Five questions for Robert Wong, Creative Director, Google Creative Lab

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Google's Search Stories campaign had modest beginnings, but the world fell in (Parisian) love with it when one of the spots became Google's first-ever TV advertisement, airing during this year's Super Bowl. Since then, the campaign has been adopted by 150,000+ users who've made their own versions of the ad, and it's become a great example of how a brand can involve its audience in an ad campaign. The effort continues to evolve with the first co-branded Search Story spot, released last week to coincide with this week's opening of Toy Story 3. The video features a few characters you may well know and love (Buzz, Woody and the gang) sharing their own search story. Google's Robert Wong, Creative Director, tells us how the project came to be...

1. What was the genesis of the Search Stories campaign?

Search has become so commonplace in our lives and when you take a step back you can see that your searches are actually marking time. In kind of the same way that pictures or songs might, they tell the story of your life. We thought this was a pretty cool notion. Then, from there, it was a natural evolution to stringing some searches together to make a story. Because at the end of the day, the best search results don't just show up on a web page, they show up in someone's life.

2. Why Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story?

We got lucky. After doing a few of these we began to ask what would happen if we got people who are great storytellers to help. I had a friend at Pixar so we figured why not start at the top of the heap. Amazingly, they were into the idea.

3. Was it easy to meld creative/narrative visions?

They really could not have been nicer or more collaborative. Initially, we went out there to introduce ourselves and talk generally about working together. We also got to meet with some of the creatives behind Toy Story 3, who took us through the new movie. After that, we went back and came up with bunch of ideas to pitch to them. It was a lot fun getting to play around with those amazing characters they’ve created, but having just caught a glimpse of Toy Story 3 and it being such a major focus of theirs, it was a natural direction to go in. From there, it was a lot of good back and forth. We hit on a story we all liked pretty quickly and they gave us a lot of guidance with getting the characters right.

4. Tell us something about the video that no one would know just by looking at it.

I know some people have been surprised to hear that, aside from having the actor for the character Andy, John Morris, record “Hmmm,” we didn’t record anyone. It was all pick up dialogue from Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3.


5. What’s your favorite moment from the video?

Hamm always cracks me up, but I love the Woody and Buzz moment. Woody’s laugh is so great, as is Buzz’s reaction to it.

New partner resources: optimizing your presence on YouTube

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Last month we announced the launch of YouTube Partner Communication Hub, which is the go-to spot for news on the latest features, product updates and other partner-related information. Today we are excited to let you know we have revamped the “Optimization Resources” section of the site and have added a few new documents that will help you make the most of your presence on YouTube. Specifically, we have added resources which show you how to improve content discoverability, increase revenue potential and take full advantage of our Insight tool.



Going forward, we will regularly update the “Optimization Resources” section of the site with new tips and fresh insight -- so check back weekly. You can also opt to receive automatic updates via RSS by subscribing to the feed.

And, as always, let us know what you think!

Bengu Atamer, Sr. Strategist, Partnerships, recently watched “Kitten Wearing a Tiny Hat - Audition Outtakes.”

Professional caption services get “YouTube Ready”

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Captioning is becoming increasingly important to YouTube and videos all across the web. Captions ensure that many more people can understand what's happening in your video, from deaf and hard of hearing viewers to people who speak a different language from you and choose to auto-translate the captions into their language. Captions also make your video a lot more discoverable. People searching for content on YouTube might encounter your video if your captions contain the words or subjects they're looking for.

You may be able to manage creating captions for your videos on your own, but sometimes you have too many videos or your video has elements that need special care. Today, thanks to support from the Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP.org), we're pleased to roll out a new "YouTube Ready" designation for professional caption vendors in the United States. The YouTube Ready logo identifies qualified vendors who can help you caption your YouTube videos.


If you're interested in having your videos captioned, here's DCMP's current list of YouTube Ready vendors who may be able to help. Please keep in mind that participating vendors:

• Have passed a caption quality evaluation administered by the DCMP
• Have a website and a YouTube channel where you can learn more about their services (see playlist below)
• Have agreed to post rates for the range of services that they offer for YouTube content. Typical rates range from $2/minute for a transcript to $10/minute for full professional captions.

