourself  Too Seriously

Humor is something Dollar Shave Club does really well. Seriously. There’s hardly a straight line in the entire video. But they’re not just cracking jokes either. Some of the humor is obvious and some is a little more under the radar, but all of it works together to communicate the vital information you need to know about the company. And it leaves you with that “You’ve gotta see this!” feeling.

Create a Unified Approach

Take a long look at your existing website and craft your video so that it supports your current marketing strategy. When you visit the Dollar Shave Club site, every element hangs together and sends the same vibes you received in the video. Your website visitors shouldn’t wonder whether you’re the same company as the one that produced the video they loved.

Put the Most Important Stuff First

In the first ten seconds, we know what Dollar Shave Club does, how much it costs, and what the quality of the product is. We get our questions answered: How can they afford it and are the razors any good? If we decide to stop viewing (which we won’t, because their fabulous style holds our attention) we still have everything we need to know to pique our interest and entice us over to the website.

Put a Face On Your Company

Even if you don’t have the marketing background and camera-ease that Dollar Shave Club’s founder, Mike Dubin does, it still helps viewers connect with your company when you put a face behind the name. Make the story human and people will relate to it.

Creating videos people love begins with understanding how to communicate a message they can relate to and want to share. After that, who knows? You just might win the lottery.

The key participants of the this year’s Digital Content NewFronts (Hulu, Microsoft Advertising, AOL, Yahoo, Google/YouTube, Vevo, Disney) are telling us as Steve Jobs once did: to think differently. This different thinking is evident as the digital content landscape continues to evolve, as people continue to shift, integrate and multi-task with media channels and on devices.  Broadcast and digital are becoming more integrated.  The time people used to spend watching is now spent interacting, socializing and searching.  Video content is being pushed and pulled to all devices and consumers are watching video everywhere they go.  But what will they watch down the road?

The mission of the Digital Content NewFront (DCNF) is to shape a new marketplace for connecting the wealth of native digital content with brand marketers and their media and marketing agencies.  Similar to the Broadcast Television upfronts, the DCNF’s goal is to bring together a media industry comprised of the digital content space, brand marketers, investment, planning, across all media for a two-week series (April 19 – May 2) of events focused on digital content and media.

Before we move forward, let’s go back a few years.  Broadcast TV is bought in an upfront manner for two reasons: price and inventory guarantees.  Advertisers, fearing inflation over the year, want to lock in the lowest rates possible and get a guarantee of delivery.  Additionally, as the number of commercials in a program is fixed, advertisers also do not want to miss out on an opportunity to see their brand in a specific program.  So, in the ever-changing world of digital, would I want to commit dollars for an entire year, not having anything left for the next big thing?

Digital video publishers are trying their hand at this game, believing that by generating original content, they can create the same supply and demand dynamics in the marketplace.  YouTube invested 100 million dollars in original programming, Hulu is complementing its broadcast programming with more than nine original offerings, and Vevo is starting to look like MTV.  Ultimately, viewer behavior will determine the preferred programming.  Will they be willing to watch original programming on Hulu, where they are looking for that missed broadcast opportunity. It feels like YouTube will win here presenting original content since it really is just a big search engine.

Now, it’s time to argue the value of lean-forward and lean-back viewing.  Nielsen has its formulas, offering guarantees based on Nielsen's new online campaign ratings system, which purports to group digital television viewers into gross rating points-like collections of unique ad-watching users.  Even the CW Network recognizes that 70% of its audience leans forward, thus packaging both experiences into its total ratings delivery.  Supporting this proposed value of lean-forward, digital Newfront CPMS are looking to be twice that of traditional broadcast.

The bigger question is, who is buying the digital video?  Is it the domain of traditional TV buyers or the new dawn of digital specialists?  TV buyers will argue that if it is coming from the TV.coms then they should place integrated schedules using C3 ratings and fully-loaded commercial breaks.  What’s left for the digital specialist?  Hulu and YouTube might be the only scale in town.

So, what are the implications?  There is more inventory available than ever before for your video distribution.   It’s all digital, especially since TV stations stopped broadcasting in analog a few years ago.  You need to make your decisions based on meeting your client’s goals and expectations.

Finally,  the real game starts in two weeks when the traditional broadcast upfront begins because money does make the world go ‘round.

Behind closed doors, online content providers waste enormous amounts of time, effort and expense repackaging audio and video content to stream over various protocols.  You may not have heard of Apple HLS, Microsoft Smooth Streaming, Adobe HDS,  RTSP and RTMP, but they are just some of the protocols that need to be considered when trying to support media on every possible device that can connect to the Internet. The explosion of tablets in the past two years has only intensified the problem.  We like to call this fragmentation.

DASH, or Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP, has the potential to unify streaming communications. The spec allows content creators and distributors to take a media file and deliver it to any device that can accept DASH, and it supports many of the best features of existing http streaming protocols. The new standard is gaining serious momentum from the likes of Adobe, Microsoft and Cisco among other heavy hitters.  A promoters group is actively pushing for adoption throughout the content creation process.  This includes the overworked, frazzled editor-on-a-deadline encoding a streaming file all the way to you sitting on the couch eating popcorn watching the video on your tablet.

There are two major players conspicuously absent from the promoters group, namely Apple and Google.  While Google is not trumpeting their support, when trolling through Chromium message boards you see the wheels are beginning to turn.  Apple, on the other hand, has been very quiet on the subject.  Many are suggesting we're headed for a scenario where DASH and Apple HLS exist side by side.  Why is this position acceptable?

Let's Flash back (pun intended) to April 2010.  Steve Jobs published Thoughts on Flash, an open letter that turned the streaming industry on its ear.  At the time, Adobe Flash was effectively the de facto standard for video on the Web.  The post took aim at the deficiencies of Flash and chastised Adobe for it's closed, proprietary system.  From the letter:

"Adobe’s Flash products are 100% proprietary. They are only available from Adobe, and Adobe has sole authority as to their future enhancement, pricing, etc. While Adobe’s Flash products are widely available, this does not mean they are open, since they are controlled entirely by Adobe and available only from Adobe. By almost any definition, Flash is a closed system."

Kettle, this is Pot, can you hear me? Sorry, let's continue:

"Apple has many proprietary products too. Though the operating system for the iPhone, iPod and iPad is proprietary, we strongly believe that all standards pertaining to the web should be open. Rather than use Flash, Apple has adopted HTML5, CSS and JavaScript – all open standards. Apple’s mobile devices all ship with high performance, low power implementations of these open standards. HTML5, the new web standard that has been adopted by Apple, Google and many others, lets web developers create advanced graphics, typography, animations and transitions without relying on third party browser plug-ins (like Flash). HTML5 is completely open and controlled by a standards committee, of which Apple is a member."

