TV commericals for sale
Some users actually use TiVo to request commercials from specific companies (see my Feb 22 post)
Google’s cranking it up a notch.
They’re offering commercials for sale.
As always, there’s a lot to learn from Google watching.
Hard to believe? Check it out.
1. Go to Google Video.
2. Type in the word "commercials" in the search bar.
3. Select the "For Sale" option. (It’s in the gray bar at the top of the page.)
Two companies – SOFA entertainment and Historical Film Archive – have
packaged "classic" television advertisements for sale via Google.
If you haven’t checked out the "For Sale" listings at Google Video yet, make it a point to do so. They’ve got a very simple formula… show the first 29 seconds and then display this formulaic statement:
"Buy this video to view the full x min y sec"
A "BUY" button with the price appears, along with some other interesting links, off to the right.
The world’s greatest ad copy?
Not at all.
But Google has demonstrated they’re good at finding very effective ways to do things simply and automatically.
They understand the principle of traffic + tracking = profits, they’ve got all the traffic in the world, and they track like mad. My recommendation is to watch how Google merchandises online video closely. They don’t make decisions about how to present things casually.
I recall there were actually canned commercials made for sale. These are commercials which were shot and were dropped by the clients because it was inappropriate for the particular topic they had in mind.
Some of these skits are pretty humorous, and could work for smaller enterprises who need catchy commercials rather than the boring shot of the shop building and a few ordinary-looking employees.