Oh my god!!! Do you we need another video player? I swear, everyday I get up and find myself on Google Reader I keep reading about some blow hard video player company getting funded again and again. Do we really need 50 different video players that are innovative offering the same type of service that you can build yourself? Don’t get me wrong, there are some amazing video players out and one or two that make me salivate but really, when is enough, enough?

I don’t know how many calls I get every week asking me to integrate some new player into our site and how much better it is than what we have and if we go through them then we will make money because of advertising. You know, that was a concept I never thought about, advertising on my content, through my player. I do already and I don’t have to give them 70% of the revenue and then have them scrub the numbers therefore further diminishing my possibilities of profits.

If you’re going to make a player, make a player, don’t make some sorry excuse to sell more advertising. Are you an advertising company or a video player company? You can’t do everything, god knows Yahoo tries to do that.

Look, if you’re going to make yet another, miserable video player, here’s a few tips you should remember:

1. Make it look like every other one available (just change the color)
2. Tell me it goes full screen (no one’s done that)
3. Tell me you’ve engineered a new codec (no one has seen that before)
4. Tell me it’ll play full HD at 800kbps
5. Integrate a playlist (I don’t like to watch videos in order)
6. Put your logo on it (Nothing like you branding my content and site with your player that I pay you for)
7. Put Google AdSense on it and keep 70% or more of the profits (I don’t like to make money)
8. Tell me video on the net is the next big thing (I forgot what industry I was in)

How much product placement is too much?

I’m sure many of you saw the NBC remake “made-for-TV” movie of Knight Rider and I’m sure like me many of you were hoping and excited by the possibilities of KITT stopping international crime again and again. I watched with anticipation and baited breath. With the start of the show my love for the series was slowly shattered and I say it wasn’t because the new remake was cheesy (although it was a bit) it was because of the overt, loud, in-your-face advertisement for Ford.

For starters KITT is a Ford Mustang Shelby Edition, of which, I’m actually happy about, it looks good. But moving beyond that every vehicle is a Ford which wouldn’t be the first time Ford or any other advertiser overstayed their welcome in television or films. However, there were so many action shots of every vehicle it begins to make you sick, it began to look like a horrible, ugly, exasperating commercial that would never get to the story. The only non-Ford vehicle that was shown was a GMC Yukon (with all the signage removed) and it was only in the show for a few moments right before it was in a crash, which the Mustang (KITT) was not harmed.

The show is not miserable or unbearable but the bad tact used by Ford WOULD make me stop watching. I actually believe in embedded advertising as it can be effective and help move units if executed correctly.

Here’s a few ideas how not to be ridiculous in your embedded (product placement) advertising:

1. Don’t say the name of the product over and over
2. Don’t show the product out of place of the story or show
3. Don’t let your advertiser dictate to you what to do (Your audience loves you for a reason, don’t betray them)
4. Don’t always show the product features (Use it yourself, you know your audience, let them engage)
5. Consider practical use (In Knight Rider the bad guys drove a Ford Edge, nice car but highly unlikely for a goons vehicle)
6. Advertisers don’t care how your audience views you (You do, or should, treat them accordingly, they made you who you are)
7. Don’t be afraid to be daring with the product (The advertiser wants results, if you can bring it, they don’t care how you do it)

I woke up this morning, got some coffee and readied myself for the day. I drove to breakfast, ate, then headed to the office. I set up my laptop and hit Google Reader, I then saw Jim Cramer‘s company TheStreet.com released a new site named MainStreet.com aimed to be the TMZ of the personal finance market. Basically, TMZ meets TheStreet.com for normal people who are at different stages in their financial life.

I first looked at the site and was amazed how nice and clean the site looked. The site was simple to navigate and easily understandable, except for video. Finding video on the site was a lonely link at the bottom but once there it was useful. I enjoy how the site breaks up its sections: Beginnings, Endings, Windfalls and Challenges.

MainStreet.com describes their mission as:

To present news stories in which life and money intersect. Every article – whether it’s a cautionary celebrity tale, a rags to riches story, politics, fashion or just plain fun – will have a secondary focus on improving your personal finances. Updated throughout the day, MainStreet delivers national and international news that impacts your life decisions, your pocketbooks, and your future.

At first glance it really looked like a nicer, more appealing TMZ.com but upon reading a few articles the purpose begins to shine through. It takes normal life and attempts to make a parable of the story, somehow, relating to your life, the normal person, not the trader. This site is a complete shift from Cramer’s TheStreet.com Wall Street addicted users, which articles are about “the market” not real-life.

I believe this is a great step in the right direction for Cramer and TheStreet.com but is it enough to make people stop going to other sites? I don’t know?

What do you think?

I like CES, it is a place for geeks of all kinds to gather, awe, buy, sell, be surprised and/or be utterly disappointed. We (GIMP) booth at CES because it helps our business, as many times as I’ve been told that boothing at CES is not only a waste of time but a waste of money, I can’t help but think they are wrong. We get the majority of our business contacts, deals and empty promises from CES. It is one of the longest weeks we have amongst the tradeshow circuit we hit. We arrive on Sunday and leave on Thursday night or Friday morning. When we get home I don’t know how many people want to know how it went and what new deals we came back with. After talking non-stop for a week straight, telling I don’t know how many thousands of people what we did, giving that damn pitch so many times it makes you loath it by the end of the week.

I spoke with many people saying that they are going to opt out of CES for 2009 and focus more on MacWorld as they feel more innovation is coming out of the Apple arena than any other industry. I have to say that I slightly disagree with that, most people love Apple because it’s pretty and sleek. Apple fully accomplishes that with every product/software release, they excitingly astonish everyone every time. There is innovation at CES but other companies do not market effectively or show off how amazing their product really is.

One word of advice to those speaking with exhibitors, don’t argue with them on why they chose the spot they did, or why podcasting is dead or why new media isn’t podcasting or how you can only think of some weird sexual character in a Tarantino flick when you see our company name. We don’t care why you think whether our spot is good or bad, what you think about podcasting vs. new media or how GIMP only reminds you of Pulp Fiction. This isn’t to say we don’t care about what you think but at a show where we are talking continuously for five days please don’t make me talk to you hurting my throat on a useless conversation.

When we booth at any tradeshow we feel it is only necessary to go talk to your neighbors and see how they are doing and if there is anyway we can help them. It always helps your cause when lost people always find your booth from a neighboring exhibitor because they knowledgeable about what you do. We also make sure to return that favor as well. It is important to truly listen and help people. Business will come to you if you are helpful and a resource. We had some tradeshow newbies by us and they were always coming over asking questions. It was of no bother and we were glad to help them out. Many times large shows like that can be confusing because the amount of paperwork you receive every morning, badge issues and worst of all shipping issues. One of the newbies shipped something to arrive on Monday, it did not arrive until 3 hours before closing Thursday. It was a hard lesson to learn, they became bitter and angry and began to resent coming to CES saying they got nothing by exhibiting.

I feel often it is important that you are able to make your connections/deals without the use of literature, presentations, products, etc. It is YOU that sells anyone on what you do, not your tri-fold!

Overall, I feel CES worked very well for us, however, that being said we may choose a different section to be in as the Podcasting TechZone only had 2 other companies representing besides us. 2008 will really be the test to see how well CES 2008 worked for us.

What do you think about tradeshows? What makes them successful for exhibitors? How do you measure success?