Two years later, the adoption of HTML5 has come a long way, and this letter was a huge part of that.  The frustration for most content creators is that when it comes to video streaming, HTML5 just doesn't have all the bells and whistles of closed systems like Flash and other alternatives like Microsoft's Silverlight.  If all of the features existed in the spec, and the browser makers quickly added full support,  I suspect 99% of websites in existence would drop Flash video delivery tomorrow.  Apple HLS streaming is proprietary.  A standard like DASH backed by the Motion Picture Experts Group, in conjunction with HTML5 <video>, would simplify the current environment and allow content distributors to innovate instead of wasting time constantly adapting content delivery methods.

There is no one on the planet that that doesn't admire Apple and what they've accomplished in the past 15 years. However, when you think about the trials Apple endured during the early 90s, will they now take the high road or act like an evil empire now that the shoe is on the other foot ? Keeping HLS in its own world as a competing standard could actually have a negative effect on the industry as content distributors race to support DASH, HLS and legacy protocols for legacy devices.  This is an opportunity for Apple to truly put their money where their mouth is and come out in full support of MPEG Dash.  The full weight of Apple behind the spec would put adoption of the standard over the top.  Content creators, distributors and especially consumers would reap the benefits, and Apple execs could sleep at night knowing they did the right thing.

One of the most interesting sessions I attended today was Search: The Search Ecosystem and Integrating Search Into Your Marketing Mix

The session positioned Search as center stage in marketing, not relegated to the basement of performance driven campaigns to drive sales. Search is no longer just "Search," it is an interconnected ecosystem that instead of only driving results or just supporting your "more important" campaigns, Search can, and probably should be influencing or even directing your brand campaigns. Huh? Heresy! Well, not according to our experts. So why should you be "listening" to what Search is telling you?

Kevin Ryan, CEO Motivity Marketing explains; Affliction is one of their clients. They noticed from the search data that people who were searching for "Affliction" were also searching for "Blasko," Ozzy Osbourne's bassist. So they integrated him into Afflictions overall campaign. This is Search influencing up instead of being influenced down. This is Search connecting with consumers by listening to them without them even realizing it. Listen to what is happening in search data. For instance, one of their clients Bugaboo which makes high-end strollers sells an attachment. It is not a "food storage device" or "drink storage" it is a "Cup Holder" or "Snack Tray." It does not matter what the attachment is called, you have to use search terms as to how people refer to it. "Brand Terms" deviate only when practical knowledge intervenes. He also educates us that even with a premium brand like Bugaboo price inclusion works very well and is a significant driver so do not forget to include it in your campaigns.

"Brand Terms" deviate only when practical knowledge intervenes.

For Rhonda Hanson, Director of Search Marketing, Getty Images, she only jokingly admits that "Google does not have a good idea of how to index imagery at all." And she also admits that it is not really their fault; it is a struggle for companies in the photo space as imagery comes with much less meta data that search engines can crawl. And Search is such vital importance to these types of services.

What she did is launch a contest called the Mishmash Video/Music/Images Remix Competition where people could use Getty Images to make mashup videos. The campaign seeds Getty throughout not only the Search ecosystem, but the entire Social Media ecosystem as well. She used Google site links on her brand terms to get extra promotion for the campaign, and demonstrated through the use of promoted Tweets which only cost $300, through the Google Display Network for another $5,000 and through traditional Press Releases how they could increase Getty's Search footprint. And the lesson is simple. Since there are many companies where Search is the number one way people find and interact, Search, and campaigns that help Search should be a primary strategy... AND it does not have to cost you an arm and a leg.

Mitra Naeimi, Director of SEO and Social Media, Shutterfly also understand that. She knows how important search engine optimization is to one of her brands Tiny Prints. Tiny Prints started using Pinterest in Q4 of last year, but the majority of their traffic is to through organic search. They noticed that they were missing a big opportunity to capture the long-tail traffic. They were doing well with the "head" search terms like "Photo Printing" etc... but were no where to be found with long-tail terms like "Twinkle Little Star birth announcements." She implemented a three step process after doing a site audit.

1. She added a "Related Searches" modules on their category pages. What this enables is it creates the dynamic link graph across the site. This helps crawlability, extends content, make content richer, creates a better user experience, and makes a difference in ranking.
2. She added "Related Products" to each of her product pages for the same reasons and that it helps provide content richness which improves the user experience.
3. She structurally implemented "Rich Filters" (the ability to sort by "rounded corners" "heavy stock" "color" etc...) so that all different types of pages were created that were "search type specific." This takes advantage of the way that people search and find information online, so these filters restructure their pages and act as links, efficiently linking into their product pages. This cross-linking dramatically increases search relevancy in

If you are a product company, you need to restructure your site for Search, and Mitra outlines a three step process that works. Search elevates up to influence design, structure and site functionality. It actually should be the first place to start.

Matt Lawson, Vice President of Marketing & Partnerships, Marin Software rounded out our panel of experts, and his four step process educated us on on how to integrate mobile device platforms in search

1. Separate your mobile campaigns. i.e. "Call us now to reserve a table" instead of a brand ad works in mobile. Recognize how consumers interact with their devices. i.e. With GAP a desktop campaign promotes a sale, whereas a mobile device promotes the store location.
2. Target users with specific device copy. Banana Republic has created a specific "http://...../iphone" URL that is displayed. This can increase click-through 9%-15%. No one wants to click on something on a mobile device and end up on a non-mobile site.
3. Prioritize Ad Position. Even though the cost per click in mobile is lower, you need to bid higher due to there being less positions. On a desktop being on the first page of ads is fine. In mobile if you are not position one or position two do not bother. Especially bid on your brand terms to protect your brand in mobile.
4. Optimize for the User Experience. You do not have to create the worlds best app, or the best mobile site, but you have to check your landing pages to make sure they look good on iPhone and Android and have some sort of mobile friendly landing page. In addition, the notion of conversion may be different for mobile devices. Is it a Call? a Reservation? a Map lookup? Put a dollar amount against it and measure it.

And I will add to that the advice "Measure what is Valuable, Don't Value what is Measurable."

This four panel of experts and all of this advice was from just one session at AdTech. I started by saying I could write a book on all the session I attended. In fact I could write a book, and a good one, on just the lessons in this one session.

AdTech is what you make of it; ask questions, take notes, email panelists and presenters, they are all willing to help almost anyone and answer any questions within reason... but before you can do any of that you have to attend all of this value.

Streaming video is dynamic. You can deliver a focused message that reaches your audience and drives sales. That’s the end goal after all, right? Although businesses are more receptive to the use of online video, we’ve all experienced clients, bosses or team members that are hesitant about implementation.

