Archive for January 31st, 2007
Peter Berdovsky, the guy who made and installed the “Mooninite” signs that ate Boston, had posted a video of his exploit at his own website. Check it out - it’s the one in the upper left. Berdovsky has been arrested and charged with a “crime against property” that carries a potential of ten years in prison. He also has a MySpace page, where friends are posting notes of sympathy. Here are some grabs from the video:
Framegrab from video, showing how the signs were posted so high.
Framegrab showing one of the, uh, artists in action. He’s wearing a Red Sox cap, for crying out loud.
January 31st, 2007
By the noon news, stations were showing video of Boston police taking down what turned out to be the light-up signs for Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Because the “Mooninite” character is seen with his middle finger extended, channels pixelated the whole image. And that likely made things worse. By “protecting” us from the image of the character, TV missed the opportunity to show the audience exactly what it was. The police and the stations would have, doubtlessly, received tons of calls explaining the harmless nature of the character. Instead, we were protected from the damaging sight of a blocky character with three lights that indicate a middle finger. I’m sure the people stuck in traffic for three hours take comfort in that.
Photo as shown on WBZ. This guy found a Mooninite in Boston, thought it was cool and took it down for himself.
January 31st, 2007
Aqua Teen Hunger Force neon signs and T-shirts like, “Up Yours Boston” are popping up on eBay fast. Folks, welcome the new internet phenomenon.
January 31st, 2007
Join me in a little TV trickery, LR Faithful. I’m typing now. Why? This is the part of the ABC Good Morning America piece where they shoot the B-Roll. I am blogging as they shoot the cutaways, so that when you see me, I’m doing something. Right now I am trying to impress the camera guy with how I can type and not look at the keyboard. (I have since gone in and corrected all the mistakes.) He is opposite me, so really I can type whatever I want. Take that, truthiness!
The ABC News Boston Bureau. My cameraphone stitched together three shots for this panoramic feast.
January 31st, 2007
So what do you think of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force marketing debacle? The show’s ratings and iTunes downloads will certainly increase, especially since it targets a younger, slightly rebellious crowd. But both the governor and the mayor say they’re prepared to take legal action against Turner Broadcasting to recoup some of the costs associated with the bomb scares. And one person has been arrested for planting the devices. Sure, attaching suspicious-looking devices to bridges isn’t the smartest idea to promote a show, but really, are state and local officials going too far because they’re embarrassed they didn’t realize the connection sooner? Why is Boston the only city out of ten that turned it into a terror scare? Comment below…
Earlier: Lost Remote was the first site to link the devices to Adult Swim
January 31st, 2007
I’m honored to say I’m slated to be part of the lead story Thursday on Good Morning America. I’m recording the interview at the ABC Boston bureau tonight, and (they tell me) they will use a soundbite or two in their 7:02am report on the Aqua Teen Hunger Force that conquered Boston. UPDATE: Just finished the interview with ABC reporter Ron Claiborne. We all watched the mayor’s press conference together.
Me, with the terribly nice Ron Claiborne at the ABC Boston bureau.
January 31st, 2007
It’s enough to make you rethink the term “guerrilla marketing.” Police, bomb squads, the feds, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and more all converged on Boston Wednesday because of … a “mooninite.” Viewers of “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” immediately recognized the “devices” as LEDs put on a circuit board and powered by some batteries. The police and the media, however, had the event play out as though there were 10 bombs (and then 10 “hoax bombs”) planted suddenly around Boston. Turns out the devices had been up for weeks. And not just in Boston, but in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco, and Philadelphia, according to Turner Broadcasting.
Read the full post January 31st, 2007
For the record folks, thanks to Steve Safran, we believe we’re the first to point out the connection between the devices discovered in Boston and the Aqua Teen Hunger Force TV show. More coverage coming…
January 31st, 2007
Turner issued this statement at 5 p.m. ET today on the Boston ad scare:
“The ‘packages’ in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger. They are part of an outdoor marketing campaign in 10 cities in support of Adult Swim’s animated television show Aqua Teen Hunger Force. They have been in place for two to three weeks in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. Parent company Turner Broadcasting is in contact with local and federal law enforcement on the exact locations of the billboards. We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger.”
Says Governor Deval Patrick, “It’s not funny.”
January 31st, 2007
The media has been going nuts all day in Boston. About ten devices have been found, at first thought to be bombs, but then discovered to be hoaxes. Nobody has put together that it’s probably a “Mooninite” character from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. The lite-brite/circuit board devices have popped up all over the country. No media has put this together yet, but I’m willing to bet this is exactly what this is. (Thanks, Baker and Shawn) UPDATE: After an ENTIRE day of live coverage and city-wide disruption, Turner Broadcasting has released a statement explaining that it is indeed a Aqua Teen Hunger Force marketing stunt. I just did a phoner on the news to explain a little more. There is a BIG question here: why didn’t the police know? Why didn’t they get information from the other cities where this happened? How come it took Turner all day to tell Boston what was going on? The story was on national channels - didn’t any officials in other cities think to tell Boston officials? This is a security embarrassment, not a terrorist attack. UPDATE: It appears we may be the first to break the connection between the devices and the TV show. More coverage.
