It’s true. More focus, more shifting away from cable to mobile and online, and more interesting content finding its way into the radars of non-technical, average folk, who don’t know how to connect a laptop to a TV.

But no money. Or at least, not a lot of money. The amount of online content is too vast to stand out with a simple, well-produced web series. You need distribution. No money, no distribution, no production, no experience.

NewTeeVee reports on RedLever’s shift from artistic creator of content (term used lightly after seeing a video starring a bikini-clad hottie dropping raw eggs into a “contestant’s” mouth) into strategic brand enhancer. I think that’s a smart play for this economy. Well done.

RedLever shows cost anywhere from $100,000 to $1.5 million each, including distribution. “If they want 100 million uniques to see it, not a problem, we can do that,” he said, adding that 10 million seems to be the number most people are looking for. With a combination of original shows and distribution deals like the one it has with Vuguru’s Back on Topps, RedLever hopes to launch 10 shows this year.

Now, the “content as ad” model looks nice, but only a precious few who have the ears of ad agencies can play that game, as the case for original video content leading to concrete customer conversions is weak at best…

My knock is that without a pre-existing brand relationship (or at least a spokesperson/lifestyle-type relationship fit), branded entertainment will feel like an ad. And Tivo knows that people fast-forward through those.

Or you could just visit this guy.

We went to support Watoto, a non-profit based in Kampala, Uganda that pairs a household of 8 orphans with a mother that cares for them — as family — through University. Some of the children there were literally found in dumpsters and in the street. These same children will be given the resources and challenge to grow to be leaders in their community, country, and continent.

It was a powerful and meaningful time for me and my wife, to see a third-world country. We saw daily reminders for us to appreciate the opportunities and resources we have in America. Things like drinking water (93% of Ugandans have no access to reliable drinking water), electricity (many Ugandans have mobile phones, but have to charge them at charging booths – they don’t have power in their homes), and relative financial security (Uganda has out of control inflation and a 45% jobless rate).

For more personal perspectives, check out my personal blog at AlecandKatie.com, but here are some thoughts on media while I was there:

• I just read that there are 147 million people in America that regularly consume online video, but I’d be surprised if 147 total people watch video online. Most middle-class early-twenties people I talked to had heard of YouTube, but had rarely used it.
• Bandwidth is slow, slow, slow. Our guest house had a 56k modem that only occasionally worked. That, and I only saw old clunker PCs. A Gateway here, an Acer there. As far as the wired internet goes, Uganda is 1994 America.
• The middle-class youth do, however, use Facebook. I’ve already connected with some of them.
• Everyone is connected to a cell phone constantly. As America shifts from landlines to mobiles (no one my age has a home line anymore…), Ugandans never really had a phone system, so their pay-as-you-go model really works. There are billboards advertising 3G phones, but how fast can they be?
• There were ads all over Uganda — many houses and businesses are fully wrapped [painted] in colors and logos. They building owners don’t get paid — the painting is a service that looks nicer than the worn down brick. Therefore, there are Zain/Warid/MTN (mobile carriers) and Juicy Fruit buildings everywhere.
• Coca-Cola has posters, billboards, and ads all over Kampala — and each ad features the exact same photo and tagline: “Deep Down Refreshment.” It’s a lesson in consistent branding.
• There was only one movie poster up around Kampala (the largest city in the country, mind you), for Quantam of Solace, which had opened a month earlier.
• When asked about television, few people watch it regularly (who can afford a TV, much less getting your home custom-wired for electricity?). When pressed to name popular shows, our Ugandan hosts mentioned Lost, Prison Break, and Desperate Housewives.

Living and working in New Media in the USA, you can get the sense that everyone lives and breathes online, but the truth is that millions of people around the world have different experiences, methods of media consumption, and levels of access. It’s important to get out of your world for a few minutes (even if it’s a trip to your parents’ house) to see how your work translates.

Who cares about your gorgeous HD video if they don’t have the mobile bandwidth to view it?

I stumbled upon an illustrator who shares my passion for the 1960’s advertising drama, and has created a whole slew of retro illustrations from the show’s most memorable moments, including Joan and the Xerox (below), Duck and the Dog, and Betty and the Chair.

All are available for download for desktops or other fine use. You can also buy some of the work at Zazzle (t-shirts, framed prints, etc.).