If you are thinking about making the jump to streaming video as part of your product or service launch strategy, here are some benefits to consider and ways to utilize online video:

Pre-Launch/Launch Tactics

Generate Excitement
Prior to a product launch, issuing a video teaser gives your audience a glimpse of the innovative features and benefits of your product or service. It will also help generate buzz and induce excitement about its release. Hopefully, it compels your audience to test or purchase the product too. You might even be lucky enough for the video to go viral!

Grow Your User Base
Streaming video is an excellent way to expand audience reach. By incorporating online video, you offer customers a clear, quick way to see your product and how it works. For people that conduct online research prior to a purchase (me!), this is definitely a way for your product or service to stand out.

A video product demonstration is also a perfect complement to an in-person launch event and as a means to extend the product or service “experience” to a newer and/or wider audience. If you are hosting a launch party, you can create a hybrid event (a mix of in-person and virtual guests) and stream coverage to increase attendance. Since this video can be viewed live and on-demand, it’s especially helpful for those who may have missed a portion of the presentation (e.g. arriving late to the event, distracted by an email or text during the product demonstration) or who were unable to travel due to scheduling or budget restrictions.

Customer Testimonials
Creating an online video for a launch event is a great way to showcase your product and user base. A customer testimonial can put a human face on a typical guided tour video, and your audience will be able to envision itself using the product. I know I definitely respond more to word-of-mouth referrals over company-issued advertisements, and video testimonials from real customers provide that recommendation often needed to drive a purchase.

Post-Launch

Customer Support
Following a successful launch, customers may have questions regarding set up or particular features. It’s usually easier for me to follow along with a step-by-step customer support video to address some of my “frequently asked questions” than to constantly go back and forth with written instructions.

Cross Promotion and On-Demand Life
One of the greatest ROI values of a good product video is its ability to keep giving over time. Your video can be promoted as part of other elements of your campaign, so if you have landing pages for product information, rebates or giveaways, you have easy access to continue promoting the new offering. The bottom line is that if the video is paid for and well-developed, you need to use it for all it’s worth.

Social Media Interaction and Outreach
Once your product is launched, online videos are great tools to share through social media channels. People love to share their knowledge of the latest and greatest product with their family and friends, so develop a fun promotional video (a la Dollar Shave Club http://bit.ly/GSRlIG) that can be shared on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube pages.  Best practice or how-to videos are also useful to share with your user community.

Product Updates
If software updates become available and/or there are new tools offered based on these upgrades, online video can show the necessary steps involved. Streaming media is a useful method for demonstrating the benefits of these new features and functionality, and how the product/service differentiates itself from others on the market. In other words, it illustrates why someone should choose your product over your competitor!

While no communication method can solely replace face-to-face interaction, streaming media can help complement in-person launch initiatives. Video communication offers an additional opportunity to better serve current and prospective clients, which provides more chances to gain customer feedback, enhance product innovation, maintain loyal customer relationships, and, drum roll please, increase sales.

Here are the top 3 things that have been the major themes of the event:

1. Content is king

I've seen so many examples of great content here it's ridiculous. Every major media property is investing big in developing quality, original content. This is not your kid brother with a Flip cam. This is major talent, major directors, major productions. The Confession with Kiefer Sutherland was the most popular made-for-web series ever. Lisa Kudrow's Web Therapy on LStudio.com is in its 4th season. And YouTube alone has just invested over $100 million in developing original content. The big hope is that major budgets will follow suit with brands willing to shell out the bucks to be adjacent to quality content.

Which brings us to...

2. The New Fronts

There is much hype here about the upcoming "New Fronts" that will take place between April 19 - May 2 (next year it'll all be one week, but apparently "they" just came up with the idea over cocktails and couldn't get their act together on time). Like the Upfronts with TV, producers of video content will be trying to sell off the ad space surrounding all that delicious new content they've been developing. YouTube, MSN, Yahoo, DBG, AOL and others will all be having events. Will it be successful? That's the question of the hour. It's been pointed out that these New Fronts unfortunately don't coincide with digital planning cycles, but there's a huge demand for quality content and there's consensus that this will definitely get big exposure for the content that's been produced.

Obviously, the Tubers are hoping to shift some TV budget to digital. Which must be a joke to the TV folks because the entire digital video inventory must equate to about 2% of the scale they can reach with TV.

Which brings us to...

3. Apples and Oranges

A big and consistent debate that certainly has not been solved at this Summit is how we should measure all this stuff. Should there be an eGRP? Is digital measurement simply better measurement? Do the folks in control of the other 98% of budgets give a damn what digital measurement is? The performance of TV and online video are not measured in the same way. The digital folks want an apples to apples comparison because they think that will create an inevitable shift of dollars from TV to digital, but as my new pal, Jack Myers, pointed out, we should be careful what we wish for. Cable TV tried to create an apples to apples comparison to network TV figuring they were more targeted and more efficient, but wound up finding their inventory on the permanent discount rack. Marketers are happy to pay a vast premium to be adjacent to network content. And digital might find itself quite a bit farther down the food chain than cable did.

You know the saying: The times they are a-changing. And nowhere more than in our world of digital marketing. Whether or not you engage in the hype surrounding the shiny new technologies and platforms that constantly promise to “change everything,” you have to admit that these here are exciting times we live in. Get out your new iPad everyone and get ready to take some notes.

Now, I’m not a psychic. I don’t know what our world will look like in five years (though I did recently venture a guess in these very pages). But I do know that if you want to succeed as a marketer in our always-evolving world, you’d better be ready to be increasingly mobile, engaging, relevant, and aware of the contexts in which we all now operate.

To prepare for a “Minority Report”-style, hyper-connected future, here are five big ideas you can embrace now to stay ahead of the curve:

1. Geo-Power

Location features of social apps such as Foursquare, Ban.jo, Path, et al. are a potential goldmine of important data on consumer habits and preferences. Near-Field Communications (NFC) and wireless payments are here and just starting to show their potential. Privacy issues still need to be resolved, but there is a clear demand from consumers who want marketers to find ways to make their purchases and lives easier. And, if the rumors are true that the iPhone 5 will ship with NFC, expect this geo-power to go from leading edge to mainstream with the swipe of a finger.

2. The Video Land Grab

While online video and mobile are – unsurprisingly – attracting a lot of heat, the marketing spend they draw is still way out of line with the amount of attention they attract from consumers. Don’t just throw money at these new channels: Instead of placing pre-roll video ads and other “forced-view” options, look to user-initiated solutions that respect the user, their time, and their interests.

