As you probably read all over the interwebs, yesterday was the official launch (read: getting out of beta) for UnitedStates of America-only content provider Hulu.com.
Never heard of Hulu.com? Here's a short debrief:
First, Hulu.com is the joint venture of NBC and NewsCorp.
Second, Hulu.com has come to terms with major partners such as AOL, Warner and ABC to deliver sitcoms, movies and other screen favorites for FREE on your 'puter.
This means you can now watch past Lost episodes, those Saturday Night Live skits you love or movies like Ice Age or Me, Myself and Irene for zip. Zilch. Nada. Nothing. No cost.
Provided you live within the UnitedStates of America. Because no other country can have access to its content for now. "Anywhere, Anytime" is Hulu's slogan. Sorry, not for now.
It's all advertising supported. I can only begin to wonder about the cost of placing an ad in Hulu.com. All I can hope for is that they'll find ways to make it cheaper than TV, but I wouldn't hold my breath -- especially when you can drop the useless GRP measurements for precise stats on user visits, shows watched and interactive content.
Let me tell you this, friends: this is the beginning of a new era. Google called the company Clown Co. for months before it was launched, because Hulu.com had no name. But they are being jealous. Because Hulu is going to steal away a huge chunk out of YouTube.
Because Hulu is going to steal away a huge chunk out of TV, period.
Hulu is a menace to cable TV worldwide. A well-thought of, full of potential menace. Yes, that good of a menace. Over the past month during beta, Hulu reports that its videos have been streamed over 5 million times. All the content is professionally produced. Friends, this is no clone of YouTube. This is serious distribution business.
Our canadian CRTC will be quick to not let Hulu.com make its contents accessible to Canada, because if they do, canadian TV will receive a kick in the nads like they never did before.
But at the same time, Hulu is also a wake-up call: TV viewership is knowing a steady decrease, and TV advertising is losing efficiency in favor of e-marketing. TV has lots its power to convince, entertain or educate. The Internet doesn't try to convince you, or push its content. It lets you come. It lets you get a second, third or fourth opinion on information. From people like you. It lets you be in control of what you like to see, hear, do. And it lets you speak out.
And all of this is like gold to modern-thinking TV producers, because now they have better feedback from viewers, a new place to distribute and even produce content that is likely to please diverse yet precise communities, and not just mr. and mrs. mass audience. With Hulu.com, they have a powerful, selective outlet to engage dialogue with viewer communities.
If you ask me, in the years to come, YouTube will be like this nice add-on widget to have on Hulu.
I say Hulu is the next big thing. Everyone can laugh at the badly-thought distribution scheme for an Internet content provider. Everyone can blame the fact that they do not yet have full-length shows. You can bitch about this killing the DVD / Blu-Ray industry (although they were careful in not showing full seasons as to not cannibalize the DVD industry). You can rant about the big nasty giant networks invading the Internets.
But eventually, when the technology is uber-right, we all know how these big giant networks will just crunch the numbers and say how cost-efficient it is, how wonderfully tasty it is to produce and distribute only streaming HD content. And there will it be: TV and Internet merge into this nice, slick flatscreen device on your wall. You'll have a remote control with a keyboard and joystick on it. And you will be subscribed to Hulu Digital Network Service Worldwide Inc.
I don't know if any of you have been following the first few steps of The Venice Project? An ambitious endeavor started by Skype creators Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, which consists in having the best of Internet meet the best of TV: Broadband internet television. Well, it's now called Joost (tm). Sort of a YouTube, but with actual programs and user-generated shows, instead of snippets of curiosities. MTV might be on there with special shows, as much as any regular joe wishing to have his own basement show in there.
Blogging has made "print" publishing accessible to the mass, Joost will make TV publishing accessible to the mass. Let me tell you: this is the next holyland for advertising.
Check out the Joost website! They're looking for people to beta test the thing. Wanna try it before everone else? Apply now!
You work in an agency which does Pharma? You actually work on a pharmaceutical account? Or maybe you just enjoy pharmaceutical products? Check out this ad for Leiras, a pharmaceutical company in Finland producing the "Pamol" painkiller - for serious headaches. This is lightyears ahead of any Tv pharma ad I've seen in the last years. You cannot do anything but salute Finland and Leiras for their very open creative policy on pharma advertising. The commercial was created by agency Bob Helsinki, and directed by Thomas Jonsgarden (from Flodellfilm in Stockholm).(Thanks Annick from Moskito!)
Here's the latest Coca-Cola spot from agency Mother, produced by Looking Glass Films. It features "Santa delivering the gift of Coca-Cola to a girl every year from the 1930's to the present day". Very heartwarming. And that's one well-preserved 76 year-old woman.
Watch the ad first, then read the commentary. You need the full surprise effect.
