Xbox One Gets More Social With Update

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While the PlayStation 4 may still lead the sales charts as of June, Microsoft isn’t standing still. The latest update to the Xbox One is due to roll out in August, and Xbox spokesman Larry Hyrb, better known as Major Nelson, previewed the new features on his blog.

The biggest new feature is focused on improving the social experience of Xbox One, looking to make sharing game experiences with friends easier. “We’re adding new ways for you to interact with friends in the activity feed,” noted Hyrb in his blog. “The interface will change to a single column scrolling list that is longer and includes more content. We’ll add the ability to post text to your feed, and to “like” and comment on feed items. You can share game clips and anything else in the feed with friends either publicly (to your activity feed) or privately (as an attachment to a message). You’ll also be notified when anyone likes, comments on or shares your items. Each user will get a personal feed on their profile, so you can see what specific friends have been up to. And, with SmartGlass, you can see what your friends have shared to their activity feed and “like” specific posts (additional activity feed support coming in future SmartGlass updates).”

Additionally, the Friends area will be expanded on the Home screen, so you can see what your friends are doing on Xbox One – including a leaderboard so you can see just who’s doing the best on their Gamerscore.

The new update also provides a much-requested feature, one that the PlayStation 4 has had from the beginning: The ability to purchase a game or DLC from you mobile phone (using Xbox SmartGlass or Xbox.com) and have your console automatically begin downloading. So you can buy a game while you’re on the road and find it waiting for you, ready to play, when you get home.

There are other new features as well which Hyrb details in his blog post.

Source: MajorNelson.com

 

Target Dresses YouTubers To Push Brand To College-Aged Shoppers

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By Sahil Patel

In an effort to reach millennials, many of whom will be focused on back-to-school shopping in a couple of weeks, Target is going where this generation watches content — YouTube.

The retailer will prominently feature a group of four YouTube stars as part of a multi-show online video campaign called “Best Year Ever,” centering on back-to-school shopping. Each member of the quartet — Todrick Hall, Ann Le, Tiffany Garcia, and Michael Balalis (Mikey Bolts) — will star in his or her own show that provide lucky guests with dorm-room makeovers.

Each star will be assisted by interior designer Veronica Valencia, and will provide makeover tips and recommendations using products sold at Target stores.

Spanning four episodes each, the shows will be available on Target’s YouTube channel, which has more than 26,000 subscribers (compared to the four YouTubers, who collectively reach more than 4.5 million subscribers). The campaign begins with Hall’s show, which runs this week.

Why is Target using YouTubers for a video campaign The answer is pretty obvious and one that you’ve heard from any brand that embraces YouTube creators. “You have to go where the millennial generation is,” said Rick Gomez, SVP of brand and category marketing for Target, in an interview with The New York Times. “YouTube celebrities have a built-in fan base and get a ton of exposure.”

It’s not the first time Target has dipped into the YouTube well. Last year, the brand aired “Bullseye University,” a live-streaming program that featured five YouTube stars, including Chester See and Tessa Violet (meekakitty), living in Target-designed dorm rooms for 96 consecutive hours.

“Millennials are influenced by a lot of different sources, especially social platforms,” added Gomez in that same interview. “We’re going to those who have credibility on those channels, using them as thought leaders.”

This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.

Pinterest’s Next Steps For Ad Platform

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Pinterest has updated its site to make it that much easier for consumers to explore specific interests. Now each category has a whole new selection of specialized interests to explore, a feature agency execs are already looking toward its potential advertising uses.

In the past Pinterest formated pins around broad categories like “Home Decor.” Now, however, when users click on these pins they’ll be able to find pins curated to interests as narrow as “industrial design” and “man caves.”

According to Digiday, Pinterest is under the process of introducing ads to its platform, however, a Pinterest spokesperson said there are no immediate plans to allow advertisers to target users based upon the interest pages they chose to follow. With this being said, Pinterest is a platform that relies solely on advertising for revenue, so it’s safe to say that if interest pages become popular with users, ads will be sold against them.

“All we’re trying to do is go deeper based upon targeting people on interest. The ability to hit them in that context makes a lot of sense,”  said Jordan Bitterman, chief strategy officer at media agency Mindshare.

