BRANDING UNBOUND

Interview: Ben Relles, Creator of 'I've Got A Crush On Obama'

Unless you’ve been living on another planet – or have an unnaturally healthy aversion to political news – you’ve already experienced the viral video sensation “I’ve Got A Crush On Obama. “

The brainchild of 32-year-old Agency.com executive Ben Relles, the video stars actress Amber Lee Ettinger as “Obama Girl,” who gyrates provocatively as she lip syncs to lyrics from Leah Kauffman and music from Rick Friedrich.

The video, posted on YouTube on Wednesday, June 13, was within hours the subject of reports from ABC News, MSNBC and Fox News. At this writing, the political spoof has been viewed 1.5 million times via YouTube, and countless other times on news programs.

It is not Relles' first foray into user-generated content. He and friends Kauffman and Friedrich first made waves last year with “My Box in a Box,” a spoof of the “My Junk In A Box”skits on Saturday Night Live.

But “Obama” is taking on a life of its own on both the wireline and wireless Net, as part of a new effort from Relles and friends called Barely Political.com, a new site set to feature homespun videos and other content about all things political.

If it becomes a factor in the 2008 presidential elections, Relles wouldn’t be bother a bit, much less surprised.

Rather, it’d be indicative of a new reality taking shape in online media.

I caught up with Relles for a Generation Wow interview to find out more.

(Approx. 10 min)

Quick Links:

GENERATION WOW: The World of Multiplatform Marketing
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
BRANDING UNBOUND IN ADWEEK Magazines
Rick Mathieson.com

 

ABC News Unbound: 'iCaught' Interviews Rick On User-Generated Content

ABC News Interviews Rick For User Generated Content Show

Is ABC News going all "Online Nation" on us?

I posted a few weeks ago about how the CW television network is set to launch a new user-generated content show this fall that's all about funky viral videos culled form Web sites, mobile phones, blogs and more.

Turns out ABC News is thinking about far more ambitious - and is giving a show called "i-Caught" a six-week run starting August 6.

Variety reports that amateur video will form the basis of the show's segments, but ABC News correspondents will build news stories and features around video captured on cell phones or digicams and uploaded to a companion Web site set to launch in July.

Had the whole "I've Got A Crush On Obama" viral video had hit the week of August 6, this is the show it'd be featured on. But "i-Caught" won't just cover the trivial. The show will cover breaking news; celebrity journalism; investigations; and stories of politics, crime, Internet hoaxes or just the moments of everyday life.

"The watershed event that changed newsgathering was the London terror attack in 2005," executive producer David Sloan recently told Variety. "There were people on that subway who did not know if they would live or die, but they got out their cell phones and started shooting."

A few days ago, an ABC News "20/20" producer contacted me for input on a possible segment on what's hot in agency-created and user-generated online content created specifically to promote products.

It was a great conversation about some of the many ways brand marketers are capitalizing on the unique "creative-power-to-the-people" dynamic emerging in our popular culture as embodied by the rise of YouTube and the you-can-be-a-star ethos "American Idol."

While our conversation mostly focused on consumer packaged goods brands, ABC needn't look far for examples of creative use of agency-created video to promote media properties.

Its viral use of video for "The 'Lost' Experience," for instance, is a case study on using YouTube and other venues to build fandemonium for shows like "Lost" - as evidenced in my three-part interview with Mike Bensen, SVP of Marketing for ABC Entertainment.

But ABC's own use of video of the user-generated kind is where it has really shined.

User-generated content, after all, is at the center of ABC's longest running comedy series.

Perhaps you've heard of it.

It's called "America's Funniest Home Videos."

Quick Links:

GENERATION WOW: The World of Multiplatform Marketing
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
BRANDING UNBOUND IN ADWEEK Magazines
Rick Mathieson.com

 

CW's New Show 'Online Nation' Brings User-Generated Content To Primetime

Well never let it be said that "CW" stands for "conventional wisdom."

The upstart net has slated a new show for next fall that's all about funky viral videos culled from websites, mobile phones, blogs and more. It's kind of the Boobtube for the YouTube generation (maybe "BYOBTube" - ans in "Bring Your Own Boobs Tube").

At any rate, the LA Times is reporting that the show will be co-hosted by Stevie Ryan, best known online as Little Loca on YouTube. She joins the likes of Rocketboom's Amanda Congdon and Lisa Donovan ("LisaNova") in making the jump from the Net to a net.

Apparently the original title for the show was "User Generated Show."

But isn't it really just "America's Funniest Home Videos Revisited?"

Don't anybody tell Bob Saget.

Quick Links:

Generation Wow
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
ADWEEK Magazines Excerpt
Rick Mathieson.com