Big live events.
Below: my two favourite ads from the Super Bowl XLV earlier today.
Chrysler 200 ‘Imported from Detroit’ – complete with Eminem cameo. Emotive way to remind Americans Chrysler is a premium auto brand.
Doritos ‘Best Part’ - surprising and hilarious. Most appropriate. Will sell corn chips.
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Cut Copy’s new third album Zonoscope was released on Friday. I saw them last night at Laneway Festival in Melbourne and they were a perfect finish to a fairly eclectic but fun day out. It was the third time I have seen them live, and they remain one of my favourite bands today.
Today was listening to their album on my iPhone, and noticed the Zonoscope artwork stood out amongst many of my others.
I wondered if the way artists think about how their artwork is viewed by listeners has changed? Consider that most listeners will consume a track on either their mp3 player, their mobile phone or their computer (which usually only has a small preview window for album artwork).
CD artwork became a less important part of the music experience than it often was with many bands in the vinyl age. The below example by The Byrds – Fifth Dimension – afforded quite intricate detail as it was made for a 300mmx300mm vinyl sleeve. However this detail is completely lost in the digital environment.
Would there be an advantage today to designing artwork that contrasted dramatically with the past, was simpler and uses techniques to draw the listener (and artwork viewer) in to the artwork?
Whether intentional or not, I think Zonoscope does this. Perhaps there are lessons to be learnt from this. Use of black background as negative space is amplified as most mp3 players (like the Apple range) seem to have black navigation already. Some other examples I think work exceptionally well – in terms of impact and memorability are below.
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I finally went and saw Black Swan on Sunday, after a fair degree of anticipation. The film is great: tone, acting, production and direction are flawless. The slightly predictable ending is easily offset by a stunning final scene.
The ad campaign that ran in the New York Times iPad application was probably the most saturated I have seen yet for a cinematic release, occupying around 50% share of voice in the app. I was constantly reminded about the film when I was away at Yamba NSW in January and relied solely on the my iPad for news and content. Click on the pictures below to see the many different executions.
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I’ve been keeping an eye on a news application for iPad by the New Zealand Herald. The app is different to a lot of other international broadsheet newspaper adaptions – with emphasis on photos – by taking full advantage of the brilliant bright-lit iPad screen. Apps with similar market positions in other countries seem intensely focused on replicating the multi-column cram-as-much-as-possible-on-one-page style of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.
Thus, the NZ Herald app is a refreshing change.
Images of advertisements after the jump. [click to continue reading..]
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Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood recently wrote an essay entitled ‘Set Yourself Free’. It was published on indexoncensorship.org and discussed their decision to release their last full length recording In Rainbows in a “pay what you think it’s worth” format.
If you are interested in paid content, it is worthy of five minutes of your time to read over it to get a perspective from one of the most commercial-risk-taking (and well-known) musical acts today.
He discusses Radioheads thoughts on the internet as yet to supplant the traditional forums for sharing and experiencing music, thought he acknowledges it is going in this direction. It is also interesting to hear that the band is yet to decide how to release our next record which they are going into the studio to start recording this week.
You can read all 1500 words on indexoncensorship.org or continue reading after the jump below.
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I love a good info graphic. Below is an illustration of the ascendancy of Google’s open source Android mobile operating system in terms of global adoption by Gigaom.com.
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‘Watch Later’ or ‘Add To Queue’ is a new simple, but important feature, to Vimeo and YouTube which will lead to longer and more passive viewing sessions. This is a good thing.
The Feature:
These two features allows you or I to add a single video to a longer continuous stream of video content made up of many single videos. A dynamic playlist, in other words. Both sites have slightly different ways they have built this into their platforms, but are essentially the same in their purpose.
Vimeo places a ‘Watch Later’ button second from top under the ‘Like’ button and above the ‘Share’ button. This is obviously of great priority to their strategy of getting site viewers to watch more content. By hitting the ‘Watch Later’ button the active video is immediately added to a default playlist. I personally find this useful to do when at work, for watching on the way home on the iPad.
On YouTube the feature is more subtle (YouTube is a busier user experience in general to Vimeo) sitting under the ‘Add to’ playlist drop list underneath the video description fields and to the right of the thumbs up/down buttons. Adding a video you are currently watching to the queue appears underneath in a sequence (something that isn’t as visible on Vimeo) so you can see what other videos are coming up.
Unfortunately this queue only seems to last for a single user session, so if I add a series of videos to my queue on my work computer, they are not available moments later on my iPad, even though I am logged in with the same user details. This should be something YouTube fix soon.
So why do I think this simple functionality is important?
It will mean more passive viewing (less viewer control) and thus watching video for longer periods of time in a single sitting. Why is this important?
