Disclosure: While I read John Chow’s blog and I love the Wii, I have never used our purchased pens from 1234pens.com.

The root of all evil, John Chow is giving away a Nintendo Wii. To enter, all you have to do is write a blog post about it. This is mine. Where’s my Wii? The contest is sponsored by 1234Pens.com. They make promotional pens.

This is the exact copy for the contest on John Chow’s site. By making this post, I have entered to win the Nintendo Wii. The reason John Chow has asked bloggers to make a post like the one above may not be obvious, so let me explain. The first reason is it’s viral. Because of the uniqueness, it causes bloggers like me to write about it and readers like you to learn about it. At the time of writing, this John Chow post has 177 comments. If a conservative estimate of 1 out of every 10 blog readers post comments, this means his traffic to this one post is probably well over 2,000 people.

Second, and more important, it creates great search engine optimization (SEO). Having people link to you to enter a contest gives you link popularity, a very important factor in most search engine algorithms. If you search Google for “root of all evil,” John Chow’s site comes up third. If you search Google for “giving away a Nintendo Wii,” Chow’s site comes up first. But, since the contest is sponsored by 1234Pens.com, I imagine the real hope is to get them to show up on the first page for “promotional pens” (currently they don’t show up until the 4th page in the 3rd position - basically 43rd).

For $250 - the cost of a Wii - this is a great SEO campaign for next to nothing in terms of cost. However, John Chow had to leverage his site in order to make it happen, so I’m sure he was paid too (although he doesn’t disclose anything about that).

You may ask if it’s ethical for bloggers to use their blogs in this manner. Since Chow didn’t ask bloggers to post a positive review of 1234pens.com, it’s a tough question. Frequent reader’s of Chow’s blog will know that linking is an important factor in SEO. However, bloggers that hear about this through viral techniques may not know they are a “pawn” in this strategy.

I probably wouldn’t have posted it if Chow wanted me to say “They make great promotional pens.” But his very fact based copy - which is just a sample post - compelled me to participate.

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Contest, John Chow, Nintendo Wii, Search Engine Optimization

This video advertisement was created by some of the core developers of Google’s Gmail email program. If they had run this through branding and marketing, I doubt it would have ever seen life on YouTube.com. However, it’s awesome. I have no doubt that those are the actual developers and their script. It’s transparent and honest. Great job!

BTW, isn’t it telling they released it on YouTube and not on Google Videos?

[via AdRants]

Technorati Tags: Gmail, Transparency, Google, Google Video, Branding, YouTube

This video does a fantastic job showing what is so exciting and promising about the current iteration of the web. To me, what is more exciting, is that this is only the second iteration (web 2.0). I can’t wait to see - and participate in - what comes next.

If you’re looking for a list of blogs in Nevada broken out by city, NevadaBlogs.net is a great blog directory. The number of blogs listed seems to grow each month meaning the size of the local blogosphere is growing. Reno is up to 84 blogs. Carson City is up to 15. Sparks and Incline each have 4. I’m excited to watch these grow. I see it as a sign of our technical prowess and our desire to share as a community.

Google’s recent purchase of YouTube for $1.65 billion in shares has sparked increased scrutiny over what content is actually being syndicated through this popular video sharing site.

Over this past weekend, Comedy Central, a division of Viacom ordered YouTube to remove any content belonging to them. Thousands of clips from “The Daily Show,” “The Colbert Report,” and “South Park” were removed and replaced with the message, “This video has been removed due to terms of use violation.”

Each one of these shows enjoyed incredible, viral exposure because of video sharing on YouTube. In fact, Stephen Colbert often made mention of YouTube on his show and joked that he should be on their payroll.

I suspect that Viacom was warned by their attorneys of the possible precedent that could be set by not enforcing their copyright to this content; however, I can’t believe that a more strategic settlement couldn’t be achieved. Comedy Central was benefiting immensely from this exposure.

Personally, I have used YouTube many times as a means of demonstrating the hilarity of John Stewart, or convincing someone they should witness Colbert’s wit. I simply pull up a popular clip and show it to them. I am sure there have been numerous YouTube clips that have been shared and emailed to friends, which have only further increased the exposure of these shows.

Without access to the data, I can only surmise what viewer stats have been since Comedy Central content began appearing on YouTube. If I had to guess, I can only assume that it has increased viewers to the show, not decreased it.

Comedy Central has historically done a pretty good job of creating the sense that they are not your average network channel, but this recent move could impact that image. 

At the very least, Viacom could have worked out an agreement with YouTube where they featured advertisements in conjunction with the existing clips. I am hoping this is simply a legal matter that will be resolved.

