The Future of Video - Now

We are in PR. We know the medium is the message, and people love videos. PR has used video news releases and satellite media tours to great results - I always had great returns on SMTs, and think that they were great hits for the clients. But, we ran into YouTube, or our favorite shows with 1938 Media (come on, who doesn't love Yue and that other person).

And, it's hit Wall Street with Podtech has taken this to a whole new level with LunchMeet (yay Irina and Eddie) and all its shows, some of which are like SMTs or VNRs. And they have run into Doug Simon, has started his I Got Shotgun (a client). Yes, I'm a little biased, but I think it's great. And, well, when I have a friend that IMs me that he loves the site, that it's been a black hole of time at work (meaning he's been watching all the videos), I know it's hit a sweet spot. It's the combination of bringing in people to be hosts, the videos that they upload to apply to ride shotgun (car allusion, get it?), and then watching them be fun and goofy at different events.

It's that desire that we all have to become stars that makes something like Here's To Beer. I got a chance to talk to Tom Shipley, senior director of global industry development for Anheuser-Busch, about what they are doing - and it's pretty cool.

The site was first launched in February 2006 as a category / industry campaign to choose beer more often, over other alcoholic beverages. While it is an Anheuser-Busch campaign, it is not branded for them, but is more a straight forward delivery of all things beer: how it's brewed, different types of beers, how it pairs with food. While the site had good traffic, it was not repeat traffic, so the new site is more entertainment focused with updated content, and education, such as Dave Lieberman to become a beer connoisseur. Lieberman - from the Food Network - has a video blog to showcase what he is thinking about beer. It's his personality, and has a ton of leeway to do what he wants to do and what is on his mind - also on a bi-weekly to monthly basis. Lieberman is also the voice and talent behind the Beer School section on pairing beer with food.

Plus, they are taking the social mobile route by working with MingleNow on Stefanie Perez. She's the embed video, and I know her from my blog (yes, people randomly IM me because of my blog). Stefanie lives in LA, she's a 23 year old Latina from Chicago who was in the military but moved there to become a star. She's working it, though, by putting together her own videos and posting them on Brookers or SplashCast - great service to create video channels.