5% of B2B marketers already using online video will increase their budgets in 2011
13% of companies not presently using online video for marketing will adopt it

..and there’s still miles more capacity. Although business is beginning to recognise the benefits of video marketing, there remains a perception that the costs of video production are beyond the budgets of SMEs.

In reality the video production world is in the process of being turned upside down. New technologies are driving new business models and costs are falling fast. It’s a really exciting situation, both for producers and their clients.

How Canon Made Video Affordable for Your Brand

It all started about 3 years ago when Canon responded to Associated Press Agency requests for a stills camera that would allow their photojournalists to acquire short bursts of news video footage whilst on photo assignment. Almost by accident, Canon discovered a way to extract video from a 35mm photo chip (the biggest in the world) and its quality has proved a game changer and provided a viable alternative to video cameras costing in excess of £60k. There are problems with video: it looks like, er; video. Everything is sharp, it looks electronic and has limited dynamic range. But by combining prime cinematography lenses and a range of 3rd party products, modular camera systems have been developed which deliver truly cinematic quality “digital film” at relatively inexpensive costs of production.

A New Generation of Filmmakers

This technology requires a resurgence of traditional photography skills to make it work. The video camera operator is dead: long live a new breed of producers who have the skills and the eye to produce online content technically as good as anything in Hollywood. In fact, one of this year’s OSCAR nominations is a film shot using this technology and some episodes of the international TV hit, “House” was also shot on this camera. What does this mean for your business? It means high-end cinema quality production is accessible to promote your product or service. If you want the highest production values to support you brand, you no longer need to to hire kit costing thousands of pounds a day.

This new wave of producers is also becoming multi skilled and is reducing costs by multi tasking; operating as one man bands with their own editing facilities; allowing them to significantly reduce costs.

The Race is On

Camera manufacturers are competing aggressively to bring new and affordable cameras to market with extraordinary light sensitivity which means that expensive lighting is no longer necessary. Other areas of the industry are also responding fast. For instance, vendors of eyewateringly expensive post production tools such as colour grading, now see a much wider market and prices have dropped significantly – from $13,000 to $1000. Again this indirectly allows clients access to the highest production and post production values and manipulation of look and feel of their marketing videos. It’s a very exciting time and allows producers and clients to produce highly effective content of a quality previously available only to those with very deep pockets.

When we look at the effectiveness of video marketing combined with the falling costs of production and zero cost of hosting through social media sites, the ROI is compelling. Never before has the return on investment been so efficient.

Members of the panel are currently holed up in their private cinemas, swotting up on the nominated films before they cast their votes. Across Hollywood, swimming pools are clogging up with tumbleweed, cobwebs are growing in cocktail bars and the boulevards are deserted – until late February, when the panel will emerge from their mansions to make the pilgrimage to the nearest post office and cast their votes. (Yes you did read that correctly: post office.)

Event organisers may be expecting a few less votes to arrive this year – a mail fail is on the cards due to the amount of solitary tears rolling down cheeks and onto the envelopes – rendering the address of the Oscars counting depot illegible. They will be tears of nostalgia – because this is the last year that the board will vote via the traditional postal method.

“We don’t trust technology”

That’s right – this year, in 2012, Hollywood is preparing to make the switch to digital.

Earlier in the week, awards organisers made the announcement that their betuxedoed arms will be embracing “electronic” voting technology. It also emerged that next year it is “likely” that the panel will be able to stream videos of the nominated films online to assist them in the voting process.

Apparently a lack of trust in computers has prevented the awards ceremony from making the switch until now. Previously the ballots were received and counted by the accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, who would organise themselves into small teams and count the votes by hand, presumably using an abacus and recording the results with a quill pen on the back of a cigar packet.

AMPAS president Tom Sherak admitted that he had misgivings about using online technology to process secure information. He said: “We are trying to figure out how to take that voting process and do it electronically – I’m still from the old school, but there could be a way.”

Back to the Future

The Oscars have nailed it when it comes to digital marketing however, and have launched a viral video campaign and social media strategy, and an app for the iPad and iPhone. I think they’ve done a good job with the social media – lots of opportunities for interaction and engagement, however the app is only available in the US – poor show!

If you think your business could benefit from a touch of Oscar magic, Zeta’s sister company, 99moves creates film and online video campaigns worthy of an Academy Award.