I like watching these shows, but my schedule does not always allow time for them. It is nice to know that the especially amusing or poignant clips will be in a place where I can view and share them with friends.

While Comedy Central already shares clips on their site, it is not the same as a user-generated place where visitors can truly get a sense of what resonates with others out there in the online world. I suspect that this is the one major thing that Viacom just doesn’t get.

tags: youtube, viacom, comedy central, the daily show, colbert report

Considering Twelve Horses is headquartered in Reno, Nevada, I feel it is my obligation to talk about one of the largest anomalies our area experiences each year around the Labor Day Weekend - Burning Man. To explain what Burning Man is, "is a bit like trying to explain what a particular color looks like to someone who is blind," so says the official website. But I’ll do my best to summarize.

Burning Man is week-long event that attracts 30,000+ people from all over the World. It is held in the Black Rock Desert on a giant playa just outside the small town of Gerlach, Nevada. People come to camp, construct a temporary city, and create an experience based on self-expression and community. After the giant archetypal man is burned in mock effigy, people begin to disperse, and eventually the playa is once again left devoid of any human trace. Despite all of the hype about strange people and unlawful activity, it is really a peaceful demonstration that produces some truly amazing and creative artwork.

From a marketing perspective, Burning Man is a fantastic example of the power of word-of-mouth. Create an event that people actually want to go to, and guess what, they come in mass. No prints ads; no TV commercials; no email blasts; no special offers or coupons. They’ll even be willing to pay $375 for a ticket.

Let’s see….30,000 people x $375 = $11,125,000. Not a bad budget for an art party out in the desert. However, I believe much of this money goes to permitting, security, supplies, and other administrative costs; and all of it goes back into the event. Commerce isn’t even allowed within the limits of the proverbial city, so I assume even the organizers are practicing what they preach.

The financial impact for Reno is not something to ignore either. As the Reno Gazette-Journal reports, 11% of attendees earn $100,000 or more annually, 9% earn between $75-$100K, 14% earn $50-$75k, and 24% earn $25-$50k; additionally, 61% have bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degrees. People are flying into the airport from all over the place, renting cars and RVs, buying food and supplies, and in general using the products and services the Reno area has to offer. Throughout the week, you can go into a grocery or outdoor store and many of their shelves are empty. Make plans last minute and try and rent an RV, and you will have to go as far as Sacramento, CA to find one; and the price will be marked up 200%!

Yet, go to one of the official tourism sites like the the Nevada Commission on Tourism or the Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority, and you will really have to search to even find a blurb about Burning Man. These two outfits spend millions of dollars marketing the Reno region, but are clearly reticent to align themselves or endorse what some may consider to be a racy and unwholesome event. Because of these decisions, people across the world that learn about Burning Man will associate it with Nevada, but they more than likely will not associate it with Reno. Think about all of the Google juice alone that is not being utilized.

The last but certainly not least subject that I want to touch on regarding Burning Man is their use of technology. If you go to their homepage, you will see that they now have a Webcast, a television station, a virtual city, online social networks, online polls, and even wireless capability in a desert area that you wouldn’t be able to get a cell phone signal on to save your life any other time of year. I even found this cool Burning Man Beatmaps on Susan Mernit’s Blog, which I linked to from a Rojo newsletter that I subscribe to via email. Cool stuff!

Kudos to the folks that have created this event. It is definitely something to marvel at whether you are an artist, a marketer, or a techy. As to whether I am going to marvel at in person, well, I’ll leave that up to your imagination.

Technorati : black rock desert, burning man, nevada, reno

Mike Rundle has an excellent post over at Business Logs discussing how successful social networking sites give users something in exchange for their content.  Mike suggests that users get pleasure from submitting content and this pleasure has a multiplier based off the return for submission.  He postulates that if you submit a story to digg.com it takes about 5X in terms of effort for a return of 50X in pleasure (where X is the multiplier).

I think Mike hit the nail on the head.  When Jason Calacanis recently offered to pay diggers for submitting content to Netscape.com he was utilizing Mike’s theory.  For Jason, the effort required (in both switching from Digg and finding the stories) would be minimal compared to the pleasure multiplier of getting paid.  I’m not sure if he actually hired any but if I was a top digger - currently ranked 536 - then I would have seriously considered it.

Moving forward, sites need to seriously consider what the user is getting in return for there effort.  Getting consumers to fill out simple forms has always been a challenge, now every new site wants their users to add pictures, videos, bookmarks, posts, etc.  Web 2.0 is fueled by the community, the community is fueled by its user generated content.