Link to: NobodysSweetheart.com
Link to: Mad Men Illustrations on Flickr

But I was impressed with I saw these introduction videos of the 14th season’s new cast members Eric Price, Erica Ash, and Matt Braunger. (14 seasons? really?)

I think this is a great roll-out strategy for generating some buzz around new blood. I think it would also be worthwhile to see the new cast members blog or create regular videos about their own experience coming into the world of MadTV. It would give fans something to sink their teeth into, and perhaps separate it from its NY doppelganger.

Eric Price

I just stumbled across something totally separate from the show: someone has created Twitter accounts for a couple of the main characters, and they’re interacting, as if from 1962, with fans from 2008 (and with each other). Brilliant.

So far, I’ve been able to find a couple of character Twitter accounts. Don seems to be the most active, with over 800 followers and 170 status updates. Sure, Twitter is mostly for early-adopter technophiles, much like being on Digg, but it’s a probably a smart tactic for engaging the fans most likely to blog and use online media to spread your messages…

• Don Draper: Twitter (Bio at AMC)
• Peggy Olson: Twitter (Bio at AMC)
• Pete Campbell: Twitter (Bio at AMC)
• Joan Holloway: Twitter (Bio at AMC)
• Updated: Sal Romano: Twitter
• Updated: Bud Melmen: Twitter (and LinkedIn)
• Updated: Bobbie Barrett: Twitter
• Updated: Paul Kinsey: Twitter

The most interesting part of these accounts is that the characters are responding back to questions, rants, references to post-1962 pop culture (e.g., Peggy has never heard of “A Clockwork Orange”), and furthering the fan interaction into the show. Most of their updates are replies. Official or no, this is cool.

And, probably pretty easy. All it would take is someone with a deep knowledge about the show and a program like Twitterific or twhirl, where you can have multiple Tweet windows open.

And it doesn’t stop with Mad Men. After a little more research, I found Twitter accounts for:

• Liz Lemon (Tina Fey on 30 Rock)
• Michael Scott (Steve Carell on The Office)
• Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson on The Office)
• Darth Vader
• Borat (with over 5,000 followers!)
• Norman Dale (Gene Hackman from the movie Hoosiers – seems abandoned, but you get the point)

That’s a lot of fake Twitterers! Perhaps a real fake Twitter account might bring in the right audience to kick-start your communication strategy.

Half advertisement, half action series, TNT’s new short-form series Lucky Chance is a high-speed romp through a what feels like a student film inspired by the fast editing style, one-liner quipping actors, and outlandish mobsters in Guy Richie’s Snatch.

The series, which consists of twenty 2-minute episodes, airs on TNT (and almost as an afterthought, online) during the commercial breaks of episodes of Bones and Law & Order, and is essentially a commercial in itself.

The story follows DEA undercover agent Lucky Chance (yes, that’s his name, and he carries around a pair of lucky dice to prove it) who murders some dishonest cops, and must race to clear his name. Along the way, we find out that his red lingerie-sporting girlfriend is one of the agents asked to bring him in.

The style of each episode is certainly frenetic, with fast, chaotic camera moves and jump cuts, which unfortunately don’t match the slow, story-driven movement of the shows they support. And in a strange editing tactic, lines of dialogue are shown on screen, as if to engage the half-watching viewer.

The series is heavy with product placement, primarily from the 2009 Dodge Challenger. The show itself feels like a series of scenes connected by shots of a Challenger racing over the desert sand at sunset: the same gorgeous shots you’d expect of a car commercial. Other consumer products are introduced just as obviously: the cold and brooding Lucky oddly orders a “Fiji Water” at a bar and the barkeep drops it right in the middle of them. Each character’s mobile phone also gets a fair amount of screen time.

The strategy behind the series (and likely the similar-sounding upcoming series Blank Slate, sponsored by Acura) is to serve as a “Tivo-killer” to keep viewers from fast-forwarding through the commercials. It’s a tactic we’ll see more of as overall TV ad spending decreases, and, done well, it will provide an opportunity to add value to viewers’ experiences.

However, in Lucky Chance, the characters are thinly developed and the dialogue is a series of colloquial sayings and semi-puns about gambling. And unfortunately, neither of these things can be covered up with any amount of fast cars and fast editing.

