The MoPR Blog

I’m a big fan of new video service, Animoto (http://animoto.com) – an online video application that lets users create their own professionally produced videos using photos and music, masterfully combined by Animoto to produce a unique piece of art. Leveraging Animoto’s own patent-pending technology and high-end motion design, each video is a fully customized orchestration of user-selected images and music. Produced in a widescreen format, Animoto videos have the visual energy of a music video and the emotional impact of a movie trailer. And because they are completely personalized, the impact is even more inspiring.

Upload photos – select music – out comes your own music video!

Animoto Productions was formed by a group of techies and film/tv producers - including veterans of the entertainment industry that have produced shows for MTV, Comedy Central and ABC.

At the heart of Animoto is its “Cinematic Artificial Intelligence” technology that “thinks like an actual director and editor.” It basically analyzes and combines user-selected images and music with the same sophisticated post-production skills & techniques that are used in television and film. And while I fancy myself a creative photographer – this service blows away my abilities when it comes to compiling the photos and organizing them to music. Not to mention – it’s totally automated (in other words – there is very little room for user error).

I tried out the service earlier this year by creating a video short using some photos of my oldest son’s 9th birthday party. His party had a Hollywood theme, complete with red carpet and the party guests dressed to the nines, so the photos were perfect for a slick video slideshow. I uploaded a dozen pictures, selected a rockin’ tune from the Animoto library, and BAM! — Animoto’s video engine analyzed the photos, set them to music, and spit out a professional looking video featuring my photos. My son thought I was a technology genius when I showed him the finished result. His exact quote was, “Dude. That rocks. I’m a movie star.” You can check out that video sample here: http://animoto.com/play/c6eb0f8f69ecf2974f2816cb938efee5

This week I revisited the service to create this video from some of the photos of the MoPR mini-offsite at the Spa at Caesars’ Palace in Las Vegas during CTIA 2008. Check it out here: http://animoto.com/play/E4CuI0xBOvJYW560oRIcWw

Part of what’s fun with Animoto is seeing how it produces fully-customized videos depending on what music you choose. They give you the choice of pulling songs from your personal music library or using one of the songs from their library – so the options are unlimited. Try a mellow song. Then remix your video using a more upbeat song. You’ll get two very different productions. In my personal tests of the service I did find that I preferred the use of horizontal photos to vertically-oriented photos. Given the widescreen format, the horizontal pictures just look better.

If creating the professional looking video with so little user effort isn’t impressive enough on its own, Animoto takes it a step further, allowing users to post the videos to a number of social networking sites, YouTube or even their own blogs or websites using the provided code and simple instructions.

Posting your new video to Facebook from the Animoto site is literally two clicks. And speaking of Facebook, Animoto has a neat Facebook application you can download from the link at the bottom of their homepage: www.Animoto.com, or from inside Facebook in the video application section. With the Animoto Facebook app you can automatically create videos from the photos you have saved in your Facebook albums. The Facebook application has all of the same functionality that you have from the Animoto site, so for those of you who are managing your photos and sharing them using Facebook, this is a great solution for you.

I noticed this week that Animoto is presenting at one of MoPR’s favorite conferences – Under the Radar. Animoto will be participating in Under the Radar’s Social Media and Entertainment themed event June 3rd in Mountain View, CA. I’m going to stick my neck out with a prediction that Animoto wins one of the coveted judges’ choice or audience choice awards at the event (perhaps even both). I know if I was in the voting audience, they would have a very strong chance of getting my vote. The other companies in their category best bring their A-Game!

I think there is a natural progression for the Animoto application to move to the mobile platform; especially with the prevalence of mobile phones with high-quality cameras. I would love to see the company work with Apple to add the app to the iPhone platform. Imagine taking pictures with the iPhone camera, then having the option in the ‘save as’ list to tag the photos for Animoto video creation. Then from the iPhone screen you could open Animoto, select which pictures you wanted included in your new video, pick a song from your iTunes library on your phone, name it, and hit “create my video.” Your videos could be stored on the iPhone, sent automatically to your blog and/or social networking profile pages, or emailed to friends to share.

With the popularity of user generated content sites soaring, Animoto should look to partner with some of the video sites and popular events to showcase user created videos made up of user photos from a particular event. For example, conferences could offer a page showing all of the videos created by users with conference photos. High schools and colleges could add pages to their websites with videos created by students, and sports teams could show off their talents by showcasing collections of videos made up of action shots of athletes in motion promoting the team.

Animoto’s software works flawlessly, is ultra simple to use, and provides real value. The free service is perfect for the casual user and the professional service – which lets you create unlimited full-length videos that you can download and save to your own computer – is a bargain and worth every cent of the $30 annual fee.

BONUS: If you are ready to give the service a try for yourself, here is a special reader discount code that will save you $5 off of the annual service fee: klyrtgvh

We’ve been telling our clients for years that they need to be blogging, have a strong online presence and use online tools to spread the word about their product, strengthen their brand, and achieve the corporate transparency that is expected by customers and partners in today’s business climate.

