It's not for you

I personally cannot stand 99% of youtuber’s content. The humor is often juvenile, skits are terrible, and feels as though it’s all appealing to the lowest common denominator.

But, I think the same thing about most TV.

And I love YouTube as an advertiser far, far more. The videos most YouTubers make are not made for me. I’m not the target audience – but I know the influence these creators wield.

As marketers we need to remove ourselves from what we like and put ourselves in our audience’s shoes.

Great and brave post, I Hate YouTube, from Brendan Gahan, which echoes feelings I have when thinking what an audience wants. We're not making things for us, sometimes we are aligned with the target audience and that's great. But good to remember many audiences we make content for will engage/enjoy/require something out of the comfort zone of taste you may empathise with.

I feel this about broadcast TV, and can't bear the thought of even switching it on these days (my BT video box has never been turned on). I treat YouTube like I do all platforms that I get content from, and it's on demand, I look for what I want and watch that. All the more reason that creators, brands and publishers should really think deeply about their audiences (or audiences they want to build) in delivering valuable content that make people WANT to watch.

A hit is a hit

How do you articulate something you discern irrationally?

Love this post, The Jony Ive Principle, by Daniel Rakhamimov, who makes some fantastic points and you should go and read that. One thing in particular resonated with me when I watched the interview with JJ Abrams & Jony Ive. 

Jonny Ive

I do believe that we are capable of discerning far more than we are capable of articulating…

Daniel Rakhamimov goes on

Now think about that for a second…what Jony is so eloquently implying is that when he designs the products that touch millions of people on a daily basis, he doesn’t do it with the notion that we will experience it through our rational thinking brain, but that we will feel it through the deeper, less articulate, emotional one.

I love this, and everyday I find myself struggling to explain a feeling about one thing or another, but it’s there and it is real. You simply just know when something is right, is good, is cool.

JJ Abrams, goes on to develop this thought towards Brian Grazer, mentioning how he has a reknowned gut in the film/tv industry for knowing what will make a good film or tv show. And that it’s not through being overtly strategic or thinking ‘there isn’t such and such out there right now, so lets make that’. It comes from a place where you just feel something when it’s in front of you.

There was an episode of The Sopranos A Hit is a Hit, where Chris is trying to help Adriana to have a career in the music industry, and plays a demo to Hesh (a wealthy record producer, now retired). Hesh says it's not good and speaks to the gut feeling he had when he met Hendrix, and that Adriana’s band don’t have that (Hesh making it easy there for the poor band!).

Later in the episode, when overhearing a random song playing, Hesh tells Christopher "Now that is a hit". Chris is left a little dumbstruck, and here in a nutshell is the point.

It’s in the eye of the beholder, but the beholder needs to have the vision, the understanding to somehow know it’s right.

In the commercial world, it is vital to be able to share that vision, whether by themselves or through articulating it, even in a small way, to a team or an individual to make that vision come alive, otherwise they'll be nothing.

Google Zeitgeist Americas 2015

I just got back from a trip to Phoenix, Arizona, overseeing all the content going up to the YouTube channel and website for the annual Google Zeitgeist event. Zeitgeist is Google’s annual gathering of the world’s thought leaders, explorers, thinkers, scientists and creators.

This year some highlights were:
Live video chat with the ISS between two astronaut twins 
John Legend, Bryan Stevenson discussing justice
Getty Images shows off the cool 360 screen at the event and talks about the power of image

Kanye West also spoke, he had a chart showing all the industries he wants to impact, it was pretty huge - look forward to be able to share (waiting for the video to go live).

Here's the highlights from the event, with some clips from the talks.

In addition to the talks at the event, Google takes great care to create interesting ways to interact with their latest products, some which may not be public yet. While out there I noticed Louis Cole (FunForLouis) vlogging, and he's just released two videos which really capture how it feels walking around an event like Zeitgeist, where the talks are obviously the main thing going on, but a whole world is going on around that (as well as the highly useful networking for the attendees).

Going to Phoenix also provides the opportunity to have an In-N-Out burger (or three)....

Star Wars VII - The Trailer

This is looking so damn good. Love how the history of the previous films is being questioned for authenticity by the new characters, with Han simply saying 'It's all true...all of it.'

I think they should seriously consider remaking I, II & III.
They look very poor now. 

Computer Show

Really enjoyed this original content series from Sandwich Video, Computer Show. Set in a weird time warp of 1980's TV show with modern day guests and a brilliantly observed awkward presenter, who wants to play racquetball and to find 'a Linda, a Suzanne, a Linda?'.

There's another episode, and hopefully more to come. You can subscribe here on YouTube.