We work with a lot of new and emerging technology at The Buddy Group. But, we also pride ourselves on not doing “technology for technology’s sake.” Today, we were reminded once again how important tone and message are — whether in new or old technology.
We received a simple email from our new account manager at Dell. Nothing flashy. No advanced technology. But, great tone and message. (more…)
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“I don’t care how big your mansion is, you can only sit in one seat at a time. It’s about learning to be comfortable in that seat.” – Russell Simmons @UncleRush
Last weekend, I was provided the opportunity to attend the invite only, highly inspirational and informative Summit Series 2011. I had been invited to attend back in 2009 but the timing was not right. In 2008, (for those that need the reminder) the economy was in the tank, business was hurting and in hindsight…I was too. With the weight of layoffs and doom and gloom around me, I felt alone and unsure of my own abilities to lead a highly creative, innovative, tech savvy brand engagement team. Knowing what I know now, after attending Summit Series D.C. 2010 and now Summit Series at Sea 2011, NOT attending in 2009 was potentially one of the biggest mistakes I could have made. (more…)
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by Bryan Boettger, Chief Creative Officer
Increasingly, businesses and corporations are seeking to create viral videos. However, true viral videos are not typically “created,” rather they “happen.” So, in order to better “create” a viral video, we sought to better understand how these videos in fact “happened.” The outcome was The Buddy Group’s Viral Barometer, a tool to help gauge a video’s viral potential. In this post, we break down the Viral Barometer’s methodology so you can better understand and use the tool.
(You might wish to visit the Viral Barometer at ViralBarometer.com before continuing.)
SOURCES
In order to reverse engineer viral videos, we first needed a set of viral videos to analyze. Searching online for Top Online Videos and Top Viral Videos lists, two rose to the top as both comprehensive and somewhat objective in their selection process:
• Mashable’s Top YouTube Videos All Time — May 25, 2009
• Videogum’s Top Videos 2009 — Dec. 25, 2009
These two lists provided a total of 39 videos from which to gain insights. After (re)watching, analyzing, breaking down and comparing the 39 videos, a combination of 10 traits emerged as indicators for a video’s viral potential. These 10 traits fuel the calculations for the Viral Barometer.
BEFORE YOU START
There are four important facts that are imperative for properly using the Viral Barometer.
1) Accurate assessments require divesting yourself from the video.
It takes a personal investment of passion and energy to make a compelling video, but it takes a personal divestment to properly assess the video. Think of it like home movies of your kids — you find them so amazing you can watch for hours, but an honest assessment tells you your neighbors are likely to gnaw a limb off to escape more than 15 minutes.
2) Like a true virus, viral videos need good hosts to spread.
You might have the funniest, most unique video in the world. But, if it only sits on your own blog and you don’t actively share the video, get others to share the video and put it on sites where people can discover it… (more…)
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Last week we had a very special stage rental! A group of students from Chapman University in Orange, California rented the DotLot studios to produce “Gone South”, their graduate thesis for their film class. This film class is for a junior level course and it’s the capstone of the master’s program for all of the disciplines. We had the pleasure of chatting up Rachel Skidmore, the Line Producer of “Gone South”, and picked her mind about the class, project and the weather. See what she had to say…
The Buddy Group: Are all the crew members and production staff in the program or was it more a “come one come all” type mentality when picking your talent for this project?
Rachel Skidmore: “We have to team up in the spring, the year before our thesis year, with a producer, director, cinematographer, editor, sound designer, and production designer. We get the team together and then start finding all the other crew positions. A lot of the times, the way we find crew is just working on someone else’s film; you trade the labor since it’s free work.”
TBG: What’s “Gone South” about?
RS: “It’s science fiction. It’s basically exploring the idea that the world ran out of water, and what would happen if a corporation controlled it and how that affects one guy who’s working for the corporation, trying to escape with his wife to see what the world’s like outside of that because they’re in a very controlled environment. And then what happens to him afterwards.”
TBG: We’ve heard a lot of construction going on down there. Tell us more about your stage set up and props?
RS: “Here [at DotLot] has been a breeze other than the fact that building the set was a lot more ambitious than we expected. We’ve only been building with about two people and that took some time that we needed to shoot but that’s ok. Last weekend however, we were in Palm Desert, Riverside Country, Salton Sea, Bombay Beach, all over the place, taking about 32 people around the desert for four days, staying in tiny hotels. We survived, it was intense!”
TBG: Glad you enjoyed our buddies at DotLot and good luck. Hopefully we can catch a VIP glimpse of the finished product!
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While at CES 2009, I was interviewed by a business reporter on behalf of American Express OPEN Network as they were searching for inspirational businesses worthy of sharing with their network. Guess I made the cut.
Feel free to watch my interview on innovation and the economy at the link below. Ignore the guest appearance of my shinny forehead!
Creating a Culture of Creativity : Innovation
http://bit.ly/4U7oS
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It’s Friday and what better way to share some TGIF fun than allow you to have a little yourself. Take your basic photos from great:
to amazing and INTERACITVE. Just click to zoom in and see the detail:
To have fun with your own photos, check out Sixdots and start making some mosaics of your own! Thanks to developer buddy Matt for the fun tip of the day!
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