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

To contact us Click HERE
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

5 Questions with Nirvan Mullick, the man behind 'Caine's Arcade'

To contact us Click HERE


Q: How did the Caine's Arcade video catch fire? Did you have a distribution strategy in place or was it all organic? 
A: It was a mix. While making the film, I put together a flashmob invitation to surprise Caine with customers. The flashmob invitation went mini-viral, hitting reddit’s front page and HiddenLA’s facebook page. This brought Caine a global community of supporters that were waiting for the film to be finished. Once the film was finished, I submitted a follow up link to reddit and also sent the link to BoingBoing. BoingBoing re-posted the film right away, and it hit the front page of reddit shortly after. Then it just took off.

Q: What was the reaction of Caine & his family once the video became so popular and viewers donated hundreds-of-thousands of dollars to a college fund? 

A: None of us were expecting that level of response. I had been hoping to raise $25,000 for Caine’s Scholarship Fund over the course of maybe a year... the first day we raised over $100k. Caine’s dad was in tears, overwhelmed by phone calls from parents and media around the world; he had never experienced that level of kindness from strangers, who put together a college fund for his son overnight. George was the proudest dad in the world. Meanwhile, Caine couldn’t really process how much money had been donated- he just knew it was a lot. But he was super excited to have so many customers visiting his arcade. The first weekend after the film went viral, over a thousand people showed up to play. There was a 4 hour line stretching around the block. 5 months later, people still come every day from around the world. It’s amazing.

Q: Tell us about the Imagination Foundation. Was it always something you had hoped to launch or did it originate solely from the video? 

A: The formation of the foundation was inspired by the global response to the video. After the film went viral, I didn’t sleep the first 2 days. The response was overwhelming, and I was trying to take it all in and absorb as much of the feedback as I could. I got emails from thousands of people, including videos from kids around the world sharing their creativity. I began to think about ways that this project could transition from helping Caine to helping other kids as well. On the third day, I wrote the mission statement for the Imagination Foundation on a napkin: to find, foster, and fund creativity and entrepreneurship in more kids like Caine. While the Imagination Foundation wasn’t something I’d planned before the film, I have worked in the non-profit space for the past 12 years, and have always been interested in the intersection of media and social change. So when this happened, I knew there was an lightning-in-a-bottle opportunity to try and make something that could have an impact for more kids. Two days after I wrote the mission statement, I connected with the Goldhirsh Foundation, who recognized the opportunity to make an impact and put up a $250,000 Matching Challenge Grant (matching public donations to Caine's Scholarship Fund dollar-for-dollar) to help us start the Imagination Foundation. To date, we have raised $215k of the goal.

Q: How do you intend to use video going forward to tell the story of the Global Cardboard Challenge? 

A: I met Caine by chance when I went to buy a door handle. But there are so many more kids like Caine out there. We started the Imagination Foundation to build a discovery platform to help find amazing stories of creative kids like Caine, and to then share those stories with the world. With the Global Cardboard Challenge, we are inviting filmmakers and storytellers around the world to document local Cardboard Challenge events on video, and to then share those videos with us so we can celebrate the creativity of kids everywhere. Send us your videos by October 13th and we will have some cool prizes and opportunities to share the videos with our community. As we build our community further, we plan to continue using video to share inspiring stories of creative kids around the world while inspiring creative actions in line with our mission.

Q: Do you have any advice for fellow filmmakers who are looking to drive awareness for causes they care about? 

A: I think it is really important to be authentic and personal, and to find the details that communicate the heart of your story. It’s also important to have a clear call to action, and to keep it simple and engaging. The success of videos like Kony 2012 (30min) and Caine’s Arcade (11 minutes) show that videos don’t need to be super short to keep people’s attention. If your story is strong, your audience will stay with you, and you can take the time you need to tell your story. That said, don’t make it a second longer than it needs to be.

Arthur Woods, YouTube partner operations associate, recently watched "John Hockenberry: We are all designers"

YouTube’s original channels go global

To contact us Click HERE
A lot has happened since we announced nearly 100 new original channels coming to YouTube: 7-year-old Ruby taught Amy Poehler about feminism. Rainn Wilson interviewed Deepak Chopra in the back of a mysterious van, and Phil DeFranco’s SourceFed became one of the hottest comedy news shows on the Web or TV. What do all these moments have in common? They’re being created for you on YouTube. And, when we look at the numbers, you’re liking what you watch:

• Our top 25 original channels are now averaging over a million views every week
• 800 million of you are watching 4 billion hours every month, that’s up from 3 billion hours earlier this year
• The number of people subscribing has doubled y/y
• And partners this year are reaching the 100k subscriber mark 5x faster than they were just two years ago

Given the success of these and the tens of millions of other amazing channels already out there, we still know there’s more great content to find, follow and fall in love with on YouTube. That’s why today, we’re excited to launch a new generation of original channels coming from France, Germany, the UK and the US.