But here’s something that might bridge the gap:

WSJ reports that Vogue is lending its brand and audience to a reality web series that follows around three young up-and-coming models. Model.Live is set to launch in August.

Highlights from the article:

• 12 weekly 8-minute episodes (96 total minutes)
• The 3 models will blog in addition to their videos, and will connect with viewers on Bebo
• $3 million to produce ($31,000 per minute!)
• Streamed on-demand at Vogue.tv (also distributed at Veoh and Hulu)
• Lead sponsor Express paid “in the low seven figures”
  (Product placement is key. viewers can direct-link to buy the clothing the models are wearing. See: Video Clix writeup)
• Vogue promised Express 83.4 million ad impressions

If you estimate Express’ ad buy at $1.25 million, they’re paying about a $15 CPM. That seems right on target, and perhaps even low. Daisy Whitney reported last month that advertisers pay the networks a $25 CPM for TV-run spots and upwards of $40-$75 for an online run of the same show (though the views are less, there are fewer ad impressions).

If that’s the case, then it seems like Vogue is getting a steal, but WSJ forgot to mention one thing: if Express paid just over a million and the series cost three million, that’s a difference of almost two million dollars that needs to be made in second-tier sponsorships, second-run distribution, and other creative methods (DVD sales? Merch? A percentage of the three models’ career earnings in perpetuity?).

Almost $2 million seems like a big number to overcome after the launch and completion of the show.

But let’s not let the money get us off topic. While newspapers flounder and many popular magazines see subscription rates fall, perhaps a clever online video strategy could keep their enterprises afloat, and in a circular consumption strategy, both satisfy current readers and bring in new ones with fresh, interesting video content.

I think this really works for a couple of reasons:

Skim. Read. Watch. I think a large percentage of the public are now ready to integrate different formats of media. It’s now very commonplace to read about something in a print document, look it up online, read more, and watch a short clip… all connected to the same brand experience. I do this all the time at CNN, for example.

Niche Rules. Content is made for niche audiences. Inside jokes. Specific interests. While much of TV needs to be broad to bring in a big enough audience, most independent online video producers (ahem), would be happy with a smaller, more active and passionate audience that can justify a smaller, more effective production budget.

Audience and Marketing. Magazines have two things that online video really needs, that TV already has down. A core audience and a mechanism to influence them. Part of the reason TV shows get so many viewers is the millions in advertising spent to promote them. Magazines already have a print publication ready to deliver related content, ads, and teasers.

Man, the more I think of it, this seems like a win-win-win. Video producers get paid, audiences get good content, and magazines get additional ad inventory.

Vogue Models a New Reality Series

Tricking your customers can add to the mystique of your product or brand, but it’s important to not overstep your boundaries. While people like to uncover a mystery, they don’t like to be the butt of a corporate joke.

The video mentions a viral video by Parrot, which manufactures hands-free Bluetooth cell devices, where a kid records his drivers ed sessions while he talks on the phone. With 485,000 views on YouTube, this video did a ton better than the other Parrot vs. Quail Parrot-backed viral campaign we mentioned a while back.

Surely this isn’t news to you. If so, where you been?

Aside from all the great buzz being hyped about this movie, there’s been some great viral online marketing done. First, there was Why So Serious, then Commit Your Friend, and then live events covered by MTV interns (Hollywood and New York).

One thing caught my eye: a trailer recut into what it would look like if The Joker’s After-Effects-competent henchmen got a hold of it.

Ledger aside, it’s a chilling effect on the dark nature of the character and the movie. And to think, someone might say, “Hey, they’re ruining the scenes! They’re literally drawing on what WB spent millions of dollars to shoot and create!”

Let’s learn a lesson from the biggest blockbuster hit of 2008 (yes, bigger than Iron Man): no footage (and no brand) is too precious to not take a chance at telling a compelling story.

If you have trustworthy people with video-editing skills, let them mash up some footage. Let them experiment with your brand in their eyes. After all, they’re already brand ambassadors to their circle. Why not give them some slack on the leash. You might find viral gold.

Now there’s two new shows from TNT: Blank Slate from Acura and Lucky Change from Dodge.

Cars are a perfect product placement for web series because they can add high-energy to any story. I’m excited to see how low-budget car chases translate into web series…

Nissan, Kia, Honda, and Ford… we’re here and have some pitches for you… where you at?