3. You Down with UGC?

I’m talking about the new UGC: User Generated Curation, powered by content-discovery apps like Pulse, Flipboard, Fancy, and Foodspotting. Publishers and merchants are providing the content, and consumers are cultivating feeds that suit their interests and contexts. The power to filter data and curate personalized information platforms has been put in the hands of the people. These are models for how brands will stay relevant to consumers. As these platforms evolve, they could provide the next great marketing platform. The massive attention consumers and marketers are devoting to Pinterest clearly demonstrates how personal curation and relevance can drive engagement.

4. Thinking Beyond the Tap

Tablets are obviously a magnificent canvas where marketers can paint engaging experiences for consumers. But what are you going to do with your users after you get them to tap? Don’t think you can count on rolling out the same old display strategy. It’s time to get creative and imagine the new possibilities inspired by this new platform. Media industry guru Ken Doctor points to innovative advertisers who take advantage of the unique iPad format: “What’s better for an insurance company like Liberty Mutual than threatening you with disaster (tornado, earthquake, flood) and then inviting you to simply tilt your iPad to watch the damage disappear?” Now that’s what I call mobile advertising.

5. United We Stand

Ditch the silos in your advertising strategy and focus on the most important thing – your customer. In this increasingly interconnected world, consumers don’t think in terms of silos, so why should you? The power of integration is evident in the dividends it pays for brands. Google found that consumers had 74% brand recall when the advertiser has an integrated strategy that carries across mobile, TV, and online. QR codes and “bridging” apps like Viggle that help deliver second-screen relevance can support marketers’ efforts to unleash multiplatform, integrated relevance.

So what are you waiting for? The future is here. Smart marketers will succeed in this world by engaging with the trends that have resonance and relevance for the emerging consumer of today.

Digital marketers are focusing on how consumers interact with media across multiple screens at the same time. Users plop down on the couch and pick up their laptops, mobile devices or tablets, and ad networks and technology companies are pushing multi-screen ad buys to brands. The problem is, at this point, no one can agree on how many screens advertisers need to consider. Three? Four? Six?

Let’s make it really simple. Marketers looking to align digital and traditional only need to worry about two screens. TV is the obvious first one, but the second “screen” marketers need to utilize isn’t a tablet or a mobile device. It’s social advertising.

In a recent interview, Peter Naylor, NBC’s EVP of digital sales, lamented the fact that the television upfront put TV and digital into separate silos. Naylor and NBC are seeing so much overlap between TV viewing and connected device use that they want to find a marriage that works for advertisers. He didn’t directly say it, but Naylor’s talking about the way consumers are watching TV and interacting with social platforms.

TV viewing is now a far less passive experience, and the rise in tablet sales and connected mobile devices is making it so people are actively diving into the social stream of Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ during their viewing time, sharing opinions with their friends and followers.

With consumers simultaneously engaged in both social and TV, the social second screen opens the door for brand marketers to reach consumers in a way that combines both behaviors. The actual device doesn’t really matter, because consumers use the devices to connect to their social network or application of choice.

There are numerous ways marketers can track consumer viewing behavior through social. Twitter updates are public, and it’s relatively easy for marketers to search out hashtags or their program names while a show is airing. Facebook updates are less open, but marketers can still target advertising based on Likes or a friend’s interests. Then there are start-ups that connect consumers with their favorite programs, such as GetGlue, which lets consumers check in to TV programs, movies, and music for possible discounts.

And the ability to know who is talking about what opens the door to plenty of opportunities. For a network like NBC, social suddenly becomes a discovery platform where the network can market new shows, or remind viewers when a new episode airs. With Twitter’s open API, a big network like NBC could build its own software that analyzed what users were talking about, then classify the viewers and sell these audiences to their advertisers.

Consider reality shows, which are exploding with product placement. With a dedicated Twitter analysis, the network can easily identify people talking about the program while it airs and serve ads that combine creative for sponsor brands and the show. We’re talking about cooperative marketing programs for auto manufacturers, CPG, and food brands that can hit several audience buckets and demographics. The best part is that the ads are going to consumers who are already interested.

Thinking about social as the second screen also helps advertisers overcome the problems associated with the rise of DVR usage and cord cutters. Consumers still turn to social networks to discuss the latest episode of Dexter, even if they’re three days behind the show’s original airdate. This mitigates the DVR impact, replaces lost ad opportunities caused by fast-forward, and even creates more advertising opportunities.

TV networks have the resources to build their own social ad networks, but luckily smaller brand advertisers can already buy across networks that sell this type of targeting.

Advertisers can now effectively buy into a true “multi-screen” approach that hits consumers with relevant content on both social and TV. The added bonus is that the social component has a much larger life span. Fans talk about the programming long after the program ends, which means advertisers (or the network itself) can hit their audience again and again.

Jon Elvekrog is CEO of 140 Proof.

YouTube has grown over the past three years, now boasting that 48 hours of video is uploaded every minute and they recently surpassed three billion views a day. Out of those views, the majority are still music and personal videos. However, a shift has occurred over the past few years - people are now also searching on YouTube for business videos. That’s right - people are searching for videos about your organization, products and services. That’s why many businesses are uploading product how-to and support videos, along with promotional material.

What’s interesting about using YouTube is that your videos can also rank on Google for the exact same keyword phrases. And in some cases, your videos can rank on the first page of the Google search results, thereby increasing your web presence on Google. This is what we all want – more web presence.

How to Rank Higher in YouTube

First, you should be aware of how your current YouTube videos rank for the keyword phrases that matter to your business and who you are competing with. Once you know how your videos are ranking, then you can look at three critical factors that you can change immediately to improve your YouTube rankings:

1. Title - change the title of your video to something catchy that includes one of your keyword phrases
2. Description - write a compelling description and include your keyword phrase within the content.
3. Tags - use that keyword phrase as one of your video tags.

Other Factors Affecting YouTube Rankings

Engagement factors such as how many views your video has received versus your competition, video comments, and how many people have subscribed to your YouTube account also have an impact on your YouTube ranking. Sharing links to your videos via your website, email marketing, and social networks can have a positive impact on these engagement factors as well as encourage social sharing and backlinks.

YouTube also takes into consideration embedded videos on your website or blog posts. This is very interesting as it supports the theory that great ranking relates back to great content. At gShift, a best practice we encourage is to embed a YouTube video clip into your blog post. Both the video and the blog post can be written to engage your audience as well as optimized for an important keyword phrase. This combination of content will work together to increase your web presence and ranking.

Analyze YouTube Ranking Results Regularly

Finally, as a marketer, you should be checking how your videos rank each month, if not each week as you are adding videos or making changes. Your analysis should also include how many views your videos are getting individually and in total, along with how many referrals you are getting from YouTube to your website, and if any of that traffic is converting into business leads.

Remember, it’s still about providing quality, relevant content that is meaningful to your audience. It’s about connecting and building trust with people – always keep their interests in mind when creating videos, not just your business objectives. The more people interact with and respond to your videos around the web, the higher your YouTube rankings will be and the easier your videos will be found by others.

