MarketingInsideOut.com

Looks like the March Madness On Demand (MMOD) free stream that I mentioned yesterday is a big hit.  As of 5:30 p.m. Thursday, MMOD had already delivered a total of 1.2 million video streams in  about four-and-a-half hours of play.

And by the end of play on Thursday, CBS SportsLine reported a total of 2 million streams according to this report in The Mercury News. The most at any one moment was 268,000 simultaneous streams, significantly more than last summer’s record-setting Live 8 global concert in which aol.com attracted 175,000 simultaneous video streams.

I signed on 3 times today – twice from work on a T1 and at home on DSL, and I’ve been able to get in within a couple minutes despite some warnings about being in a long line for video when I logged on.  

Admittedly, it’s not hiccup free.  Sometimes the audio drops out and the picture in full-screen mode on a decent quality Dell LCD monitor was a little dark at times, a little blurry here and there, certainly not as good as watching on TV but entirely watchable. 

After about 15 minutes the stream stops momentarily asking if you are still there.  You have to click to stay connected.  A smart move used to make sure all available streams are active rather than playing to an empty office/room.  It helps to move the waiting line along for those registered in the holding tank.

During commercial breaks the video stream fed me a series of Web commercials including spots from Nike, Dell and Major League Baseball. 

One feature that cracked me up is the “Boss Button” where you can click and it turns your video screen into a spreadsheet for a 2005 Budget.  You just click again and the stream is back. 

Although I don’t claim to be a diehard basketball fan, I’m excited by the success CBSsportsline.com has had so far.  It’s just what was needed to entice lots of people (some 268,000 at a time) to check out internet video again to find that it’s come a long way — it’s not the frustrating crap it used to be — which will help increase the demand and acceptance of online video programming overall.

Hey Volkswagen, you got it half right!  But that creepy pseudo-German techno engineer/droid in your Unpimp your Ride spots tells me how wrong you got the other half! 

Yes, ad agencies want to win accounts without spending months in RFP hell!  Who else has to “defend your life” in order to “win” the privilege to work with an account so you can help them grow their business (Hell, you don’t ask for a fifth as much justification from the person who cuts you open with a knife while you’re lying unconscious on an operating table!).  So we applaud your ability to move an account without submitting a dozen ad agencies to a laborious and painful selection process (Particularly since, in many cases, it’s really over long before the end is in sight – you’ve already decided who you’ll hire, and yet you don’t stop the pain until the fat lady sings her last note – you make every last finalist perform the obligatory dog and pony show finale!).  But don’t get too cocky – because from where I sit what went wrong makes you more of a villain than a heralded trailblazer.  What am I talking about?

I’m talking about the relationship between Volkswagen and Arnold.   Back when Volkswagen came to the realization that they were virtually invisible they hired Arnold to make them an Icon for youth.   And Arnold delivered – brilliantly.  They produced a virtual symphony of work that made Volkswagen stand far above the pack.  They are unquestionably the forerunners of all cool automotive advertising.  And Arnold’s recent ads for Volkswagen are just as edgy and unique as their original work.  In fact their newer work, although still true to the brand, was a compelling testament to the fact that you can still be cool, young and hip as well as a grown up – and if you are these things – you drive a Volkswagen!    

So what happens?  You hire the marketing person who worked with Crispin Porter  on Mini-Cooper.  She dumps Arnold and hires Crispin Porter.   And, as a result of these “unpimp” spots, I’m subjected to a parodistic assault on German technology.  Yes, there are those who proclaim its brilliance – but that’s because it makes them laugh?  An ad has to go way beyond funny to be brilliant – it has to say something.  True to the brand – what brand?  Are you re-re-branding Volkswagen?  Are you taking a page from the “shooting gerbils from a cannon” school and being disruptive for the sake of being disruptive?

Like Adam says in his March 10th comment to this post from Adverblog: 

“It’s only a positive effect if it sells more VWs. If it doesn’t, then it’s just a another pointless funny ad that does little to nothing for sales. How does the 60,000 people watching on YouTube equate to GRPs? Then again that’s Crispin’s M.O. create strange, off strategy, non-traditional ads that ultimately don’t translate into sales.”

You might read this and take issue.  Maybe there is much more to this story than meets the eye, after all this story in New York Times makes it sound swell.  Well if there is – it’s a well kept secret.  I used to be impressed with the folks running the Volkswagen brand – not now.  I can ill afford to lose another idol – so I’d love to hear “the rest of the story” – if there is one.