From local cuisine, health and wellness and parenting to sports, music, comedy, animation and news, this new lineup of original channels will have something for everyone. They are backed by some of the biggest producers, well-known celebrities and emerging media companies from Europe and the U.S.

You can get a sneak peek of the all the coming new channels here. So go and find something to love and stay tuned as this new generation of channels roll out in the months ahead.

Robert Kyncl, VP, Global Head of Content

5 Questions with Chris Carver, Chief Operating Officer of Invisible Children

To contact us Click HERE
On March 5 of this year, Invisible Children uploaded “Kony 2012” to their YouTube channel. Today, the video has over 93 million views and has made Joseph Kony a household name. We caught up with Chris Carver, Chief Operating Officer of the organization to learn more about how Kony got to be such a viral sensation, the action (and controversy) it inspired, and their new documentary, “MOVE.”

1. KONY 2012 was the most viral nonprofit video ever on YouTube. What is your outreach strategy when putting out a new video?

We’re a grassroots movement so we first reach out to the supporter base we've developed over the past 9 years. A big part of Invisible Children's model is to tour our documentaries for free in schools, colleges and churches throughout North America. We do two tours a year, reaching around 500,000 students each tour. Prior to KONY2012, we had done 14 tours, with over 13,500 free screenings to over 5M students. There are over 500 Invisible Children clubs around the country, and we’ve put on 5 international events with over 400,000 people in attendance. I mention all of this to show how much importance we place on face-to-face interaction. The offline experience is just as important (if not more) than the online experience. Our supporters are truly the catalyst for getting our/their message out and we invest a lot of time cultivating these young, amazing leaders via phone, email, livestream, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

There are so many other factors we consider as part of the outreach strategy when putting out a new film: From the importance of strong branding and design, to clear and concise copy that's synchronized across all platforms, to making sure everything has a very clear call to action.

2. Your new documentary tells the story of Kony. What was your motivation behind putting out this documentary? Why now?

Actually, all of our documentaries focus on Joseph Kony and the LRA in some form or another (11 films total). I think we all got to the point where telling the same type of story year after year wasn’t resulting in the amount of awareness about Kony that was needed to put international pressure on him.

In putting out KONY 2012, we told the story differently. We felt that after 26 years of child abductions, terrible atrocities and mass displacement in central Africa, the time had come for Kony to become famous. Not to celebrate him, but to bring his crimes to light. Although we far exceeded what we ever could have imagined in terms of view count and awareness, we know that seeing a permanent end to LRA violence is going to take much more than that. It is going to take a continued awareness, continued mobilization, more protection of communities from LRA violence and more recovery programs to rehabilitate, educate and create jobs for people affected by LRA violence.

Our new documentary, MOVE, goes behind-the-scenes to tell the story of the KONY 2012 whirlwind, how we made an African warlord famous, and how we’re going to challenge our generation to take a stand for international justice.

3. There were more than 40k videos uploaded to YouTube in response to KONY 2012. Were you able to engage with any of these folks? Did the volume of video replies surprise you?

To be entirely honest, I think almost everything about this campaign was initially surprising. Millions of people responded and our infrastructure couldn't handle the response. I take responsibility for this, but I'm not sure anyone could see this coming. As a result, people couldn't get any context for who Invisible Children was. So although we love the fact that so many people responded with more videos (extending the conversation), it was a loss that we couldn't respond back. We've always tried to make our various platforms a two-way conversation, but we just weren't set up for this much volume.

4. How did the KONY 2012 viewership translate into offline action?
KONY 2012 was/is an awareness campaign, and the international community responded with the most intense period of global engagement in the history of the LRA conflict:

• March 5: The film went live
• March 21: the KONY 2012 legislation was introduced in the Senate
• March 23: the African Union (AU) and United Nations (UN) announced that 5,000 troops will pursue Kony
• April 19: the European Union (EU) pledged their support
• April 20: Cover The Night promoted global awareness & service
• April 23: President Obama extended the deployment of U.S. military advisers to help stop the LRA
• May 12: the Ugandan army captures Major Caesar Achellam, one of the top commanders in the LRA
• May 24: U.S. Senate State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee approves $10,000,000 for humanitarian aid in LRA-affected communities
• June 26: Invisible Children delivered 3.7 Million KONY 2012 pledges to the United Nations
• June 29: the AU & UN released their strategy to combat the LRA
• July 31: U.S. Senate Defense Appropriations Committee approves $50,000,000 for intelligence and surveillance of LRA activity
• August 2: the KONY 2012 resolution that was introduced on March 21 passes the Senate by unanimous consent

On November 17, we’re encouraging thousands of supporters to gather for the largest global summit on the LRA in history. Participants will hear directly from the top 10 global leaders on the LRA conflict, surround the White House for a demonstration of unity, and end the evening by celebrating human connectivity through the universal language of dance.