We’re sure it’s only a matter of time before there’s a viral video category. Start working on your company’s acceptance speech today and we’ll do the rest – contact 99moves to hear more:

02071 83 72 99

everyone@99moves.com

Best Inclusive – London Short Film Festival

Since 2008 the LSFF has grown to occupies multiple venues around London from 7th – 16th January and offers a massive range of genres. Holding nights such as ‘Lo Budget Mayhem’ and ‘Midnight Movies’, the festival has gathered shining reviews and legions of followers.

Best Boutique – Portobello Film Festival

Established back in 1996, the Portobello Film Festival has slowly but surely built up a loyal following, however this year it will take on a new dimension by teaming up with Portobello Pop Up. The outdoor, non-profit ‘microplex’ cinema will appear in the centre of Portobello and play host to a variety of films.

Best Niche – London Iranian Film Festival

New niche festivals appear every year, yet the London Iranian Film Festival has hit the ground running after having such a successful first year. With an aim to bring Iranian films to a wider audience, the festival resists the opportunity to become elitist. Welcoming to everybody, this festival proves to be the one to watch.

Best Classic – BFI London Film Festival

The BFI is one of the most respected film bodies around, so their film festival is sure to follow suit. Currently in its 55th year, the festival has attracted some of the biggest names in film over the years. Although tickets can sometimes be a battle, they are definitely worth it.

Eye level Eye Candy

But why have user’s affections moved to video? Firstly, the majority of results populating the web are text results, meaning the competition to secure the top video spot is significantly less. Creating a well-executed and well optimised online video allows your brand a much better opportunity of securing the sought-after number one spot. Video has an ability to offer fresh content in an easily digestible way. Bite sized pieces of information can be delivered quickly to the user in a more engaging way than a wall of text.

Total Recall

A recent study by Nielsen has showed that online video has a 65% general recall, compared to the 46% provided by TV ads. The nations viewing habits are moving online; in 2009 the online video audiences grew by 18%, with sites such as iPlayer constantly appearing at the top of most viewed lists. Moving advertising online doesn’t mean abandoning the traditional advert; it just means repackaging it for the online audience. Which leads us to our next point…

Rolling Trend

The logical evolution of TV advertising is the move pre-roll and post-roll video advertising, a market that grew by 140% between 2008 and 2009. By creating a more condensed version of a traditional TV advert and placing it at the beginning or end of an online video, marketers can gain direct access to a tailored target audience on the back of this growing trend. Pre and post roll advertising has also breathed life back into traditional banner advertising, by coupling the two, marketers can create a strong visual statement.

The collective sharing of ideas, view points and comments across the internet means that all types of brands (both personal and corporate) and businesses should be taking online reputation management seriously and include it in their monitoring activity in order to be best placed to react to negative coverage.

With the growth of YouTube, the introduction of Google’s universal search and the ever expanding world of user-generated video, both positive and negative video has the power to reach a growing online audience. Whether it is a leaked private video, a brand parody or a bad review, if a negative video creeps up to the top of a set of search results there are few places to hide in such a vocal public online community.

Leading media specialist, Ian Monk Associates, represent a range of high profile clients, including celebrities and MPs. 99moves asked the publicity specialists what challenges they face when managing their clients’ reputation online.

Sophie Brickley, a publicist for Ian Monk Associates, commented, “One of our services is reputation management for our clients. We have long established relationships with leading law firms which give us instant access to the best legal advice on privacy or defamation. However negative online publicity, particularly in the form of online video, can be very difficult to control where content has not breached any privacy issues”.

Henry Allen, Managing Director of 99moves says, “We understand that publicity professionals are best to deal with reputation management, our service does not replace or compete with this. Rather, we acknowledge that video and content can circulate rapidly online and become popular through user-sharing and viral appeal. We can help publicity companies, brands and marketers ensure that only positive videos can be readily accessed through searching on Google and YouTube. Legalities and law suits only take effect when the law has been broken, so if a video is simply unfavourable then only Video SEO can ensure this video gets pushed to the bottom of the pile”.

99moves can help you regain control of your reputation when it comes to online videos by strategically controlling which videos are found when people search for you or your brand.

Some examples of where only reputation management might be suited:

• Politicians who want to eradicate those nasty negative commercials or user-generated videos against their campaigns in the run up to an election.
• High profile personal brands in need of removing that embarrassing video or parody.
• Corporations needing to push their positive word out there instead of a negative one – for example in the case of poor product performance documented in a video.

Whether you are working in-house for your own brand or for an agency on behalf of a high profile client, 99moves will ensure that your positive videos appear at the top of Google’s organic results and YouTube results. We can help brands, corporations and individuals maintain a positive reputation across video online. The service does not stop at video – if you are finding that news results/blogs or social media content are ruining your reputation online then speak to 99moves.

