Online video arrives with a five ring circus

In case you’ve been under a rock for a the last week, I’ll let you know that the Olympics are here people! And the best part is, if that’s news to you, you haven’t missed a thing! Let me explain… The Olympics create an international buzz that is virtually unmatched. They create heroes that nations will remember for lifetimes. They bring warring nations together. And most importantly, they cause myself and possibly even billions of other people become fascinated with things that they would NEVER even pay the mildest bit of attention to...

ROFLCon? TGTBT!

How amazing is this? It would be an easy argument to make that the fan conventions attract one of popular cultures most dedicated audiences. But a new kind of fan convention has gone ahead and created perhaps the most niche gathering of “fans” in history. The First Annual ROFLCon (from the messenger acronym ‘Rolling On the Floor Laughing’) was held last weekend in Cambridge, Massachusets and this net fiend for one, hopes it’s not also the last annual. The event brought together an “A-List” unlike one ever seen before – an A-List for the internet...

Why the (All) Stars may never shine

Okay that pun was a little ridiculous. Sorry. But with the NHL, NFL and NBA having just completed their respective All-Star games season, we’re now officially through a time of the year that the niche we call “sports fans” are coming to loathe more and more. The problem is that as the leagues move to make these events showcases of their games to the fans, they’re moving closer and closer to some hybrid of the Academy Awards and the Battle of the Network Stars and further and further away from the fierce and competitive action which fills their...

Readers getting high on magic Pot(ter)

I can never resist using a bad pun for a title – especially when it’s even remotely accurate.  Lucky for me, this one fits perfectly, as the events of the past week have shown. To the interested observer (that’s me), the release of the final Harry Potter book in the septology (?) has only proven to only solidify what we’ve known for some time now – people love reading about this kid.  While it started out as a phenomenon of the very young, the fuss around J.K. Rowling‘s adventures at the mythical Hogwarts school for wizards has grown...

Conservapedia and Liberal niche branding

Just a quick note on something that is worthy of note. Last week on Lewis Black’s “Back in Black” segment on the The Daily Show, Lewis featured (as only Lewis can) a great example of something we’re sure to see more of as the web evolves.  The portal in question is called “Conservapedia“.  If the title itself didn’t bash you over the head with its obvious nature, perhaps we should let its, apparently more Liberal predecessor, Wikipedia, explain: “Conservapedia is a wiki-based encyclopedia project with the stated purpose...

Berating seven year olds and your brand on the wild, wild web

While I rarely talk about my work, our company (among other things) produces convergent media properties for pre-schoolers called This is Daniel Cook and This is Emily Yeung.  If you have kids under 10, you’ve probably heard of them. The backstory is that in 2004 Daniel hit the airwaves and immediately started to stir up as much chatter as I’ve ever seen around a pre-school property.  The show featured Daniel Cook – yes, that’s his real name – heading out to explore the world one six minute adventure at a time and all the while asking...

Head On, but not too direct

I was watching Jeopardy last night and as Johnny Gilbert took us out, the extro music was, as usual, interrupted by messages from the program’s sponsors. As anyone who’s watched Jeopardy recently (and is neurotic enough to pay attention to these things) knows, one of the products which departing contestants receive is something called “Head On”. Anyone who’s seen these ads will know what I’m talking about, but for those who haven’t, this is one of the most unique ad campaigns I’ve encountered. And by unique, I mean that,...

At the CNMA – the evolution of Nerd

Last night I attended the 7th annual Canadian New Media Awards.  It was a nice little night and more than a few friends brought home what has to be one of the nicest trophies going on the awards scene. Hardware aside, the event was marketed as “Nerds Night Out”, a quirky little hook that pokes fun at those of us who make our living in the creative technology industry that some still cling to calling ‘new media’.  But were they really poking fun? To lead off the show, we watched a video put together by the good folks at BiteTV, featuring their...

Now there’s no excuse to forget my birthday

Yup. That’s right. I got older. And in order to mark this occasion with as self-servingly as possible, I thought it best to blog about everybody’s favourite niche – birthdays… alright, maybe not everybody’s, but you get the idea. I believe that a birthday is a wonderful thing because for one day and one day only, I’m able to make my friends do whatever it is I want – and with the help of modern marketers, my options for how I achieve this are growing by the year. These people should be applauded for their efforts in making it...

Changing niches – a PSPanic attack?

I haven’t been writing in this space too long, but one thing I’ve been committed to in any of my posts is that in niche marketing, you need to respect your audience, but even more importantly, to really know your audience. That’s why it’s really surprised me to see Sony have a mild panic attack lately with its PSP handheld game system. The reality is that even though the gaming industry as a whole is extremely mainstream at this point in its lifecycle (which I’ll blog about at a later time), the handheld gaming industry is indeed a niche. ...