To learn more about how to gain a competitive advantage in organic search by improving your YouTube rankings, check out my video on YouTube:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It does involve a special app - which is asking a lot of consumers. But for those interested enough to download it, the experience is fun, lively and goes at least a little way in helping Beetle seem more modern and (almost) masculine.

I do hope the app comes with a dealer locator and the ability to customize a Beetle using AR, along with the ability to schedule a test drive.

This particular initiative is from Canada, and is part of a larger social+mobile+who knows what else that will run through November 26.

What's your take? Does it get you revved up for the Beetle? Or inspiration in reverse?

Read more, here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Universal Pictures has launched a virtual/augmented reality mobile app to promote the upcoming remake of "The Thing," which opens Friday.

(Haven't seen the original? Catch this hilarious 'Thing-in-4-min' video to a ersatz Sinatra tune.)

The app's free, of course, and sports 360-degree flamethrower action where players must use their weapons to survive attacks. There's even one of those "Thing Yourself" features where you can see your mug mutilated from the inside out - and share it with your freaked out friends.

Not surprisingly, the app comes from metaio, which is making a big name for itself in this space.

A nice way to get the film's young, mobile fan base fired up for more.

As one of my readers put it, "It's the THING for Halloween!"

Click here to view the embedded video.

Makes you want to go out and wreck a building while you sing in autotune.

I learned this early on, the first day I entered broadcasting... it's always about 'the story'. Telling a tale that flows, that connects, that resonates... *and* that sparks conversation once 'the story' itself, has reached it's end. This is evident today more than ever, with the rise of social media - where it's not just about "The Story" anymore...  but almost more importantly, the *conversation* surrounding the story.

It's easy to gauge what gets people talking... RT'ing, "sharing", "liking" while adding their own thoughts to the original tale... These types of conversations can offer a lot of value to those participating, and especially to the original storyteller.
Feedback from our communities = invaluable.
This is happening more now than ever on these evolving platforms we all spend so much time on.

What 'story' are you telling...
... + does it get people talking?

Follow me on Twitter @LisaOstrikoff + @BizBOXTV

To connect.

Marketers know emotion plays a massive role in getting a message across... consumers choose + stay loyal to certain products and brands because of how they make us feel ~ and what they broadcast about ourselves.

It's no surprise, taking TV commercials and re-purposing them online is not nearly as effective as creating web video content specifically for an Internet audience. With high quality video more affordable + accessible than ever before, what better way for a brand to connect with it's potential clients/customers?

Did you know Video = #1 way to connect with people on Social Media? If you're tweeting ~ you should also roll video into the mix.

You'd be hard pressed to find another medium that engages and connects like video does. I'd go as far to say... impossible.

Connect with me on Twitter  @LisaOstrikoff + @BizBOXTV

As a long time reader (and failed contributor I might add) of Y Combinator's (YC) HackerNewz, I was very excited to attend their first annual Ad Innovation Conference in Mountain View, California yesterday.  I saw some familiar faces around the conference room, but mostly, it was a room full new media and technology geeks like myself who for some reason or another, are passionate about new ways to get consumers engaged with brands, aka the evolution of advertising platforms.

First a bit of background on the show you are hopefully going to continue to read about.

Y Combinator:

A group of Y Combinator-funded startups working on ad-related technologies have joined forces to create a new event focused on the future of advertising.

Topics to be discussed include: NFC advertising; the use of Twitter and Facebook content in display ads; ad/game hybrids; embedding ads in the 3D space of videos after they’ve been shot (i.e. retroactive product placement); geolocal ads and offers; audience polling; the evolution of SEO; marketing on Facebook; monitoring competing AdSense campaigns; landing page optimization; ad-based alternatives to paywalls; the future of QR codes; and advertising on the iPad.

In the next housand words or so, I attempt to capture and share my thoughts on each company and presentation from yesterday. It's really nothing more than a stream of consciousness brain dump written during the conference, as it was happening, presented back to you after nothing more than a cursory proof read while on a plane back from SF to Dallas.  I say this not as a humblebrag, but as a pre-emptive plea to the spell checkers, grammar fashionista's or word tense connoisseurs to take it easy on me in the comments.  Hopefully, some of you will find some of the information helpful or interesting and we can engage in witty banter instead and become internet BFF's.

Ready? Begin present tense writing...

From the Opening Remarks: What to expect to come down the innovation pipe for advertising

1. Tablets are very important. Not a gimmick, not a fad, and will affect how people interact with ads.  Think paradigm shift within the next 10 years in terms of how people engage with not just ads, but with brands.
2. “Apple is going to take over the world…they are even more powerful than they look. Ignore their market share of devices sold, and instead look at their share of profit..ridiculous..they have as much of the market as they want…they are in a position to take what they want, when they want…which is frightening as one company dominating is normally bad news for startups….they control the platform and set the rules, which are set to change at any time, for any reason, at their discretion “
3. All data will be stored in the cloud and live “in the web”.  This will free up computing resources and place less emphasis on specs like the size of the hard drive you are packing. What that means for advertising is that all of the information you could ever want and have dreamed of is sitting there, on some server, in the cloud.  But will you be able to access it? Who will grant you access it? How much will you have to pay? How will consumers react to this?
4. The peer to peer economy moves into the real world as micro economies (isnt this the same as local?) emerge.
5. There will be even more startups.  There used to be 2 things you could do as a young programmer right out of school: get a job, or go to grad school.  Now there is the option of creating your own company, aka a startup.  If 10% of the best brains are creating their own paths, big companies, like advertisers and brands, are going to have to start paying attention more to that guy who you make fun of for working out of his garage.
6. Facebook is even a bigger deal than you think. They havent even tried to start making money yet, they are still focused on user acquisition and have an entire team dedicated to this quest. Think about what happens when they create a Financial Growth group and begin to monetize the data they have collected on us all for nearly a decade.  Plus, Zuck is young and healthy (read: not Steve Jobs). He will be there for years to come.
7. More and more companies will become “software companies”.  People often talk about how Amazon is really a software company that sells things. Expect more and more disruption as tech based startups enter over more and more markets and out innovate incumbents.
8. Ad Targeting is still in its infancy. As more and more data is collected, and ad platforms evolve to take advantage of this information and act upon it, Minority Report is not too far away.
9. If you had to bet  on creative vs measurement having the most impact on ad performance in the next decade , bet on measurement.  We have so much data, and our ability to analyze, target and serve is only limited by our computing power…welp, remember Moore’s Law?
10. Creative will fuse with generated.  Something about stories becoming more important, but not in the generic way we usually talk to brands about the importance of a story based marketing campaign, but instead like how stories play out in video games: branched story lines/arcs with many ways to get to the same place.  An “Execute your user” line was used in this part of the preso and I like it in this context.