According to Jill Sherman, group director of social and content strategy at Digitas, the 32 categories on Pinterest (such as “Education,” “Gardening,” and “Technology”) were too broad to serve specific ads.  Agency execs tend to describe Pinterest as a visual search engine and adding interest collections can only enhance that database.

“It was basically a collection of boards. Now it’s much more: a very deep directory of interest,” said Razorfish’s global vice president of social media, Chris Bowler.

Pinterest plans to utilize these interest pages and broaden its appeal. Providing more pinpointed collections could attract even more users

“This is where the entire social world is going; niche communities that have much higher receptivity than your broad-based Facebook and Twitter platforms,” Bowler said. “This is Pinterest’s way of serving a community of rock climbers versus someone creating another online community around rock climbing.”

This tool caters to people’s interests and makes Pinterest more appealing to consumers, and more alluring to ad buyers, which, in return will surely result in an increase of time spent on the app by its users.

‘Weird Al’ Yankovic Finds Online Success

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How do you get the attention of the music industry By doing something bold and unique – and not to mention hilarious.

“Weird Al” Yankovic, who has been making waves in the music industry since the 80’s with such lampooning songs as “Eat It” and “Amish Paradise,” made a triumphant return this week, just in time for the launch of his new album Mandatory Fun, which arrived last Tuesday.

Over the past eight days, “Weird Al” has managed to launch a new video a day, featuring a song from his Mandatory Fun album. Most noteworthy was the first release, “Tacky,” which debuted last Monday. The song, which parodies Pharrell Williams’ “Happy,” features an oddly dressed Yankovic having a ball with bad fashion choices. Other popular stars joined him, including Aisha Tyler and Jack Black.

Other videos focused on similar themes, partnered through the likes of College Humor, Yahoo! and other sites. These included a song devoted to typical sports themes, a dialogue-driven take on Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” under the new name “Word Crimes,” and a humorous approach to repair work, under the name “Handy.”

The move has been an essential one for Yankovic, and a popular one at that. Hundreds of thousands of fans have been taking to Twitter and Facebook to share the links, assuring that his popularity is still surging – especially with spot-on parodies as he normally does.

Of course, all of this effort hasn’t been just to tweak musical artists. It’s been an excellent promotion for Yankovic, with the staging being an important part. Releasing these videos one after another has helped build the buzz, and amplified the story both on social media and mass media. It’s a master class in promotion and marketing as well as being a hell of a lot of fun.

You can see all the videos at this link. Prepare for laughs.

Source: Weird Al Official

 

Sony Dropped Eight Million Flower Petals On A Costa Rican Village To Promote TV

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In an effort to promote their new line of televisions, Sony dropped eight million vibrantly colored flower petals (three and a half tons) on a Costa Rican village in hopes to advocate for the quality, definition and representation of their new TVs, which promises four-times the detail of HD.

The epic photo shoot was captured by photographer Nick Meek and filmmaker Jaron Albertin, and organized by McCann. The idea for the promotion was to cover the area near the Irazú Volcano – located in central Costa Rica – with a flower petal for every pixel in Sony’s 4K Ultra HD TV.

According to Sony’s behind-the-scenes video, the crew hand-picked the most vibrant flowers they could find in the region to submerge the streets with color and then seized the breathtaking  spectacle with almost no digital manipulation.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=q2DdtkDK7w0

https://youtube.com/watch?v=3fZ_QVHUa00

Source: PSFK

 

Best New Game Trailers For The Week

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Welcome back to another round of the best new game trailers for the week. We’ve got six fresh new trailers from upcoming games that are sure to get players excited, with a little something for everyone.

First up is Warner Bros.’ Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, the company’s mature-themed action/adventure game, set in the world of The Lord of the Rings. This latest video shows the behind-the-scenes work going into the game, including the cinematic philosophy that the developers at Monolith are putting into it, as well as the motion capture process. The game will arrive on October 7th for various consoles and PC.

Next up is the pre-order trailer for Sega’s forthcoming Alien: Isolation, a survival horror game where the player must scramble for survival to avoid being devoured by nasty creatures. With the DLC pack, players will be able to revisit the Nostromo, the setting for the 1979 film Alien. Various actors from the film will return to voice their respective characters, including Sigourney Weaver as Ripley. The game will arrive this October.