Back in November we wrote about how Vevo’s increasing notoriety and impressive parentage saw it gathering steam and snapping at the heels of giants such as MTV. Vevo’s intense growth could be contributed to its backing from the likes of Sony and Universal, partnerships that allows the site access to some of the biggest artists, past and present.

However, as Vevo has been busy gearing up to take over the UK, a home grown site has steadily been climbing its way to the top of the popularities stakes. Multi-language site Muzu has been building up a strong and loyal audience in the UK and across Europe for a number of years, and now after striking a deal with Metacafe, has allowed an extra 10 million unique monthly European users access to its extensive video library.

As Vevo has the backing of the largest labels in the industry and enjoys a healthy dominance in the US, success in the UK seems like a forgone conclusion, but Muzu has an ace up its sleeve – the largest legal online collection of music videos in the world. With a catalogue of 85,000 videos, Muzu easily eclipses Vevo’s 35,000 strong collection. With such a massive library at its disposal, Muzu is in the perfect position to collect the long tail customer and gain long term loyalty from its audience.

However, it’s not just a numbers game, being an established player in a market is key too. With a 5 year head start, Muzu has already cemented itself as a force to be reckoned with and will prove difficult to knock from the top spot.

We will be keeping a close eye on this developing market as what we think will come next is a host of interesting partnerships throughout the rest of 2011. In the meantime, our guess is that despite Vevo’s industry backing, it will fall short to Muzu’s far superior video catalogue. It seems like a very simple business plan, the more videos, the more users – let’s see if it works.

Here at 99moves we feel strongly about the cuts issued to the Arts Council, and in particular the abolishment of the UK Film Council. The talent produced by the UK in all areas of culture, media and the arts is what keeps the industry we are in so exciting. Although, with this apparent lack of support from our government the fear up and coming talent won’t be granted the opportunity to flourish is, in our eyes, justified.

With the team over at our sister company Zeta we decided to recruit a group of young filmmakers working and studying within the area to create a short film which illustrated the dedication and creativeness British filmmakers are so famous for. ‘The Storm’ not only gave these young filmmakers much needed experience within the industry but also gave us the opportunity to deliver our message in a fresh and innovative way.

Although we strongly believe abolishing the UK Film Council is a counterproductive idea we created ‘The Storm’ to not dwell on bad press but to offer a positive spin on a negative event. The message within the film is for filmmakers not to give up, that the abolishment of the UK Film Council is not a sign British cinema is disintegrating and that with hard work and passion British talent will still prosper within the global film industry.

‘The Storm’ focuses on one man’s struggle against a lack of interest and a brewing storm to screen his own short film. We follow him as he traipses across the English countryside to the perfect screening spot and begins to build his own cinema screen. The storm is closing in around him yet he still battles on, unwilling to let his opportunity go.

Each member of our highly dedicated cast and crew gave up their spare time, expertise and equipment for free to not only gain experience putting together a short film but also contribute to something they felt a personal connection to. Equally, the main location within the film was donated by The Durleston Head Country Park, an organisation that had also been affected by the Arts Council funding cuts. Relating to the project they provided the highly sought after location for free.

With ‘The Storm’ we want to show that even though the UK Film Council has been disbanded, the wealth of talent produced by the UK will continue to offer valuable expertise and unrivalled talent within the global film industry.

Zeta and leading video SEO specialists 99moves are dedicated to supporting new talent within the media industry. Please show your support by sharing ‘The Storm’.

econsultancy has recently championed a report from Unruly Media which identifies that online video sharing has increased by a massive 86% since May 2010.A large amount of these views are shared via Facebook, subsequently 40% of all YouTube views are also shared via Facebook.

To encourage the sharing of videos and other content Facebook has enhanced the Like button. When previously liking something only created a link on the user’s news feed, now it creates a thumbnail, headline and a line of copy. The aim is to make stories more visible, encourage others to like and share the stories in turn.

New Media Age has also highlighted WebTV Enterprises bi-annual survey of media buyers. Within they found a third of advertisers are now incorporating video on demand ads into 75% of their media plans. They also discovered up to 81% of media buyers conducted up to five video on demand campaigns a month.

With more people sharing and more time and money being invested into video advertising it comes as little surprise to see that Nielsen Wire has identified that online video has almost doubled in the past year, rising by 45% between January 2010 and January 2011. They also discovered that little of the increase (just over 3%) is due to new users, meaning those who were consuming online video previously are now consuming more.