Ginzametrics:

Next generation SEO optimization platform.  They seem to be very focused on the quality of content to affect search rankings along with enabling your visitors to promote your content via the social graph. They do this through an automated platform that allows enterprise level, content driven companies manage their site, and by that they mean content, through a user friendly and simple web interface.

What they never talked about was the fact that in the end, producing good content should always be the first step.  ”Once you have that down, come talk to us” is something I would have liked to hear them say. I really think brands and publishers need to start putting quality back at the top of the list of “things that will help me grow my business”.

Tagstand:

An NFC (near field communication) platform that makes it easy for developers and businesses to incorporate near field communication into their apps. This becomes extremely relevant to advertisers as the next generation of smart phones will be NFC enabled. The opportunity, according to them, is in physical tags that when tapped with a phone, make something happen for lack of a better imagination on my part to come up with a metaphor: launch a web page to find out more, subscribe to a mailing list, set your dvr to watch a new show, purchase an mp3 or movie and have it loaded into your cloud drive for viewing across all sorts of connected devices, etc.  The possibilities are endless.

Tagstand wants to help you manage all of this.  It is a management platform for advertisers to manage their soon to be 1000’s of tags in the wild. This of course includes tracking them, always important to brand and media folk who like their excel spreadsheets to optimize their campaigns.

But what makes NFC so interesting, is that In Real Time is no longer the gold standard for managing media campaigns.  With NFC, you can manage them in real life. This is called micro-location analytics: not just that one mall display is better than the other mall, but that one display location within a mall is better.

Vidyard:

Simple: YouTube for business.  ”YouTube is the dead end of the internet” “You have to put ads on your own content just to get them back to your site”.

Vidyard handles the it all, serving, updating, tracking and syndicating of web based video.

Coca-Cola (their agencies) is an early adopter of their service.

This presentation cemented it: the new kids on the block are looking to fill in the gaps left by the big ocean liners in the technology/media world.  In this case: YouTube. It’s easy to call it an acquisition strategy, but since Vidyards clients are paying customers, they might actually be able to turn a profit, something that YouTube, in its quest to subsidize every one on the planets video storage and viewing habits in exchange advertising opportunities.

By the way, these guys get extra points for their “Rage Face” tshirts. “Y U NO USE VIDYARD?!”

Crowdbooster:

“The first intelligent social media dashboard”.  Claims to save social media managers drowning in data and reliant upon expensive analysis and reactionary strategies.

I think this is a great start to a pitch as they are addressing a real problem to grab the attention of potential new users in the room.

Like other social media management tools available for brands, Crowdbooster has all the data that you want. If you get off on graphs, be it pie or line, they’re there.  But what separates CrowdBooster is that they present analysis and recommended actions to take based on that data in a very easy to understand format.  And it does this in real time.

By removing you from the overwhelming and pretty much unusable firehose of information, CrowdBooster allows the Brand Social Media Manger to focus his or her  attention on what actually helps you achieve your social media objectives.

Optimizely:

Dan, a former product manager at the Google (Chrome) who left to join Barak Obama’s campaign in 2008, returns to the start up scene with Optimizely, which promises “website A/B testing and personalization for non technical users that you will actually use.”

Our live demo tests whether or not users like MIke Arrington’s right or left side. I think half of the crowd gets this joke. I like that he user interface looks a lot like what one would see on a blogging platform, be it wordpress or tumblr.  Not that the functionality is the same, but the familiar feeling is a very important feeling if you are trying to get non-technical, often impatient and hypercritical users to use your product.

Optimizely has quite the client list: Techcrunch, Starbucks and other things I use to not work during the day.

Loopt:

One step beyond engagement - motivating someone to move their feet. Their big idea: letting businesses bring in customers when they need them with dynamic pricing.

“It’s a rainy day, business is slow, I will give people half off if they come in to the store today.” But how to get that word out?

Loopt gives merchants the ability to self manage deals and push notifications to opted in users in their area. But taking it further, Loopt has a massive set of location data at their disposal that they can use to predict user behavior and in the future, they hope to be able to use this information to help connect merchants with receptive customers.

I keep having a recurring thought that a lot of these start ups are really in the data collection game and a lot of these marketers are in the data buying game. Nothing surprising there, but what is surprising is how no one so far has mentioned how a consumer might feel about all of this data being made available to marketers and what they do to mitigate this risk…

Mixpanel:

“The most sophisticated real-time analytics platform that companies can use to understand how users behave.”

Per Mixpanel, the most underserved and not paid attention to metric in data analysis is retention. Think about it, a video or app or feature goes viral and explodes across the web.  Thousands to millions of users flock to a destination on the web, but then the real problem sets in: keeping users interested.

The inspiration for Mixpanel’s solution to this problem began from looking closely at gaming, who has dealt with short attention spans for decades.  You level up to level 67 but then a new shiny object appears in the app store, you download and you forgot why you played World War in the first place.

And then the presentation ends….kind of left me hanging there.  Ummmm thanks?  They have a very nice client list but I’d like more info on what your solution actually is as I think you are trying to solve a very important problem for brands and publishers.

Ohhh I get it! Mystery! You are marketing to the marketers! Now I have to chase you down to find out more info.  Clever Girl.

Paperlinks:

Paperlinks wants to be “The QR code infrastructure for business.” and own the back end of “Proximity Commerce”.

While this company focuses on QR codes to bridge the gap from the real world to the digital world right now, they recognize that there are other flashier things in the near future that may replace them.  But they aren’t spending time trying to chase down shiny objects like NFC enabled tags.  They want to be the first to provide a mature and usable back bone, technical infrastructure, and management system for marketing campaigns that use QR codes, NFC tech, etc.

They end their presentation with a few QR code best practices:

1. Use designer codes, 4x more likely to be scanned
2. Offer a payoff for the consumer (give an incentive for engaging)

PageLever:

Analytics that help businesses be more effective on Facebook.

Insight: “People don’t really revisit fan pages after becoming a fan of them.”

When Paperlinks helped the Washington Redskins become the fastest growing Facebook page for a few weeks last year, they realized they had no idea why the growth was happening.

In their research to find out why, they learned that a brand’s fan page is simply not that important after the initial acquisition of a fan.  What really keeps the community alive, engaged and growing is the content you share with your fans via status updates. While knowing this important fact is half the battle, the other half is finding out that each status update you and your brand send out only reaches 25% of your fan base

So how do you get the other 75% engaged and to see your status update?

PageLever of course! PageLever finds the sweet spot between posting to much and not enough.  Too much and you get 2 status updates in the stream at one time and the user gets annoyed and unfan your brand.  Not good.