January 31st, 2007
Since it’s debut in October, “NBC Rewind” on NBC.com has streamed nearly 42 million full-length episodes to 6.9 million users. “Contrary to conventional wisdom, consumers are ready to watch long-form entertainment on the web and we plan on making more available,” said Jeff Gaspin, president NBCU Cable Entertainment, Digital Content and Cross Network Strategy. “We believe… we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg on this new platform.” NBC released a ton of interesting stats from an independent research company:
81 percent recall the pre-roll ads after two or more exposures
72 percent say “NBC Rewind” ads are less disruptive than TV advertising
78 percent of users watched an episode they missed on TV
26 percent have rewatched an epidode they saw on TV
34 percent watched a new NBC show they had never seen before
January 31st, 2007
Shelly Palmer, chairman of the national Advanced Media Technology Emmy Awards Committee, sparked a war of words after writing a post on his blog that Chris Anderson’s Long Tail presentation at NATPE illustrated “a profound lack of understanding about television production, distribution and the advertising and subscription revenue that drive the business.” Palmer also said he’s working on a paper that “deconstructs the Long Tail for the online video business,” and he made the assertion that YouTube is “not a place, (but) an application” that became popular because of MySpace. Chris Anderson politely responded with a post on his blog and questioned how Palmer is defining television, among other things. But Terry Heaton goes a step farther. “Ground control to Shelly: Please return to planet Earth,” Heaton writes. “Broadcasters may find that Shelly’s message tickles their ears, but it does nothing to clarify the realities of media circa 2007.” I agree with Heaton, and any talk that tries to establish a barrier between television and video content is harmful for the industry going foward.
January 31st, 2007
A couple interesting take-aways from the New York Times Company’s 4Q earnings report. The company’s internet businesses accounted for 9.1 percent of its revenues in the fourth quarter versus 6.7 percent in 4Q 2005. And for the year, About.com’s revenues skyrocketed 50 percent. Not bad.
January 31st, 2007
This morning on the Today Show, Ann Curry hosted a segment on bad hair, which repeatedly referenced a hilarious clip on YouTube. I don’t have much of a point here, other than to link the video, which is one of the best I’ve seen on YouTube. It has skyrocketed to over 2 million views and climbing fast. (The bride walks in at 1:40, and that’s when the fun begins.) Update: As suspected by many Lost Remote commenters below, this is indeed a fake, and the clip has been “removed by the user” from YouTube. The angry bride and star of the video is 21-year-old Toronto aspiring actress Jodi Behan.
January 31st, 2007
While YouTube said it was considering pre-rolls for a upcoming revenue-sharing program, a Google exec said the company hasn’t decided on how to monetize video. “We don’t believe in pre-rolls,” said Penry Price, director of North American sales for Google. The sentiment was mirrored in a Harris survey we published yesterday, which found 73 percent of frequent YouTube users said they would visit the site less if pre-roll ads were added. Google isn’t the only company that doesn’t like pre-rolls. Curt Hecht, executive VP and chief digital officer for GM/Planworks, said the pre-roll ad “just doesn’t cut it” because it’s an “interruptive model.” Personally, I like some of the lower-third animations that companies like Brightcove have been using.
January 31st, 2007
Yahoo already has a site based on the Ninento Wii (screen grab below), and today it announced it will launch dedicated sites for The Office, Lost, Halo, The Sims and Transformers. All 100 sites will launch before the end of the year. The idea, called Brand Universe, is to create sites around individual movies, television shows, bands, celebrities, games and other types of entertainment. “What we are really trying to do is create environments where fans of brands can hang out when they are online,” said Vince Broady, head of games, entertainment and youth at Yahoo. I think this is a great idea which can be applied beyond entertainment. Websites don’t have to be permanent — they can capitalize on a phenomenon and then disappear when the buzz has worn off. The ability to create these kind of sites quickly and adapt them will become a key measure of success for online publishers going forward.
January 31st, 2007
Remember that “story” on Fox & Friends pulled straight from Insight Magazine about Sen. Barack Obama attending a radical Muslim school as a child? Ooops. Fox News VP John Moody sent out this staff memo: “For the record: seeing an item on a website does not mean it is right. Nor does it mean it is ready for air on FNC. The urgent queue is our way of communicating information that is air-worthy. Please adhere to this.”
January 31st, 2007