Now it seems online video is gaining backing from the more mainly sites, the Radio Times online magazine has announced plans to integrate video on demand within its site, and not just from their own iPlayer but from the likes of 4oD as well. The Radio Times aims to make its site a one stop shop of all catch up TV, enticing more users and in turn more advertisers.

There is more, Facebook has offered yet another dimension to the social network by teaming up with Warner Bros to offer video rental. The service was launched with The Dark Knight and was available to view for 48 hours. Although only available in the US at the moment, both Facebook and Warner Bros are hoping to roll the service out to other countries.

As well as bringing entertainment to us as and when we choose, online video has added an extra facet to advertising. Increasing numbers of marketers are using video creatively within campaigns and are constantly looking for innovative ways to integrate video across marketing channels. Devices such as Quick Response codes have allowed marketers a method of connecting an audience to online content via a smart phone or web cam. Although Quick Response codes are still somewhat in their infancy, their use is increasing across the industry as they offer a bridge between online and offline content.

Are you doing enough to make your videos visible? Why not drop us an email at everyone@99moves.com and see how we can help you increase your online visibility, after all sharing is caring.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Well it was the 83rd Academy Awards last week and whilst it has been good to see directors, script writers, editors and actors all being honoured for their efforts at the Oscars, I can’t help but think there is one creative input within film that doesn’t get the recognition it deserves.

I am talking about a film’s title sequence! A film’s title sequence is the introduction to the story; it’s where the audience’s first impressions are formed. Over recent years title design has been growing in status, becoming increasingly established. Iconic designers such as Saul Bass set the trend years ago with collaborations with such ground-breaking filmmakers as Alfred Hitchcock and Martin Scorsese. Title designs went on to become as recognisable as the films they precede. Who could forget Maurice Bender’s classic James Bond titles? Since Bass and Bender set the foundation, designers such as Danny Yount and Kyle Cooper have explored the limits title design can be taken to.

Today, title design has edged its way even further into the framework of a film with a trend for stylised company logos emerging. Today, the title sequence can demand as much attention from its viewers as the film itself. As a digital designer I know that a massive amount of creativity and preparation goes into the title design, why isn’t this hard work being recognised at awards like the Oscars?
Like any other creative process, creating a title design requires conceptualisation, storyboarding and testing before the real work can even start. Designers work through a mass of possibilities and design stages to create a concept which is new and interesting, just as a director does. The first scene within a film is considered one of the most important, but the titles prelude that, should they not be given the same precedence?

It’s good to know sites such as Art of the Title are out there dedicated specifically to honouring the creative process behind such innovate work. However, I think it would be great to see creative agencies such as Prologue, Shynola and Shadow Play Studios gaining recognition from such established awarding bodies as the Oscars, Sundance and the Baftas. Until then though, here are my personal nominations for best title sequence of all time:

The Academy Awards always bring disagreements and arguments amongst those within the movie industry and this year was no different. The category for Best Film was a highly contended one with the battle between Black Swan, The Social Network and The King’s Speech a close one to call. The award eventually went to The King’s Speech, which also picked up the Best Directing, Best Original Screenplay and Best Lead Actor awards. The success was especially poignant for all UK viewers as the film was partly funded by the UK Film Council, which is soon to be abolished.

The UK Film Council has been supporting the best of British talent for 10 years and has funded some of the most acclaimed films to come out of England during that time. For some, the runaway success of The King’s Speech has highlighted absence the UK Film Council will leave while others believe the British Film Industry will still thrive with up and coming talent.

Henry Waterfall-Allen, Director of 99moves said ‘Although the UK Film Council gave a face and an identity to British Films the lack of it will not mean the UK will stop producing some of the best films in the world. Film making is a hard business, it’s hard to get in and even harder to get noticed in, but it always has been’. He added ‘Britain has the talent to take on Hollywood, and The King’s Speech proved that, the success of the film should inspire young film makers to aim for the Oscars no matter how bumpy the road ahead is’.

The rest of the awards gave a pretty even spread over the main pictures of the night. The gong for best actress unsurprisingly went to Natalie Portman; she was the odds on favourite the moment she pirouetted on to screen in Black Swan. The Social Network won Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing and Best Original Score and Inception’s Wally Pfister picked up Best Cinematography. Inception also picked up Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects.

Hosted by Anna Hathaway and James Franco, the awards took place in the Kodak Theatre in LA and were attended by the cream of the movie business. With the usual parade of stars and their dresses, little could detract from the fact that it was The King’s Speech’s night, to read more about the UK Film Council and what it means for British Filmmakers check out the 99moves insight pages.