I was blown away by the recent MoveOn.org customized video. Whether you are for Obama or McCain, it seemed like a new level of sophistication in viral marketing that is worth a serious look.
For those not in the US, MoveOn is a liberal organization that is supporting Obama in the election. In case you have not seen it yet, this is a video that is customized with your name in the content of the video. It's intent is clearly viral; its message is to "get out and vote." You can see the video at www.cnnbcvideo.com but to really appreciate its brilliance, you need to click on a link and email it to yourself. When you do this it is customized throughout with your name. cnnbcvideo.com is a microsite, for a faux news organization. If you click on it without the customization, the video uses Hillary Clinton's name. But when it's emailed to you, your name replaces hers. Every link on www.cnnbcvideo.com leads to the same page -- a form that encourages you to fill in the names and emails of people you know, facilitating its viral spread. As far as I can see, the video is produced by merging an underlying video with a computer modified graphic overlay so that the recipient's name is integrated into the visual. This is all done through text, the audio does not change. What is so impressive is the seamlessness of the integration of the recipient's name. It's brilliantly done. The only place where I thought it could have been improved was a clip from Bill O'Reilly where the font seemed a bit too dark and the audio said "he" although I had customized the video using a woman's name. The customization was fast. When we sent the video to ourselves, we received the customized video within a few seconds. I wish that MoveOn had chosen to remove one scene in which a woman curses (the audio is bleeped out). IMO this brings the video down a bit but perhaps I'm just a bit stodgy. What makes this viral effort so impressive is: 1. The quality of the customization which will really grab people 2. The usability of the site which will facilitate sending it to others 3. The fact that it will create discussion and interest which creates a payoff for the user I'm impressed and, regardless of your political views (or nationality), I think it's worth seeing as an example of a powerful a social media marketing effort. Charlie ============================ Charles B. Kreitzberg, Ph.D. CEO, Cognetics Corporation ============================ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