Yesterday I was watching a short youtube video of some rollerbladers skating in an empty water park. They were doing stuff that would make their parents cringe and it looked like they were having a great time. As I oohed and awed at every trick, I began to wonder what drives them to spend the considerable time to edit this video and make it available to the public.

I think the answer is obvious…bragging rights. They want to show it to their friends and their friend’s friends and whoever else will view and comment on it. They do it for the love, something that marketers will have a hard time rivaling - or even participating in.

As social networking sites around consumer generated media continue to grow, more and more companies are looking at how they can get into the mix. Companies shy away from going after bragging rights and go for more subtle - more politically correct - messages. Marketers aren’t given the freedom to shoot some video with a handycam, edit and slap it on youtube. It has to be professionally shot and professionally edited. By the time it does make it into the wild, so many hands have rung out the love that is it basically a dry towel.

Technorati : CGM, Consumer Generated Media, Social Networking, Word of Mouth, YouTube

Yesterday morning I attended a Roundtable discussion put on by the Sierra Nevada Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America focused on the relevancy of journalism in today’s public relations market. In fact, our Director of Business Development, Josh Kenzer was one of the speakers.Before arriving to the event I was a little puzzled by the title, “Is Journalism Relevant in Today’s PR Market?,” because I thought, of course it’s relevant. A better title would consist of something like, why is journalism relevant in light of social media, or how has its role changed or been impacted. But the discussion ended up focusing heavily on new channels of distribution, search, blogging, podcasting, and new online social mediums or medias. Of course, I was happy that it did. Social media is having significant effects. If you haven’t seen any recent examples of how it has played a role check out what AOL recently had to deal with, or Dell, or Jupiter Research.Other topics of the discussion included truth, relevancy, media fragmentation, how impossible it is for journalists to report on everything, whether or not a blogger can really be a journalist, and the fact that pr professionals, reporters, and media companies are motivated by money. I certainly believe that both reporters and media outlets have a passion for truth, breaking news, and getting the facts straight, but there is still an undeniable and underlying influence attributed to money. PR professionals get paid to generate exposure just as much as media companies depend on advertisers.That does not change the fact that I am a news junky. I have my RSS feeds setup, receive my email newsletters, read cnn.com, nytimes.com, my local newspaper, turn on the TV at night for more local and national news, PBS, and, you guessed it, the Daily Show. From a local perspective, I am often frustrated when I simply see AP stories regurgitated, or some TV reporter sitting on the side of the road telling me its raining or snowing when I can simply look outside and see that it is. Bring me more in depth reporting about social, economic and environmental subjects. Take those paid reporters and put their energies toward something more meaningful - but to who? Me? Maybe they aren’t so concerned with me. Maybe their target market is the person who wants to see someone in their slicks standing by the side of the road in the rain. Many people are pretty apathetic about what is going on outside of their little sphere. I have friends that are this way.I appreciate the power of social media and self-expression, but I want it to resonate more in main stream media. Traditional media, namely print publications, are struggling to discover new channels of communication. They are looking at email, mobile, rss, blogging, podcasting, myspace, and the like, but I think they are considering it as a way of distributing the same old story; or advertisement. Maybe we as a collective whole can dig a little deeper than that.My biggest takeaway from the Roundtable discussion was the emphasis on truth, transparency, and relationships. Send a press release to a reporter with misinformation, and you can kiss that relationship goodbye. Also, you could wind up getting blasted in the blogosphere or somewhere else, and the negative implications of that could be extremely harmful. As a company, we’ve got to continually get our name out there to generate awareness, but it has to be done with these ethical and sensible principles in mind. Once you’ve got that in place, hit every possible channel you can. Technorati : journalism, public relations, reno public relations, social media

CoBrandit has an interview with Geno Church of Brains on Fire. Geno discusses how they implemented a brand ambassador and community program around Fiskars and their scrap booking line of products. Fiskars found four scrap bookers and hired(?) them to be brand ambassadors. Stephenie, May, Cheryl and Holly all have blogs at fiskateers.com as well as participate (moderate?) a community message board and gallery.

I think this is a great strategy. Geno makes it clear that they educated these new bloggers on transparency and the unwritten rules of blogging. They found these bloggers via forums so these were individuals that were already participating in online communities and familiar with online social networking. For them, it must be a delight to have a brand like Fiskars approach them and ask them to participate. For Fiskars, the overall cost of the program must have been very manageable and provides third party credibility to their brand.

Technorati : Blog, Brains on Fire, Fiskars, WOM, WOMMA