Free backstage tour of the Conan studio...

[Kevin M.]

... courtesy Weird Al Yankovic

http://teamcoco.com/video/weird-al-yankovic-07-17-14

--
Kevin M. (RPCV)

[David Bruggeman]

Whatever you may think of the new album, Al is promoting Mandatory Fun in a very impressive fashion.

The video for this tune is perhaps more impressive than this performance.

David

FWIW, my favorite so far is Sports Song, which premiered today on Funny or Die.

---

From: Kevin M. <drunkba...@gmail.com>
To: "tvor...@googlegroups.com" <tvor...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, July 18, 2014 11:07 PM
Subject: [TV orNotTV] Free backstage tour of the Conan studio...

[Kevin M.]

It's a textbook case of viral marketing. Partnering with other groups and individuals who also want the attention (and to host meme media), getting them to do the bulk of the work (and in many cases foot the bill). Nice to see somebody using new media to its fullest (for now) potential. 

--
--
TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People!
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "TV or Not TV" group.
To post to this group, send email to tvor...@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
tvornottv-...@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to tvornottv+...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--
Kevin M. (RPCV)

[Joe Hass]

A brief point of clarification:

You, as a creator, do not create a "viral" strategy. You can create something and, if you're lucky, it will go viral, but you can't go into the process thinking "we're going to make a viral video". That's not how it works.

Yankovic's strategy was to release a video a day. The fact they've taken off the way they have is a testament to how great they are.

[Kevin M.]

On Sat, Jul 19, 2014 at 4:10 AM, Joe Hass <hassg...@gmail.com> wrote:

A brief point of clarification:

You, as a creator, do not create a "viral" strategy. You can create something and, if you're lucky, it will go viral, but you can't go into the process thinking "we're going to make a viral video". That's not how it works.

Yankovic's strategy was to release a video a day. The fact they've taken off the way they have is a testament to how great they are.

Respectfully disagree. While there is luck involved, as there is an any marketing ploy, the execution of potentially viral media is a learned and skilled a craft, as is any other form of advertising. While memes are sometimes the result of random chance, in this case the release of the videos was carefully orchestrated to go viral. Partnering with groups like FoD and Conan, getting certain nexus-like people on social media to share the links (never any way to know which of those people get a check for sharing, but I suspect that will soon change). This was planned with near-military precision. It's much better and wider reacging than Fallon's people simply paying Facebook to pretend clips from his show are "trending topics."

--
Kevin M. (RPCV)

[M-D November]

I think of what you describe more as "popular" media. Viral media, at least in the strictest sense, is never created with the thought "we're going to make this go viral" in mind. "Popular" media is often shared in the same channels as viral media, but comes from a place of intentional mass consumption.

[JW]

I think at this point, viral is something that spreads quickly through the entire population, whether or not anybody intended it to. (I'm sure everybody with something to sell puts things on the Net saying "This will go viral," and sometimes it does.)

In this particular case, I'm seeing Weird Al links from people I don't expect, and I'd be shocked if they're being compensated.

[David Bruggeman]

More on Al, including the rollout strategy for Mandatory Fun, via The Atlantic

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/07/the-surprisingly-savvy-weird-al-internet-machine/374649/

David

---

From: Kevin M. <drunkba...@gmail.com>
To: "tvor...@googlegroups.com" <tvor...@googlegroups.com>

Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2014 12:25 PM
Subject: Re: [TV orNotTV] Free backstage tour of the Conan studio...

[Bob Jersey]

David Bruggeman, in part, to Kevin:

Whatever you may think of the new album, Al is promoting Mandatory Fun in a very impressive fashion.

Enough to make it début at #1 on the Billboard album chart. (link)  Not since a fella I know I've seen some insist as at least part of his inspiration, Allan Sherman, did it in 1963.

B