A new beta for Activision’s space epic Destiny is set to kick off for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 this week, as well as Xbox 360 and Xbox One next week. To get players excited for the latest go-around with this title, Activision, alongside the developers at Bungie, have released a new trailer that highlights what players can expect from the new missions and maps. Lock and load, soldier. The game hits retail on September 9th.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=_4aQzebdHv4

In a new trailer for Warner Bros.’ upcoming fighting game Mortal Kombat X, a familiar lightning god makes his return. The powerful Raiden, who’s been a staple in the series since its debut over 20 years ago, returns in this forthcoming sequel, more super-charged than ever before. The game will make its debut on various game consoles in 2015.

Not to be outdone by Mortal Kombat, Nintendo announced some new additions to the Super Smash Bros. roster this week, including the return of Captain Falcon from F-Zero fame, as well as two new faces from Fire Emblem – Lucina and Robin, in both male and female form. The roster continues to grow stronger as the game inches towards its late 2014 release on Wii U and Nintendo 3DS.

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Last but certainly not least, Bandai Namco announced a surprise title during the EVO 2K fighting tournament in Las Vegas this weekend – the return of Tekken in a new 7th edition. Tekken 7 will be powered by Unreal Engine 4 technology, making it the best-looking edition in the series to date. No release date was given, but more details will be revealed next week during San Diego Comic-Con.

Source: YouTube

 

Companies Joining Up With Music Festivals

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Companies sponsoring music festivals is nothing new in business, as sponsors step up all the time to partner with big artists to spread the word about mega-tours. However, some new deals with Jim Beam, Microsoft and Beats could introduce a new way this is getting done – through digital means.

Jim Beam, for example, partnered with Pitchfork in a new “Make History” campaign. As a result, Pitchfork will produce and film six after-show concerts at music festivals throughout the summer, including the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, taking place this weekend. From there, the content will feed through a micro-site, and be used through various campaigns.

The liquor company will host an arcade lounge with vintage pinball games, as well as a VIP area where consumers can try out their latest products. “WE are creating contextually relevant creative from the events that we’ve partnered (with Pitchfork on), so all of that is in the digital space, and then we’ve been able to bring that outside the digital space to really connect with the Pitchfork readers, Pitchfork fans and Jim Beam fans live as well,” said Hailey Kehoe, senior brand manager.

Beats Music is also partnering with Pitchfork, with its own backstage VIP lounge that lets folks demonstrate their mobile app and take part in a “Beats Seats” campaign, where they can win 20 free tickets for exclusive festival events.

As for Microsoft, with the help of Bonnaroo’s RFID (radio frequency identification) technology, that company promoted its cloud-based OneDrive software, giving said attendees the chance to check-in and collect photos from live performances across six different stages. From there, they could be uploaded to a OneDrive account and be viewed at their leisure.

“In the past, we’ve done something where you can connect your wristband to Facebook and Twitter and you’d be able to check in for different shows, but this is the first time that there was a content delivery piece associated with the program,” said Chad Issaq, evp, business development and partnerships at Superfly, owner and co-producer of Bonnaroo and Outside Lands.

These programs will continue throughout the year, and it wouldn’t be a shock to see these companies return for Lollapalooza in Chicago come August.

Source: Adweek

DiGiorno Gets Humorous With Twitter Account

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It’s not easy being cheesy — unless you’re running DiGiorno’s Pizza Twitter account, that is.

The frozen pizza chain has taken a lighthearted approach to the social scene with its Twitter account, located at @DiGiornoPizza. On it, it not only makes general comments about its product, but also live tweets with certain events, including televised World Wrestling Entertainment programming, as well as the recent Harry Potter film event that aired this past weekend on ABC Family.

In one example, DiGiorno playfully responded to ESPN’s #AskSportsCenter hashtag by asking, “are you having pizza for lunch today and if not why not”.

During the Harry Potter films, posts included, “I ‘WAND’ SOME PIZZA hahahaha almost time for bed #potterheadweekend” and “Severus Snape is someone who acts like he doesn’t want the last slice of pizza so you can have it #hero”.

It even poked fun at LeBron James’ recent decision to return to Cleveland, stating in a humorous tone, “‘I’m coming home’ — Your DiGiorno pizza on the way back from the store.”

The Sound of Music Live event got some DiGiorno love:

As a result, more and more customers have been following the account, which now has nearly 80,000 followers. Here’s hoping more corporate companies follow its, ahem, cheesy tone.

