Book Review: Show Me - Marketing With Video On the Internet By Jessica Kizorek

Title: Show Me- Marketing With Video On the Internet
Author: Jessica Kizorek
Publisher: PSI Publications (December 21, 2007) Hardcover, 216 pages
Genre: Business, Technology
ISBN-10: 1884230016
ISBN-13: 978-1884230011

When creating video content for the Internet, one of the biggest mistakes is taking a video originally made for television and uploading it online.

This is the kind of advice you’ll find in Jessica Kizorek’s book Show Me: Marketing With Video On the Internet. The enterprising 26-year-old film director and author, who has visited 55 countries on all seven continents directing and filming video projects for charitable and humanitarian organizations, knows whereof she speaks (despite the tongue-in-cheek disclaimer on the back cover: “Don’t pretend you know what you’re doing. Nobody does.”).

In the Preface to Show Me Kizorek promises “… an amalgamation of practical advice and general rules of thumb…” in a book “…about utilizing videos as a powerful form of communication.” She makes good on that promise in 12 numbered and two bonus chapters, plus a 19-page section of appendices.

Kizorek builds the case for using video as a marketing tool logically by first taking a look at the evolving Internet and the advantages of video. In a chapter called “The New Marketing Model” she examines the unique attributes of the Internet and explores ways online video can and should exploit those attributes.

In further chapters Kizorek talks about identifying one’s audience and deciding how to measure the success of online video content. She follows with an analysis of ten successful online video marketing campaigns. She rounds out the offering with a set of chapters on how to produce internet videos, get people to watch them, avoid legal entanglements, and ends with a speculative look at the future of the Internet and the part videos will play.

In the bonus chapters she relates online video use to not-for-profit and humanitarian work. Her company, Two Parrot Productions, recently filmed in Ghana. She talks about the perils and pitfalls of working on such projects as she experienced them on that trip. The appendices contain helpful legal document samples (Producer’s Agreement, Director’s Agreement, etc.) referred to in the text.

Kizorek’s writing is direct and easy to understand. The times she used technical jargon, I was easily able to figure out what was meant by the context. She frequently substantiates her statements with quotes from others in the industry and includes more quotes on pages interspersed in her narrative. As a whole, the book is authoritative; the beginning of the book lists 42 advertising agencies and 38 members of the marketing community who contributed exclusive interviews to the project – including such industry notables as Donny Adkins (Interactive Team, Soffer Adkins), Ari Paparo (VP, DoubleClick), and Michael Griffin (EVP Marketing, EyeWonder).

The 216-page hardcover book is printed on glossy white stock and has a nice heft. The first page of each chapter displays a black-and-white image above a black background with white type and chapter numbers in red. The whole book, designed using black and white with red accents, is striking and handsome.

I am someone whose only experience with online videos is viewing them as a consumer, so it was eye-opening to consider these videos from the other side of the camera lens and realize how intentional video marketing campaigns are. Kizorek’s analysis of the online video experience, the chapter describing successful marketing campaigns, and the one with her stories about working as a videographer in Ghana were ones I found especially captivating.

Whether your interest in online video marketing is sociological, humanitarian, or for business, Show Me really is a must-have - a valuable, timely, and beautiful addition to your reference library.

Check out Jessica’s video work here and here.

'The Golden Compass' - an anti-God flick?

Thought Harry Potter was blasphemous? That was kids' stuff compared to the "His Dark Materials" trilogy, in which God is an imposter, angels are sexually ambiguous and the Church kidnaps, tortures and assassiinates to achieve its goals, one of which is stealing children's souls...

So begins the article on www.mtv.com "'Golden Compass' Film Angering Christian Groups -- Even with its Religious Themes Watered Down."

Apparently there is an email going around, warning unsuspecting parents of this upcoming release. A friend emailed me the Snopes response to that circulating email. This time the claim that the film "The Golden Compass" (starring Nicole Kidman, to be released December 7/07) contains anti-religious themes has a 'true' status.

The film company has apparently watered down the anti-religious tone - at least in this first movie of the planned three-part epic which are based on books by outspoken atheist and secular humanist Phillip Pullman. Despite that, The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights insists that the film is a vehicle for "selling atheism to kids." Focus on the Family's Adam Holz fears the movie will '"plant seeds" to "ultimately encourage some fans to reject God" (mtv article above).

The email expressed the fear that the film would encourage kids to read not only The Golden Compass but sequels The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. The claim is that Pullman becomes more outspoken in his hatred for God with each book.

I guess after the popularity of those anti-God books by Sam Harris et al, we shouldn't be surprised that this movement is gaining momentum and getting ever bolder. Plus they see where their future lies -- in indoctrinating kids.

I haven't read the "His Dark Materials" books. But I have taken a look at the trailer on "The Golden Compass" website. I also checked out some of the tabs on the site. It gets fans interacting with Pullman's imaginative and in-your-face-occultic universe.

Take the Alethiometer (the Alethiometer is the golden compass of the book). The instructions say: "Drag the three red needles to lie over appropriate symbols on the face of the Alethiometer while forming a question in your mind. Click the '?' button and the fourth needle will then respond,swinging over different symbols to form an answer..." Smacks a bit of Oija, doesn't it?

Then there's the Daemons tab (pronounced dē'-mon). The introduction to this section begins: "In Lyra's world, a person's soul lives on the outside of their body, in the form of a daemon -- an animal spirit that accompanies them through life." Clicking on "Discover your own Daemon" leads to twenty questions and the discovery your own daemon (? - I guess so; I didn't do it).

Dark. It sends shivers up my spine!

Other links:

movie synopsis (may contain spoilers)

Wikipedia on His Dark Materials - the Golden Compass

mtv.com article: 'His Dark Materials' Writer Philip Pullman Takes 'Narnia,' 'Lord of the Rings' To Task.

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Added Wednesday - 11/07/07

Mr. Pullman's website

His views on organized religion:

The trouble is that all too often in human history, churches and priesthoods have set themselves up to rule people's lives in the name of some invisible god (and they're all invisible, because they don't exist) – and done terrible damage. In the name of their god, they have burned, hanged, tortured, maimed, robbed, violated, and enslaved millions of their fellow-creatures, and done so with the happy conviction that they were doing the will of God, and they would go to Heaven for it.

That is the religion I hate, and I'm happy to be known as its enemy.

Quoted from his page on religion.