5. KONY 2012 and MOVE are both quite a bit longer than the average YouTube video - how did you decide that a longer video was right for this subject?

For the past 9 years and subsequent 14 tours, we developed our films to be distributed in person. KONY 2012 was the first film that we released online, and its length was determined by how much time it took to tell the story. Because we knew it was longer than most online videos, we were strategic in making sure that every second held your attention, had a strong storyline, and was less than 30 minutes (clocked in at 29:59).

We took the same approach for MOVE and hope people who watch this time, share the film with the same idea as the first. Where you live should not determine whether you live and we have a responsibility to protect those that cannot protect themselves.


Ramya Raghavan, YouTube for Good team, recently watched “Protection Plan”

5 Questions with Nirvan Mullick, the man behind 'Caine's Arcade'

To contact us Click HERE


Q: How did the Caine's Arcade video catch fire? Did you have a distribution strategy in place or was it all organic? 
A: It was a mix. While making the film, I put together a flashmob invitation to surprise Caine with customers. The flashmob invitation went mini-viral, hitting reddit’s front page and HiddenLA’s facebook page. This brought Caine a global community of supporters that were waiting for the film to be finished. Once the film was finished, I submitted a follow up link to reddit and also sent the link to BoingBoing. BoingBoing re-posted the film right away, and it hit the front page of reddit shortly after. Then it just took off.

Q: What was the reaction of Caine & his family once the video became so popular and viewers donated hundreds-of-thousands of dollars to a college fund? 

A: None of us were expecting that level of response. I had been hoping to raise $25,000 for Caine’s Scholarship Fund over the course of maybe a year... the first day we raised over $100k. Caine’s dad was in tears, overwhelmed by phone calls from parents and media around the world; he had never experienced that level of kindness from strangers, who put together a college fund for his son overnight. George was the proudest dad in the world. Meanwhile, Caine couldn’t really process how much money had been donated- he just knew it was a lot. But he was super excited to have so many customers visiting his arcade. The first weekend after the film went viral, over a thousand people showed up to play. There was a 4 hour line stretching around the block. 5 months later, people still come every day from around the world. It’s amazing.

Q: Tell us about the Imagination Foundation. Was it always something you had hoped to launch or did it originate solely from the video? 

A: The formation of the foundation was inspired by the global response to the video. After the film went viral, I didn’t sleep the first 2 days. The response was overwhelming, and I was trying to take it all in and absorb as much of the feedback as I could. I got emails from thousands of people, including videos from kids around the world sharing their creativity. I began to think about ways that this project could transition from helping Caine to helping other kids as well. On the third day, I wrote the mission statement for the Imagination Foundation on a napkin: to find, foster, and fund creativity and entrepreneurship in more kids like Caine. While the Imagination Foundation wasn’t something I’d planned before the film, I have worked in the non-profit space for the past 12 years, and have always been interested in the intersection of media and social change. So when this happened, I knew there was an lightning-in-a-bottle opportunity to try and make something that could have an impact for more kids. Two days after I wrote the mission statement, I connected with the Goldhirsh Foundation, who recognized the opportunity to make an impact and put up a $250,000 Matching Challenge Grant (matching public donations to Caine's Scholarship Fund dollar-for-dollar) to help us start the Imagination Foundation. To date, we have raised $215k of the goal.

Q: How do you intend to use video going forward to tell the story of the Global Cardboard Challenge? 

A: I met Caine by chance when I went to buy a door handle. But there are so many more kids like Caine out there. We started the Imagination Foundation to build a discovery platform to help find amazing stories of creative kids like Caine, and to then share those stories with the world. With the Global Cardboard Challenge, we are inviting filmmakers and storytellers around the world to document local Cardboard Challenge events on video, and to then share those videos with us so we can celebrate the creativity of kids everywhere. Send us your videos by October 13th and we will have some cool prizes and opportunities to share the videos with our community. As we build our community further, we plan to continue using video to share inspiring stories of creative kids around the world while inspiring creative actions in line with our mission.

Q: Do you have any advice for fellow filmmakers who are looking to drive awareness for causes they care about? 

A: I think it is really important to be authentic and personal, and to find the details that communicate the heart of your story. It’s also important to have a clear call to action, and to keep it simple and engaging. The success of videos like Kony 2012 (30min) and Caine’s Arcade (11 minutes) show that videos don’t need to be super short to keep people’s attention. If your story is strong, your audience will stay with you, and you can take the time you need to tell your story. That said, don’t make it a second longer than it needs to be.

Arthur Woods, YouTube partner operations associate, recently watched "John Hockenberry: We are all designers"

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

To contact us Click HERE
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!

To contact us Click HERE
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