2nd life, YouTube and Chanel: Online Advertising Content

Before doing this assignment, I had heard of the YouTube Britney Rant, but I hadn't watched it. After watching it, I realized that there were two minutes and eleven seconds of my life I would never get back! But, by watching it, I have added to the craze! By adding pageviews and it is saved on my list of search history. How embarrasing.

About a year or so ago, YouTube really meant nothing to me. I had heard of its craze and how so many students were on it constantly. I took a chance one day and found that you can find vast amounts of information, whether it is geared towards entertainment, history, television shows and clips that you never thought you would see again. The video information and technology that has come together to produce YouTube is fascinating. I found clips from favorite tv shows from Fraggle Rock, Salute Your Shorts and Hey Dude. Also, you can use it towards education as well. :)

2nd life, however, I think is sort of a waste of time and technology. Last semester, someone came to my online journalism class to promote 2nd life. We all had to register and create our own characters. While the idea of gathering a vast amount of information from diverse groups of people is something that I agree with; 2nd life, to me, seemed a very creepy atmosphere where nothing was really going on. It seems important to me still, to develop REAL conversations, with REAL people. With people who like video games, maybe that is good for them, but it seems you should spend more time socially connecting with REAL people. As said in the article, not much really goes on in 2nd life. You spend a lot of time searching for nothing. If the technology were better developed, it might be different. Advertisers and developers tried to connect with a technology-driven generation and society and tried to portray that through a virtual world. The concept was creative and different, however, its reach has yet to be seen.

Chanel, however, had some really great ideas. An advertising promotion with a company like Chanel geared at so many different groups of people was creative, unique and has a strong lasting power.

What can advertisers and media creators do to keep up with this developing technology? That is a good question. Much of what is delivered on the Internet is largely unpredictable. Who knew Myspace or Facebook would generate such high volumes and a diverse group of people coming together? Myspace and Facebook are extremely popular because they are social networks that many people can connect with. There are people who I never thought I would see again that I can find on the Internet. Advertisers placing messages on those sites to appeal to such different demographics of people have very good strategies and reach frequency when delivering messages.

However, the Internet has a lot of content that is just for fun and should not be taken seriously. Some content generated is very fluffy and is generally for entertainment. Like much of the news, it is for publicity, entertainment and lifestyles of the rich and the famous. There are lots of sites to generate certain demographics and psychographics.

For example, IMDB gives a place for moviegoers to go and obtain a wealth of information about films, production, directing and producing. Certain websites, like the history channel offshoot give information about the past and links to references and resources that you can use in research papers or to learn about yourself. Many sites have online training seminars to learn about virtually anything.

What are advertisers to do then with such a wealth of information? I think it all boils down to maintaining the advertising sense of sending a message, gathering attention, desire and action from the consumer (AIDA). Using the basic fundamentals of advertising, you can incorporate this into online content and strategies for promotions. One main element is convergence. Many media strategies can be converged into online, billboard, and television strategies. Using banner headlines, creative ideas, commercials on the net will reach large groups of people at certain dayparts. Although much of it is unpredictable in the business, advertisers must learn to take the basics and turn them into marketing strategies by understanding the certain groups that are on the Internet and using that in their strategy. It's taking the basics and tranferring it to online reach, just another form of technology that has been developed; just as radio and television changed the medium, so has and will continue with the Internet.