A new report from Universal McCann proves the very message we’ve been shouting from the mountaintops: If you don’t have some sort of social media strategy, your brand and message will get lost.

Need some proof? A compelling paragraph from the report says:

Contributing to the internet has never been as accessible and less technical. Innovations in web development, computing technology and the proliferation of broadband have come together to drive monumental consumer take up. This is why the phenomenon of social media is important now – it has the potential to impact on all our media consumption therefore shifting the emphasis from professional content producers to the consumer.

So, I’m guessing half of the readers of this post are thinking to themselves, “Great, then we’re covered. We have a blog and we understand the value of online communities.”

The other half? Read on.

The report, “Power to the people: Social Media Tracker” has some compelling stats and lays it out on just how much people [e.g., YOUR customers and potential customers] are using social media to find information:

• 57% have joined a social network, making it the number one platform for creating and sharing content
• 55% of users have uploaded photos
• 22% of users have uploaded videos

Also according to the report, the role for advertisers and brands has never had so much potential – branded applications, content and services all offer huge promise for grand results and return on investment in social media.

And what about blogs - the red-headed stepchildren of traditional mainstream media (MSM)? The report claims blogs are a “mainstream media world-wide and as a collective rival any traditional media.”

Wow.

That’s why most traditional print publications – many struggling to stay alive with sagging circulation numbers and a slumping economy – are finally offering complementary and exclusive online content.

And television is included in this mix, too.

Smarter networks with television shows such as Lost and American Idol have poured money into building and maintaining active online communities; offering sneak peaks and exclusive features for online viewers along with various opportunities to interact within the community with like mined fans.

The report also proves why the PR community takes bloggers more seriously. We plan entire programs to ensure we are communicating effectively with them. We read their work and engage in interactive exchanges with them. We pitch them exclusive content and offer them breaking news on a level playing field with the industry and business publications. And at the end of the day, it’s why we consider a client mention in a blog post often times just as valuable as a mention in a traditional mainstream media outlet.

Sure, getting a client on the cover of Time is still a fantastic win. But at the same time consistent, accurate coverage in a blog that has a pure, core readership made up of the same audience our client is trying to reach should also be considered a homerun.

If that’s not enough to convince you to jump into the social media fray, here’s one last stat:

Social media impacts your brand’s reputation – and so does NOT having conversations with your customers, partners and employees.

• 34% post opinions about products and brands on their blog
• 36% think more positively about companies that have blogs

So, you DO have a blog right? Your CEO or executive team is blogging about new products, issues and trends in your industry, and making themselves available to an audience that expects to have a two-way conversation.

They’re not?

Then we need to talk. Give us a call or drop us an email. We can help you.

The SpinVox doll kicks back in MoPR’s Museum of Mobility Lounge.

Imagine you’re in an important meeting and your cell phone rings. You have your phone on silent but that dreaded light pops on your screen or your phone starts to do its vibrating dance that means you have a voicemail. But you can’t listen to it. What does it say? Did you leave the stove on at home? Are the kids waiting at school for you to pick them up? Is it really your anniversary already (and you need to pick up flowers)? Is there another meeting you’re supposed to be in? The suspense could kill you, or at least take years off of your life.

You might want to try SpinVox. If you went to CTIA, you probably noticed their amazing booth - the one with the halo of Barbie-like dolls with boxes surrounding their heads and their feet dangling in rows. I was one of the lucky ones to score my very own SpinVox doll from the booth.

SpinVox is a tool that captures spoken messages and converts them into text that can be read immediately. So when you’re sitting in that meeting, you have the ability to read what your mystery voicemail message says. It would certainly assure that the message is picked up… quickly, and without an audible disruption to your meeting. Simply put: with SpinVox, you can manage your voicemails more efficiently.

SpinVox also offers other helpful features, including tools for sending messages. For example, when you want to send a message, SpinVox lets you choose a specific destination – inbox, blog, wall or space - speak or type the message, and the service will automatically distribute it, via text, immediately. Talk (pun intended) about an excellent tool for social networking.

With SpinVox you can even leave yourself personal reminders ala the old Norm McDonald into-the-mini-cassette recorder “note to self” skits on SNL.

I know I’m not the only one who can be difficult to understand when talking too fast, but apparently that’s not a problem for the technology magic behind the scenes at SpinVox. The company’s Voice Message Conversion System, known as ‘D2’ (a.k.a. the Brain), captures your spoken words and spits them out as text content. I tested it talking in my usual rapid tone, and it performed perfectly.

I’m confident I’ll be using the SpinVox service myself - especially the auto post feature. During the NBA playoffs you can bet I’ll have lots to say as the Spurs take on the Suns, and with SpinVox my thoughts can be mainlined right to my blog. Go Suns!