Nice isn't it? An excellent ad from agency Duval Guillaume Brussels for the Minderheden Forum (Minority Forum), an organization devoted to the integration of minorities inside communities. This spot outlines the fact that ethnic minorities often deploy commendable efforts to integrate themselves to their society of adoption, but often face prejudices and incomprehension. (Thanks, Best Ads On TV!)
In other news, here's BBDO Germany bashing on backseats in their latest commercial for the Mercedes SMART. Another semi-expensive commercial designed to entertain the consumer, and provide a semi-valuable excuse for the SMART's absence of backseats. (Thanks, Advertising for Peanuts!)
Dominos Pizza have this history of sometimes hitting our funny bones, sometimes not. In this case, you be the judge. Here's a spot from JWT New York, directed by the Perlorian Brothers, titled "Nana". Enjoy. (Thanks, Advertising for Peanuts!)
An oldie but a goodie, brought back to the scene (and to my delighted eyes) by the most excellent Llamamelola blog. Thanks for that! Here it is on AdKrispies, in half-crisp youtube-o-vision, for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy.
A commercial by hyper-director David LaChapelle for Boots UK, a druggist shop (selling cosmetics, among others - not every country has that type of shop. It's the equivalent of Pharmaprix or Jean Coutu here in Canada). From my understanding, the commercial strives to tell women "this christmas season, think about yourselves too" - something that most women - too often - don't have the time to do.
While the direction is visually rich, there's nothing new conceptwise: It's an idea that Taxi Montreal had already plundered with Reitmans ("Made For Real Life"), a campaign showing women adopting fashion poses while doing everyday tasks - the juxtaposition of fashion and real life.
A smooth n' stylish Nike commercial from W+K Portland, featuring the "LeBron family", actually soon-to-be-legendary NBA Cleveland Cavaliers player LeBron "King James" James (who recently highlighted his 2006 season with nine straight 35+ games, an exploit only accomplished in the past by the likes of Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan). (Thanks, AdCritic!)
I love that tune, which was also featured in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City for PS2. Does anyone know who made it? (Ben, here's a challenge) ;-)
Here's an ad for Orange in Romania, which states: "...the point of Hide & Seek is how well you can hide. But isn't all the fun in being found?". For an obscure reason, we don't have Orange in Canada. However, I suspect Hide and Seek is a new Orange service, hence I'm sure this must be a very intelligent spot. If anybody from Orange would care to explain the "Hide and Seek" service to our canadian readers, please be my guest. In any case, I'm a fan of stop-motion animation, so great job on this from Independent Films UK. Agency: Wieden & Kennedy London. (Thanks, BestAdsOnTV!)
Great direction and art direction on this new V-dub spot for the Touran, some sort of beefed up Golf with hybrid propulsion, made for the UK market. Check it out on Wikipedia. (Thanks, Vlan!)
MIRA is a foundation in Quebec, specialised in the breeding, training and care of guide dogs for the blind. Here's a smart ad for them, from Publicis Montreal. Questionable film direction, but hey. Smart nonetheless.
Another finger-related ad, this time for Internet Explorer 7."Everyday tasks made easier", is the proposition on this one. I can hear the yells of outraged Firefox users from here. As someone pointed out on the YouTube comments section: " Exactly what Explorer is. Fat n' cheesy".
The music sounds familiar...I've been trying to figure out where I heard that tune before...maybe a Sesame Street sequence ? Help me out here.
Ah, scotch and ads, two of the world's greatest time wasters. Now, look at this fantastic spot from BBH London, of course quite inspired by Philip K. Dick's novel "Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?" and the not-so-recent Spielberg "A.I.". Great references, and great use of these references. I feel that the proposition is new, the direction (Dante Ariola) quite eminent and message, to the point. Indeed, keep walking.
You've all been expecting it furiously, and most probably, you've all already seen it. Nevertheless, I would put shame to this blog if I didn't feature Sony's latest Bravia commercial: Paint.A few months ago, I had an entry about the making of of this fantastic piece of work, but now it's finally out in full splendor.
And I'm a little bit disappointed.
While the previous "balls" ad was awe-inspiring with its delicate and supple soundtrack, its tranquil strength visuals, this one is kind of a let down. Now don't get me wrong, I think it still is an incredible visual achievement. Yet I cannot do anything but agree with my colleague Barry Lachapelle from Enter The Chapel : the one major flaw of the ad is the soundtrack. That music has been overused for everything. From TV-Station candid camera breaks to industrial machine ballets, you. have. heard. it. everywhere. I believe it's Strauss.
Simple, intelligent. Your kung-fu is stronger than mine. The end copy says (loosely translated): "Don't adapt to the car road. Be the car road." (Thanks for the correction, TVSpot).
I'm a freelancer and free thinker in the field of marketing and communications, trying to continually expand the known universe in my little mind -- and yours.
As you probably read all over the interwebs, yesterday was the official launch (read: getting out of beta) for United States of America-only content provider Hulu.com. 