One of the problems with the quality of video content distributed on the internet is that it is not of comparable quality to television. Now I am not talking about quality, as in resolution or frame rates, nor the manner in which it is distributed. I am talking about the content itself.
The problem with this content is that it is unable to be monetised, and thus investment in the content is not encouraged. Look at internet video properties not reliant on advertising like the BBC or the ABC iView in Australia for excellent examples of quality online content.
The monetisation issue is partially stemming from the small increments in which viewers watch video, and also the control and active state viewers have when watching. It is generally agreed that a internet video is around 5 minutes long, and this allows a brand to only insert a 15-second or 30-second pre-roll ad in front of the content.
At the moment, television has a regulated limit of 10 minutes of ads per 60 minutes in Australia (with 10 minutes of house or network advertising and updates common). Based on current ratios, even with a 30 second pre-roll, online video has only 5.45 minutes of advertising per 60 minutes.
Online broadcasters needs to enable a more constant, passive viewing (not queuing) environment if they are going to increase their yield, revenues, and overall, the quality of their content. Better content (and technology) will encourage an upward spiral of longer viewing times and more acceptance of advertising during this viewing.
What do you think? Do you agree? Do you use these features?
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Pepperjack, a Borossa Valley winery owned by Fosters Group, is running a simple mobile based promotion with supporting mobile ads spotted so far on TheAge.com.au and NineMSN YourBars.
Clicks direct browsers to a Pepperjack branded mobile website containing a promotion: “SMS the venue you had Pepperjack with a steak for chance to win a trip for two to Buenos Aires”. There is also a wine trivia quiz and a bit more detail about the wine and where it is served (click images to see a larger version and swipe through).
I would be interested to see if media has been bought on a time-targeted or day-of-week basis, and whether this would be more effective or not. I saw these at night on a Sunday night.
What would also be interesting to know is if there was any in-store or on-pack links to the destination or even just the 1900 SMS voting element of the campaign.
If you are from MediaCom / Fosters I’d be interested to hear your thoughts or for you to share any results later on.
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I like the BBC News iPad app. I don’t love it. It is okay.
It presents their well known news service in video snippet, written news and live radio stream formats.
It lacks a live-stream of its news service, but mostly makes up for this its unrivaled breadth of content from around the world (contrasting with the Australian Broadcasting Corporations iPad app which does stream live TV and a large selection of radio programs).
It deals with the vast amount of content by allowing the user of the application to customise the sections that appear in the menu or playlist, and the order they appear in. The app also carries advertising outside Britain.
Here are some screenshots to demonstrate:
Articles use both touch and select on the menu carousels or swipe. Swipe left or right for the story to change to the next sequenced story in the section you are browsing, for example Asia-Pacific or Sport.
Below is an example of editing my section topics and rearranging the order they appear in.
Here FedEx ads when clicked do not display anything. Early teething issues I would guess.
I prefer the app in landscape mode, but it does display well in upright portrait mode too.
Overall, my main criticisms were:
- bandwidth of video streaming were sub-standard compared to other world news providers, YouTube, etc.
- radio can only be streamed live from the newsroom – in other words you canot select to listen to any specific programs
- advertising, which appears outside of Britain, has not yet worked (ads expand into a blank white space). FedEx should fix their ads, or BBC should just remove the ads.
For me, this rates 3/5
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Windows Live Messenger feels mostly redundant. I use instant messaging at work for messaging that sits somewhere in between an email and a phone call. Non-urgent, simple stuff. But it does feel like this is a dying application, particularly with the rise and rise of Facebook and IM on Facebook.
So the release a few months ago of an official new app for smartphone has the sense of too little, too late. There are already great apps out there that aggregate MSN, Facebook, Yahoo, ICQ, MySpace, etc like the fantastic BeejiveIM which costs AUD $12.99 (link below). I have been using BeejiveIM for about a year now, and it has come in handy on the odd occasion when I’ve been in long meeting and couldn’t get out to make a phone call. If you still need to use IM, I recommend looking into this.
Otherwise, the MSN app for iPhone, which isn’t necessarily bad by the way, will probably only appeal to the younger set, the iPod Touch users, etc who will be attracted by the FREE download. Sample screenshots below (and excuse the beer can stack).
Windows Live has minor element of aggregation, enabling the viewing of status updates from other social networks like Facebook, but no cross-platform messaging capability. The design is clean, simple and intuitive to use.
As with the computer version, the app allows you to message images, as well as text (but not other files). And as with other IM apps like BeejiveIM the MSN app has the option of turning on push-notifications – for contacts to message you when the app is not active. This feature should be used sparingly if you, like me, do not like getting text messages asking ‘What’s going on?’. Not a lot.
Windows Live Messenger v1.0.1 rates 2/5.
Further Links:
MSN Messenger for iPhone (iTunes)
BeejiveIM iPhone App (iTunes)
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