The first launch of the program includes 12 qualified vendors, with more to come. We're happy to have them on board, and hope they'll help to provide even more options for captioning your videos. If you're interested in finding a YouTube Ready caption vendor, check out our Help Center or visit DCMP's page.



Naomi Bilodeau, Caption Evangelist, recently watched "Deaf Mugger."

Second Season of Effie Worldwide's "Ideas That Worked" Webinar Series

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After the huge success of last year’s webinar series, which we co-hosted with Effie Worldwide, we are proud to announce that we shall be reprising the series again this year. Today we invite to you register for the first installment in this free series, which will take place on July 20, 2010 at 2 pm EDT. All the webinars and tons of great case studies are always available for you on theEffie Worldwide YouTube Channel.

If you join the webinar, you will hear directly from the esteemed agencies and marketers responsible for three off the best Effie Award-winning video and social media campaigns:

• P&G/Old Spice & Wieden+Kennedy- "Swagger: The Scent That Makes A Difference"
• Jack in the Box & Secret Weapon Marketing- "What Would the World Be Like Without Jack"
• Intel Corp & Venables Bell & Partners- "Sponsors of Tomorrow"

Posted by Peter Sherman, Product Marketing Manager, recently came back from VidCon 2010

It's moving day! Find us on the main YouTube blog!

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Faithful BizBlog readers, it’s been a little over a year since we launched this blog to focus on what matters most to advertisers and partners on YouTube. Thanks so much for your readership!

In an effort to make sure you get all YouTube info in one place moving forward, we’ll be consolidating the BizBlog back into the main YouTube blog starting Tuesday. We’ll be posting business-related updates with the tag “BizBlog,” so here’s how you keep up with us:

1) Subscribe to the YouTube blog and sort by the “BizBlog” label
2) Follow us on Twitter or friend us on Facebook
3) Are you a small business? The Google Small Business Blog brings together all the info you’ll need to know about Google’s products and features.
4) Let us know what you want to read going forward by filling out the survey below



See you on the main blog, and thanks again for visiting the BizBlog!

The YouTube Team

David Victori is the winner of Your Film Festival with “The Guilt”

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Following a red carpet screening of the ten finalist films at the world’s oldest film festival in Venice, juror and award winning actor, Michael Fassbender took to the stage to announce that “The Guilt” by David Victori has been selected as the first grand prize winner of Your Film Festival on YouTube.


See the finalists arrive at Venice Film Festival and Michael Fassbender announce the winner

From over 15,000 entries, the YouTube community voted to choose 10 finalists who flew to Venice Film Festival. The Your Film Festival jury of luminaries, which included Sir Ridley Scott as well as Michael, chose the winning film. David has won $500,000 to create a new project on YouTube with the support of the jurors and Scott Free Productions. Subscribe to David’s channel and watch as he begins his new project with Ridley and Michael.


Watch the Your Film Festival winning film, David Victori’s “The Guilt”

Dom Elliott, marketing manager, recently watched “Live Stream from Space on September 13th!”

Live from the Runway brings New York Fashion Week to you

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Today marks the kick-off of Fashion Week in New York - and once again we’re giving you a front row seat. For the fourth season, YouTube and Maybelline New York are bringing Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week right to your screen with Live from the Runway. Get insider access to 30 live streaming fashion shows and on-demand videos all in one place with show schedules, backstage beauty looks, interviews, trends and how-to videos.



Tune in each day through September 13 to see live runway shows from your favorite designers streamed right to your computer, mobile phone or tablet. To make sure you catch your favorites, add the show to your calendar right from the channel. Then join in on the scene online and dish on the latest collections with #LiveRunway. Let the catwalks begin!

Jamie Reichstein, lifestyle program manager, recently watched “Rebecca Minkoff Fashion Week Boot Camp”