click here for the commercials.

When asked why they watch the Super Bowl, most viewers would likely respond by saying, “the commercials”. And who can blame them? Advertisers are spending big bucks on high concept, high energy and high profile spots. The commercials are an event to themselves; certain to live on as water-cooler conversation topics for weeks after the big game.

But 2010’s ad lineup is missing one of its key starters; Pepsi. The soda giant has pulled the plug on all Super Bowl advertising in lieu of a different approach, one that has more of a lasting impact than that big screen TV that crushed Justin Timberlake in one of last year’s spots. Pepsi is banking on a secret formula of online, social-media charity-something Pepsi hopes will be a refreshing change for its fans.

The interesting side effect of this marketing strategy is that numerous articles have been written and there is a buzz about Pepsi’s decision to take all of its Super Bowl spend and invest in an online, philanthropic  endeavor. Giving money away is great, but it’s not unique enough to merit an Exit Row newsletter. The big story here is that Pepsi is shifting the millions of dollars it would spend on a Super Bowl ad and putting it all in online efforts.

Pepsi has been doing Super Bowl commercials for the past twenty years, so this shift is a sign that the soda juggernaut is waking up and smelling the gigabits. With an overall $20 million dollar budget, there will likely be television spots to promote this initiative however these spots will certainly drive traffic to the www.refresheverything.com site.

Take a look at how your marketing and advertising budget is spent currently and throw out “the way we’ve always done it” mentality. In particular, investigate ways to harness the power that is the internet. Pepsi now has huge advantage here in that online media can be tagged and tracked, giving them measurable, key data to make informed choices about their products.

Make it your 2010 resolution to reinvent the way you reach your customers and let Exit Row guide you through the process.

Video of the Month:

We will be speaking on, “5 free resources to help you get more done…faster”.

To RSVP, e-mail: rpatel@fiveseasonssportsclub.com or call 937-848-9200

Our clients include the following organizations above and our videos have been seen on nationally broadcast television and internet channels.  We have done videos locally and nationally and can handle projects of any size.

In December 2009, ComScore Search Rankings Report found that YouTube’s searches had grown 35% year over year.  ReelSEO.com stated, “YouTube not only had 50% more searches than Yahoo web search and 180% more searches than Bing, but the number of searches at the online video giant made up almost 28% of the total searches on Google sites for Dec. 2009.”  By these stats, you can see the importance that YouTube has gained in the marketplace.  It’s no longer the place where only teenagers put videos of themselves goofing off.  It’s now become a place that your business has to have a presence.  Once on YouTube, we can see who is watching your video, where in the world they are watching and even how old the viewer is.  This is why we stress having a website with analytics along with videos that can be tracked.

Does your company take advantage of the fact that people are searching video both on Google and YouTube?  Have you put a video on your website and YouTube?  If not, you might be missing about 30% of the market that is searching for you.

*Give us a call to see how we can put your current corporate video on YouTube and your website…or, if you don’t any updated videos, then we’d love to help you create one.  Remember, videos online can be tracked and come with stats…can your brochures do that?

Merry Christmas!

Script and Editing by: David Hansen.

-11 BILLION videos were watched online in September 2009 alone.
-A small fraction of businesses have videos online.
-Those companies that do have videos online (both on your website along with other video sharing sites) have a distinct advance above those that do not.
-Customers find more value and importance with companies that have videos on their websites than those that don’t.

Exit Row Productions can produce high quality videos and host them, put them on your website, post them on other video sharing sites, create iPhone/iPod versions, make it into a podcast, as well as create a dedicated website for your videos. What if you could have your own Hulu.com or YoTtube site for your videos? We can do that. Click HERE is an example of a site we could create that would house all your corporate videos. It’s clean and professional and it will make your company stand out from the rest, and you will be saving money over companies that charge you $99/month to put your videos on a dedicated site.

Give us a call if you would like to learn more about how we can do this for you: 937.673.8450

To see what happens, watch the video below.

Is there a competitor that your customers are going to because it’s easier or cheaper? Maybe your competitor is the easy choice for people but your product is better in the long run (isn’t exercise on the stairs better in the long run, then a short term convenience of an escalator?). What can you do to make people aware of your products or services? Can you make the process interesting, fun, or memorable? Yes, this will take some thought, but isn’t it worth it? Imagine getting more customers just because you provide something different (think of what they did to the stairs in the video).

In an interview Siskel & Ebert said that since they watched about 5-10 movies per week, they could always tell when a good movie came around. But, in order for that to happen, it had to really stand out. All the bad and average movies mushed together in an unmemorable glump (is that a word?). But, when a really good movie came out, it was different than all the average movies. Seth Godin, calls this a Purple Cow. Wouldn’t you tell everyone you know if you saw a purple cow? It stands out and is very different from all the other cows you’ve ever seen. Is your business, product or service a purple cow? Aren’t you impressed when a company shows some personality, or they make things fun and interesting instead of being mushed together in an unmemorable glump. Which is your company, product or service?

So what are you doing that’s superior to the status quo? What stands out? What are you doing to make your product or service fun, interesting or a “purple cow”? Perhaps spicing up your website that separates it from your competitors will make you stand out. Would new creative business cards that look different and stand out from everyone else? Or maybe creating a video that isn’t a typical boring sleeper, but something people will be sharing with everyone on YouTube? I bet we know a company that can help you out!

PicsMatch is a facial recognition software that wanted to market itself in a new way. In stead of putting their money into print and television, they decided to let people make videos promoting the product. One of the guidelines was to make the videos in a low tech way without lighting, multiple cameras and paid actors. This project let us use our creativity without having to spend a lot of money. The contest was held on Youtube for 2 months. The top 10 videos with the most views were determined the winners. Our videos were the top 3 videos with the most views in the entire contest. Exit Row Productions was honored at the Film Dayton event on May, 15th. This was a lot of fun and we are excited to use the software to help tag, edit and publish our pictures.