PageLever works to ensure you always have a status update in the feed without annoying your fans.

I like where this company is going.  It’s trying to solve a very important problem, but I cant help but think that making sure you are always present in someone’s news feed is a great second step.  The first step should be to actually have some great content to share that is worth me looking past the fact that you keep asking me to keep paying attention to you with multiple status updates per week/day/hour/what have you.

GazeHawk

“Webcam based eye tracking to accurately measure and increase display ad effectiveness.”

Interestingly enough, they see opportunities to help brands/advertisers find the most effective ads to serve, but conversely, they want to help publishers accurately place a value on their inventory.

The founders plan to have a big product announcement within the next few weeks.

MixRank:

OMG! THEY HELP ADVERTISERS SPY ON THEIR COMPETITION!

Definitely saw a lot of people perk up with that opening line. Per the founders, Mixrank brings the competitive intelligence for online advertising.

They want to answer questions like, “Where is the best audience?” “What ad format / creative works best?” “Does the whole “below the fold” really matter all that much anymore?”

I think that this is a company that will get a lot more interesting to marketers down the road as they will have the data on what works and what doesn’t to give agencies and brands, and their competitors the leg up they need to make a quick improvement in their online advertising. For direct marketers online, this could make or break a quarter in terms of monetary performance.

Hell, they might even have it now.  If they do, I think that is how I would be selling my product rather than focusing on how it works.

Polleverywhere:

Poll Everywhere: Live audience polling via mobile devices. Their platform promotes audience engagement in real time via the users own cell phone.  Think: immediate feedback.

They consider themselves a disruptive technology that costs 10X less than their competitors in the space (i.e. the clickers you used to see on America’s Funniest Home Videos). The instead leverage the users existing cell phones and interact with the user via text messages and offer their clients a robust analytics platform to help them manage and optimize their campaigns as it is happening.

Still considering themselves a startup, they have half of the fortune 500, not to mention thousands of educators already signed up and track over 17,000 responses a day.

DoubleRecall:

A new captcha like ad type that monetizes 12x better than banners aka atool to combat banner blindness as well as offer publishers an alternative to paywalling their content.

Instead of logging in or paying for content, users have to engage with an ad to read the content they want to see.  More valuable to sell for publishers, keeps content free on the web for users.

The user interface looks a lot like a Tweet, with familiar “buttons” or calls to action like Favorite and Retweet.

They are looking for 5 beta partners, preferably media buying agencies this month to prove their worth to the world of adverting and digital marketing.

This is a real problem for publishers and brands that sell and buy advertising space on the web, but I can’t help but think that new ad formats that interrupt and delay gratification are just not the sustainable permanent solution for funding content on the web.

Twitch.TV:

A last minute, unannounced addition to the lineup.

From the founders of Justin.TV comes a platform that allows gamers to upload their “gamecasts” (highlights of their gaming experience) to a platform that not only monetizes the content (brand sponsored content), but cuts the gamer in on that revenue!

But video of people playing video games you say? Really?

Dude, get over yourself.  Your bias is showing.  It’s the 2nd largest category of videos on YouTube with over 800million views a month.

I personally love this idea as there are incentives for every stakeholder. Uploaders get a piece of the revenue. Brands get to sponsor fan content, endearing gamers to their brand and spectators can be entertained!

I was wondering if TwitchTV was behind the North American Starcraft League, and it turns out they are.  Thank you Reddit for keeping me in the loop. FML.

End note: Thank you to my employer, UEG for the opportunity to attend this conference.

ABOUT UEG:

UEG has unparalleled access to influencers in the fields of movies and TV, music, sports, gaming, fashion and beauty, art, publishing, technology, digital content and engagement, with a track record of seeding influencers with product and, more imperatively, developing strategic partnerships that create validation and awareness among consumer targets. Created as a joint venture with Hollywood powerhouse United Talent Agency, UEG works with the best talent throughout Hollywood and the world. UEG’s executive team has developed some of the biggest and most successful branded entertainment platforms in the industry.

Click here to view the embedded video.

It's been a 2D barcode kind of week, with my talk on QR codes on the Blasingame Show/Forbes.com, and parts one and two of my interview with Nicole Skogg, CEO of SpyderLink, on the "social barcodes" in this month's Glamour.

Now, there's this ambitious movie poster campaign from Fox SearchLight for the film Martha Marcy May Marlene, as captured in this YouTube video from Fox.

As a side note, this dark-looking film stars Elizabeth Olsen, the heretofore largely unknown younger sister of Mary-Kate & Ashley (no joke). There's a pretty funky website, too.

What's your take: Too much trouble to scan the posters - or the perfect way to make this print campaign interactive?

Read more about the initiative, here.

Facebook Updates Your News Feed: Introducing Topic Groups

You probably noticed this showing up. I think it’s a great move. Consolidates similar content and also shows who among your network likes similar types of content. That type of chart can’t be far behind.

30% Of U.S. Homes Have Net-Connected TV Device

While still not mainstream, these numbers are increasing quickly.

Looks like HTML5 is gaining momentum — Tech News and Analysis

Looks like you’ll be missing less and less content on your iPad.

New Balance Offers Free Shoes If You Can Find Virtual Batons [VIDEO]

Interesting idea. I’m not sure I’d have shown the guy coming around the corner stealing the prize from the girl.

Don’t Ask People to Like You, Give Them a Reason to Like You | ClickZ

As content becomes the reached-for tool in the marketers belt, it’s going to take a monumental shift in thinking for a lot of people accustomed to just pushing out messages. The idea of adding value does not come as naturally to advertisers as it does to publishers.

How Brands Become Publishers in a Real-Time Marketing World | iCrossing Digital

According to a recent Roper survey, about 90% of CMOs see content as the future of marketing. This is a very good high level view of how marketers can approach the new content game, with a number of good charts breaking out the process.

NBC and Versus to Broadcast Major League Soccer Games | Adweek

An interesting part of the negotiation was the number of homes NBCU reaches. With rumors flying that YouTube is making a run for the NFL contract, I have to wonder if that won’t be a potential problem for them. Sure, everyone has a computer, but most people aren’t going to watch a football game with their friends on it. Perhaps there will be some sort of partnership deal with a smaller network.

Instagram on your underpants | Adverblog

Once personalization has reached underwear, it’s either hit the big time or jumped the shark.

Study Says Drudge Report Drives More Traffic Than Facebook & Twitter Combined

While the Drudge data is interesting, it’s not a marketing opportunity the way Twitter and Facebook are. So the most interesting part for me is down the page, where they explain why Twitter refers more traffic than Facebook. I have to agree, although still I’m surprised Twitter is anywhere near Facebook, given Facebook’s sheer size and frequency of use.

