Here’s a very clever animation made entirely from street graffiti by Blu.

It’s quite amazing how a story can be created like this.  Because it’s different it rises above the clutter of content.

Can your brand message do with a new canvas?

via Chris Brogan

Social Media is becoming an important channel for hosting conversations as evidenced by US presidential candidate Barack Obama’s  response to an invitation by a leading social women’s network BlogHer.

Obama sat with BlogHer on Sunday to answer key policy questions developed by this community of bloggers specifically for 2008 presidential candidates.

Blogher is one of the largest collection of blogs by women, and therefore a ripe audience of influential people that brands should include in their communication plans.

Google has just announced a new web based purchasing and analytics system that allows anyone to run television commercials.

The system has been available as a trial program for about a year, and this announcement now opens the system up for everyone to use using this simple process.

-  Select your target audience

-  Choose the networks, days and times, and  the specific programs you want your ad to run on.

- Choose the cost-per-thousand impressions you’re willing to pay

You don’t pay until your ad airs on TV.

Like Adwords, Google is hoping to reduce the complexity of advertising and also providing the necessary self service tools that make the process scalable. 

Google’s Ad Creation Marketplace also provides you with the tools to connect with pros who will provide scripting, copywriting, editing, production and voiceovers for your ad.

The interesting thing about Adwords is that it levels the playing field for the advertisers, so big global brands don’t get a significant benefits for large spending volumes.  For TV advertising, companies get rewarded by distribution networks for bulk purchasing, effectively reducing the appeal to large brands. However, the transparency of the pricing may have an effect on the TV media buying industry.

Google is no doubt hoping that it can take advantage of monetising video content in the same way it has monetised search.

Video content will continue to grow, and whether the content is consumed via television or online, providing a simple interface that is open to everyone to both sell and buy advertising is going to have wide appeal. 

Listening to consumers has never been more important. 

What are your consumers saying?

Internet access speeds, lower cost of video equipment, and ease of video sharing has lead to an expansion of video content on the web.

3 former Google employees have launched a site that is positioned as a video based "how-to guide" to pretty much anything. In their words, "Imagine an ever-expanding universe of how-to knowledge, created for you and by you. That’s Howcast".

The site also effectively uses Wiki technology to encourage collaboration / updates from users.  Examples include "How to clean your ipod", "How to store an unopened bottle of wine".  The site is well laid out and designed to capture feedback as well as commentary in line with today’s "conversational web".  The videos follow a similar format where an instructor explains what is needed to complete the task, followed by step-by-step instructions explained in a voiceover. If users want to write their own "how to", they can use the Howcast template; scripts are then sent to film school students for production.

The "How To" web market has a number of existing players such as Instructables and Expert Village which have been focused on text / image based content.   

Contributors to Howcast also benefit from distribution deals that syndicate content through other channels such as Joost, Verizon’s VCast.  This is a clever business model as it will enable Howcast to grow quickly. 

I couldn’t help thinking of the possibilities this structure has for mainstream education.  Howcast generates the "learning objects" and then effectively uses latest technology tools for teaching.  All you would need to add is a module that tracks what learning objects you have viewed, and testing to measure both the effectiveness of the learning object and to ensure students have grasp the concept being explained.