Nolan’s Cheddar

Let me start by saying I love the art direction and cinematography in this video. Simple lock down shots with dramatic lighting and a great soundtrack to tie it all together. I mean “top of the world” by the Carpenters sits next to Cass Elliot’s “make your own kind of music” on my list of top ten songs to die in a fiery car crash to (a work in progress). But am I missing something here? I get that mice are supposed to be attracted to cheese. Am I to assume that this cheese is like spinach to Pop Eye? That if I eat this cheese I’ll be able to hit home runs like Mark McGwire.

Look, I love the entertainment value of this video but I think the creative team missed the mark on this one. The product integration simply wasn’t there for me. As a cheese lover I want to know that the cheese is strong. I think the message could have been salvaged by taking a slightly darker approach: The mouse dies and with a smile on his face rises up to a rodent heaven—satisfied <<Bad Idea. My point is people eat seriously strong cheese because it tastes great! And the best cheese can be a slice of heaven.

Wagon viewing

Let me first start by saying that the above video was made just for fun. I am not disclaiming anything but that should help me make a point later on. Second I would like to give my friend Matt Johnston a big shout out. For having absolutely no training or experience in film or editing, he has put together a pretty kick ass little short!

The above video “wagon attack II” Gained just over 80,000 views in a week. Pretty good huh?

From a marketing standpoint I feel that Wagon Attack II succeeded in a couple of ways:
1. Clear Target Market – Whether or not Matt took this into consideration when making the video he succeeded in appealing to a niche market.
2. A distribution plan – By engaging certain key people and posting on key Target market rich forums Matt made sure that this video was being seen by the right people who in turn pass it on to their readers/followers.

I am sure that the above points were happened upon. I wouldn’t expect Matt to think about this video from a marketing POV. He just wanted to have fun and make a really cool movie. My point here is to stress the importance of a well thought out strategy. A little pre-planning goes a long way. Its about being proactive and less reactionary.

80,000 views.

Nice work Matt! It is truly a fun video to watch.