I have a confession to make: in my younger years I was (and for different reasons still am) a fan of Erich von Däniken.
For the ones serious enough to avoid a conversation about the UFO phenomenon or as Carl Sagan called the subject “extraordinary claims in need of extraordinary evidence”, let me explain:
Erich von Däniken is a Swiss author – possible the most famous (and infamous) paleoastonautics voice to date and one of the initiators of Ancient Astronaut hypothesis. His book “Chariots of the Gods?” was published in 1968 to become an instant bestseller across the globe. With it and the 1970 subsequent documentary, this fringe phenomenon gained center stage in spite of its categorization by academia as pseudo-history. Von Däniken’s claims riddled by controversy also his much publicized run-ins with the law (from plagiarism to fraud and plain theft) diminished over years his initial immense popularity.
All until the 2012 phenomenon and its eschatological connotations ranging from religious to New Age .
In the light of a fast approaching December 21, 2012 – weather one likes it or not – hypothesis on “what’s going to happen at the end of the Mayan calendar (?)” gain momentum and public interest. As anything in a world where clicks and viewership are closely monitored by marketers, this increased attention is followed by a more pragmatic commercial one.
Remember Y2K?
Similarly, as 2012 approaches, the window of opportunity in monetizing theories (about what’s going to happen and the need to have angles covered) decreases in exponential opposition with the public curiosity (for entertainment reasons or otherwise). As said before, interest creates viewership potential that in turns leads to demand – closely followed by ratings that trigger … no need to explain further.
In simple terms, not everyone looks at politics (hint: the 2012 elections) as next year’s primary source of entertainment – on TV or online. Therefore the major networks and their News channels are not the only ones planning for big audiences next fall and winter. This brings me to channels such as History and Discovery and the need to jump (rightfully so given the interest) in the “2012” bandwagon.
Demand creates a market and a market first and foremost needs to know its primary audience and their gurus – bringing sides and voices to leverage opinions of more or less scientific and spiritual nature. For the ones skeptic by disposition or reason, I will have to point again to the entertaining value this type of speculative argumentation on television has – closely connected to a lucrative dimension. In the case of this specific subject – UFO phenomenon observed since the beginning of recorded history – the “known sources” are clear.
This brings me to Von Däniken and my childhood infatuation with stories and claims challenging reason – also with the History Channel series titled Ancient Aliens now in Season two – and its fifteenth episode “Alien Devastations” aired December 23, 2010.
Why write about aliens and TV trivia in a blog focused on the serious subject of working in a competitive market like the one of advertising content – or even the more challenging one of trading microstock?
The answer for me came on December 23, during the above mentioned episode. (Talk about the most unusual Christmas present – ever.) It also came twice.
First time was around minute 22 in the show, when this following clip was used.
For a full disclaimer, it is not the first time when our Vitruvian Man animation is inserted in the context of a DaVinci narration. After all, this is our bestseller on several microstock video websites. It also landed us a five figures subcontract with a West coast media production company (see our Services page) and was also purchased for another History channel documentary, as well as being featured in the controversial Zeitgeist II yet multimillion viewed movie on YouTube.
The second clip was the (personal) shocker and it came at minute 31:56 precisely – lasting until minute 32:00 – four seconds (an eternity in “my” time) and having Erich von Däniken as voice over.
If the producers would have asked for this clip for free – just to have it as background for Erich von Däniken’s narration, I would have probably agreed. Not that the price on Pond5 where the clip was actually purchased from (or Getty via IStockvideo) is high enough to offset the “glory” part of being on TV – I will save this rant for a future post. In conclusion this was one of those “and I would like to thank the Academy” or the “it’s an honor just to be here” moments, one wants to share:
Priceless! … Now what?
Not much – non-believers (in Social Media advertising power) might say; adding that there’s no immediate gain aside the opportunity to link the original video on YouTube with our clips, thus increasing channel viewership.
A lot– is the argument from believers such as me in this new form of networking.
My reason?
Alexa ranks YouTube third after Google and Facebook; making a “well-kept” channel a perfect form of advertising (even with the occasional weird fans, friends or followers). Therefore the time has arrived to consider using these websites as serious venues to promote services and brand.
Similarly, for all business – not only the multimillion advertising budget ones – the moment has arrived to focus on using social media content providers as partners in the marketing scheme. This is true especially when connecting with a large spectrum of interested clients in a fast moving and hard to predict economy.
AND Inc. is one such Social Media Content provider company.
When it comes to marketing ROI, we are ready to save you precious time navigating the (free otherwise) Internet in search for the perfect match – affordability and quality – in creating graphic and animated content.
After all, the History channel did use our clips, right?
Q.E.D.
In a future post I will revisit the “As seen on TV” topic – in connection with the controversial debate over being a “professionally priced” videographer or an “amateur-level rewarded” microstocker.
Until then, be well… and do not forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel for video updates!