Do you want to see how "Chuck Norris" will blend?
Take notice: This company is a prime example of a small but growing group of businesses that have cracked the code to success on the video-centric Internet.
Online video has certainly been the topic du jour this year, as major media companies respond to consumer demand for anytime, anywhere access to their favorite programs. But Internet video's real potential is not in watching "Lost" or "The Office" online or even downloading those shows to your cell phone or iPod. It's about giving YOUR consumers what they want in the most engaging medium available.
We are still in the early stages of this shift from static text and graphics to a more dynamic, visually compelling medium, but we are approaching a tipping point. Video is no longer an afterthought or an add-on for Internet-savvy businesses -- but the primary content featured on their Internet sites.
Online user expectations have changed dramatically in the past decade, and businesses that don't evolve their Internet strategies to accommodate this change are about to get a painful wake-up call.
From Radio to Online Video
It's well-documented that people prefer a visually dynamic medium when it comes to being entertained or getting information. Radio was once the primary source of news, music and other entertainment for a large part of the population. Then came TV, followed by VCRs, TiVo and iPods. Video is having the same dramatic impact on the Internet. The Solutions Research Group predicts that total hours spent with video-based entertainment will average eight hours per day by early 2013 -- the equivalent of an entire night's sleep -- and a majority of those hours will belong to online video.
Most fascinating about the emergence of the video-centric Internet is that it is NOT being driven by news and entertainment providers. The vast majority of businesses riding the video wave are non-media organizations, ranging from small neighborhood retailers and restaurants to powerhouse brands like Nike and Apple. These businesses all have an intense desire to deliver a strong brand impression, create an engaging experience, and instill customer loyalty. The Internet is now the primary customer touch point and commerce channel for these organizations, and video delivers the compelling Internet experiences that educate, entertain, and keep customers coming back.
The Video-Centric Enterprise
You can ENGAGE your customers, partners and prospects with product demonstrations, presentations and how-to videos. Apple, being the master marketer, keeps rolling out 30-minute videos, that are part guide, part advertisement to accompany its new iSomething.
Beyond these marketing examples, investors will be able to access corporate data in video form, whether it is an annual meeting, a message from the CEO or a video news release. Internally, video will become a primary form of communication. Think of a broadcast greeting embedded in a personal email or executive video memos -- the latter of which is already being done by early video adopters such as British Telecom. Video libraries will usher in a new phase of knowledge sharing and best practices, as employees access huge repositories of education and training videos.
The most sophisticated online video practitioners will become a de facto broadcast network constantly issuing news and information to their customers, partners, distributors, employees, and the public at large too. And why not? The cost of distributing or syndicating your content is already approaching zero to roll your own version of "Will it Blend?"
Cybercast credit: YouTube
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