Videoactive Vault

Bing is Microsoft's much anticipated search engine, but Microsoft would much rather you refer to it as a decision engine. The idea is that it makes more decisions for the consumer by answering their queries on the results page, without having to click through hundreds of results. Getting people to “Bing it” won’t come cheap. Microsoft is spending an estimated 100 million dollars on their advertising campaign.

Google's newest venture is called the Wave. It is essentially an e-mail sevice, with the addition of multiple forms of communication. It will feature instant message, photo galleries, widgets, and games. Its purpose is to replace the two most important ways of communication on the internet – e-mail and instant messaging. The only way for it to truly be useful for consumers is if everybody can communicate with each other. So if you want to learn how to ride The Wave, take a look at top screen two for a preview.

Online video is the fastest growing medium in the history of the world! The report, from media research consultant Trendstream, found that in one week, 97 million Americans viewed a streaming clip online. With a 72 percent lead, web video easily beat out blogging and social networking. At 27 percent, homemade content is the most popular content to upload. The Trendstream report supplies a lot of other insightful statistics on the success of online video.

Oddcast, the New York based company that has created tons of social media and viral marketing campaigns for big brands like Kellogs, Fox, and M&M’s, just announced Wednesday that it has released an embeddable widget version of its 3D VideoStar technology. Check out top screen three to see how this interactive technology can engage you in ways that no other typical marketing campaign could.

Hawthorne Direct just made their Creative team one of the strongest in the business. Along with their hit-producing veteran Paul Allen, they have now added award-winning producer Melissa Higgins. The result: two, top-of-the-line creative directors. Higgins has 13 years experience in Direct Response and over 25 years in General Advertising, TV broadcasting and feature films. As Hawthorne's second Los Angeles based Creative Director, Higgins will be responsible for the concept, script, look and feel of specific clients' DRTV creative and production projects.

A recent MediaPost article found that only 8% of respondents said they use the Internet to watch re-purposed TV shows. At the same time, a New York Times article tells how the amazingly popular Susan Boyle performance has been viewed 220 million times online. This insightful piece juxtaposes the two articles, finding that consumers want to have their cake, and eat it too.

Analytics company, TubeMogul, is spreading its wings. Its new application can track an array of measures for Web video, such as how long users view specific clips, where the Web video traffic is derived from and how viewership patterns might differ by geography. Some of the most popular interactive video websites, including Brightcove, DailyMotion MetaCafe, Blip.tv and Break.com, have all signed for TubeMogul's new tool. The question is, does a company want to broadcast to the world that its content is unpopular with consumers?

Avi Savar, founder and CEO of Big Fuel Communications, has a lot of experience with online video advertising. In a recent Adotas article, he offers his advice for successful online video advertising. Number one and most important is that you need to tell a story. Number two, add an element of surprise. Number three, make them laugh, make them cry, elicit some kind of emotion. Read on for more tips in this insightful article.