It’s an excellent example of how to create a social media following for the most ordinary of products. While people love pizza, it’s not something you really need an endless stream of information about. Creating interest in a subject that inherently doesn’t have a lot of new or interesting information coming out is a big challenge, one that DiGiorno has met admirably. Adroit use of humor as well as connections to current events are a good way to generate and sustain interest, and create a positive brand image that can stick with consumers the next time they happen to be in the right place to purchase.

You can follow the DiGiorno Twitter account here.

Source: DiGiorno Twitter

App Developers Next Target Demographic: Cats!

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According to a piece done by Kill Screen last week, developers like Martine Carlsen are beginning to develop apps specifically designed for cats. That’s right, cats.

Carlsen decided to try her hand at developing apps designated for cats after her own cats were “disinterested” with the cat gaming apps available on the app store at the time. The first cat gaming app she released featured a tiny virtual mouse moving across the screen while making “real mousey sounds.” It was called “Catch The Mouse.”

Carlsen’s website now features an abundance of cat gaming apps, including a gaming suite app that includes fly, goldfish, butterfly and spider “Catch” games in addition to the original “Catch The Mouse.” There are even paw painting and cat music apps, if you can believe it.

“The design of the game has to appeal to humans to ‘persuade’ them to purchase it, and it has to appeal to the cat to be a success,” Carlsen noted in her interview with Kill Screen. “One without the other is not enough.”

And, like humans, cats have preferences about which games they supposedly like. “Some cats will gladly attack everything that moves on the iPad screen, while others are more picky about even the most lifelike (virtual) mouse,” she explained. “I try to make games with catch objects that appeal to as many cats as possible, but you can’t please everybody (or every cat). It’s like buying an expensive toy for your kid; they take out the toy and play with the box instead. You never know!”In addition, according to Kill Screen, “the touch screen on a tablet is just as sensitive to the pads on their feet as it is to human fingertips.” So while cat gaming is only in beta, don’t expect it to go away anytime soon.

Source: Adweek

 

 

YouTube Sets Eyes On Funding Original Content By Top Talent

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By Sahil Patel

It might be the worst-kept secret in the online video industry; a few years after making a big splash in financing original content, YouTube is back at it again. (Or, more accurately, the site never quite stopped.)

First reported by Reuters, YouTube in recent months has approached a slew of Hollywood producers, agencies, and even YouTube-native content makers to create more premium programming for the site.

It’s not exactly a new development at the online video giant. YouTube has been pretty active in backing original content and providing production support over the past couple of years. For instance, the site operates multiple “YouTube Spaces” where content makers can go to access all sorts of development and production resources. What’s different now, according to sources, is that there seems to be a more focused strategy at play.

YouTube is approaching the creation of new content with two main criteria: 1) That all new programs feature creators who have already established a large audience on YouTube, and 2) That YouTube — naturally — will have exclusive rights to the programming.

That said, YouTube won’t gate the content forever. The site will indeed have the first window, but it’s also interested in funding projects that can be repackaged to succeed on other platforms, including SVOD and television — where long-form reigns.

It’s not just web series, either. Sources tell us that YouTube could also put money behind “low-budget” feature films, possibly spurred on by the success of “Camp Takota,” which starred the trio of Grace Helbig, Hannah Hart, and Mamrie Hart.

That said, with all of this still being in the exploratory stages, the types of creators YouTube works with, and the type of projects that are produced as a result, could still greatly vary.

In terms of funding, Reuters’ report indicates that YouTube might front $1 million to $3 million for the production of a new programming, and would provide some marketing support as well. That’s in line with what sources have told us, with some opting for the $2 million to $4 million range.

On a broader level, though, news that YouTube is interested in bringing more premium content to its site shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone. Consider what the site has already done in 2014: In addition to launching traditional and out-of-home media marketing campaigns for top YouTube talent, the site reorganized its ad-network structure with the launch of Google Preferred, which places a premium on top-performing channels.

Regardless of how you view YouTube’s original investment in premium programming, the site has never backed away from pursuing TV-ad dollars. This development is just the latest in that long-running strategy.

When reached for comment, a YouTube spokesperson said: “We are always exploring various content and marketing ideas to support and accelerate our creators,” declining to comment further on the site’s plans.

This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.