STUDY: 1 In 5 Of Facebook Contacts Are Work Related

This stat isn’t surprising, and I think if anything points to how many of us have a difficult time segmenting a large portion of our network into either friend, family, coworker, or whatever. While I like what Google+ is doing, I wonder if people are really up for making those additional posting decisions on a regular basis. It does add friction to the posting process.

100 YouTube Videos Come Together To Cover Led Zeppelin [VIDEO]

More than anything, I think this shows how something as seemingly simple as video sharing has impacted so many people in so many situations and environments, and draws a common thread across all of them.

This iPhone Survived a 13,500-Foot Fall

A great brand story, irregardless of what a freak event this may have been.

Track that bias: New app visualizes cable news topics live — Online Video News

The first 2 paragraphs of this are all you need to read to get a nice sense of how text analysis can be used to add depth and perspective to a batch of data difficult to otherwise get a good grasp of.

How Bing’s Editors Choose Sexy Images To Seduce You Away From Google | Fast Company

A battle of the page design strategies between Microsoft (Bing) and Google. While Bing has supported their page launch with a significant paid media effort, I can see how this more emotional greeting is a great shot at Google’s supposed strength; simplicity. It’s like the political debate strategy of attacking, not your opponents weaknesses, but their strengths.

AmEx Links Up Facebook With Coupon-less Deals, And Lets Merchants Go Social | TechCrunch

I really like how AmEx understands their value in this corner of the market — creating a coupon experience with less friction for the end consumer. The less behavior changing you have to do, the better.

Why are web workers happier? — Online Collaboration

Agencies often struggle with the idea of an out-of-sight workforce. This is an interesting counter to that.

Game Insight Shuns iOS for Android, Prepares to Tell Facebook Crime Story

If you were a Mac user in the 90s, you have to remember how slowly, developers started investing less and less effort in their Mac apps, relative to the PC versions. Android is looking more and more like the new Windows. Better? No. But cheaper, more widely available, and thus gaining a larger customer base? Yes.

Facebook Asks Users to Help It Get Local Business Owners to Claim Their Places

Using their community to build their database of businesses. Smart move.

REPORT: How Google Plus Stacks Up Against Facebook

Given Google’s lofty brand status and massive reach in the technology world, I’m not surprised to see them come out of the blocks this strong. I don’t think 10% of Facebook’s US traffic is really the traction point for them. But the next few months could be very interesting.

New Filing Shows Zynga-Facebook Exclusivity Goes Far Beyond Credits – Liz Gannes – News – AllThingsD

A revealing, if not interesting, exploration of the relationship between these two. Facebook clearly has little to lose in this deal, and it shows Zynga’s heavy reliance on Facebook for the success of it’s platform. Like all the brand pages themselves, Facebook has put themselves in a position where they’re the only game in town, and if it weren’t for Facebook, the reality is, companies like Zynga would likely be a shell of their current selves.

And he's got an all-too-familiar golden mane.

That's right, 80's icon Fabio - he of the Harlequin novels of yore - is the new star of new TV and print advertising, as well as a new OldSpiceGuyFabio YouTube Channel.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Look for much new social media fun from Weiden+Kennedy Portland to follow. Already, press kits are coming with faux personalized videos dedicated to recipients (here's one a reporter at Creativity received).

Still, Mustafa was an unknown actor Old Spice made into a star (and, it can be argued, vice versa). Can a well-known, B-list celebrity bring an aura of hipness to the brand along the same equation?

Nothing against Fabio - he just scored big time. But Mustafa really did bring something for which men can aspire and women admire.

In W+K's able hands, I think this will probably be something different, and just as awesome, in its own way, as the original.

But what's your take? Does this new effort have a fresh, cool fragrance?

Or is it really putting the "old" back in the brand name?

Read all about it, here.

Laura Desmond, CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group, recently voiced her concern over media mix modeling, since the standard measure is exposure and not engagement.  She would rather the industry measure the consumer experience.   Consequently, MediaVest recently announced a new practice that will focus on understanding the human experience as consumers interact or engage with media.

As the digital landscape continues to advance and evolve, it’s critical that we look at new formats and metrics that not only benefit advertisers but give users a better experience.  New formats that give users a choice with video advertising, which they’ve become accustomed to in other aspects of their digital lives.

We have the opportunity with online video to go beyond the traditional TV model and explore formats that generate consumer engagement.  We don't have to always interrupt someone's desire to see a piece of content by forcing them to watch our video advertisement.  We can give consumers the ability to choose which ad they watch and reward them for engaging behavior.

What's next?

If we decide to push back with advertisers against the hybrid TV-model crammed into the digital landscape, what alternatives can we offer them?

One interesting format and metric for digital video advertising that is poised for explosive growth is Cost Per View (CPV).  CPV is based on the concept that the consumer controls the experience.  With CPV, consumers can decide whether or not to watch the video ad in full.  And in many placements such as on Facebook, consumers can also decide which ad to watch.

With CPV, an advertiser only pays if a consumer watches 100% of the ad, and pays on a per impression basis.  Typically, the CPV advertising cost is higher than CPMs; however CPV is a system markedly different than the traditional TV video advertising model, and delivers more than the traditional CPM model.  First, CPV allows advertisers to only pay for engaged consumers and therefore ensures that their advertising costs are better aligned with their goals of being able to increase and measure video ad viewership.  Second, because consumers have a choice, the responsibility of creating compelling content that captures consumer's attention and time falls back onto the agency.  Compelling ad content in turn leads to higher brand awareness and trust in the brand.

This changes the game. It gives consumers choice, gives advertisers a captive audience, and gives agencies better information for measuring and optimizing campaigns.

What’s our responsibility here?

Temptation and inertia are strong for agencies to give CMOs the metrics and ad buys that they're accustomed to. However, if CPV can measurably impact the ultimate goal – engagement that leads to increased brand awareness, brand lift, and sales from an advertising campaign, then we should push an advertiser or CMO to strongly consider it.  In fact, YouTube has predicted that 50% of video ads will include Cost Per View by 2015 – a startling statistic that proves we have the power to change our industry for the better by delivering better engagement for advertisers and giving consumers the control they desire.

Be ahead of the curve. It's a painful cliché, but it's painful because it's true - change is hard. Many digital advertising executives will read this article, and make a mental note - I need to add CPV to my To Do list. We all know what happens to things at the bottom of your To Do list. They don't get done. Why not be one of the leading agencies or advertisers embracing new units and metrics?

Standard ad units like pre-roll and metrics like click-through rate (CTR) will be a valuable part of the advertising mix for awhile. But the burden falls on us to give advertisers and CMOs the information and understanding to take that leap into more innovative ways like CPV to engage a consumer and measure their response.