Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of moderating a panel on the topic “Video Studios That Scale: What You Need to Know” at the Liveclicker Video Commerce Summit. On the panel was Kevin McNall from Brown Shoe Co, Kristopher Martin from Onlineshoes.com and as a last minute stand-in, the always camera ready Melissa Salas from BuyTV/Buy.com.

With one less panelist presentation than we had planned for, we decided to fill the time after Kevin and Kristopher’s presentations by turning the topic into an open forum. What came out of this was somewhat interesting but as life goes, pretty normal.…

I interviewed social video expert consultant and creator of one of the earliest – and still most successful social video series today, George Wright. In this rare interview, George shared with me the keys to how he managed to make BlendTec’s “Will it Blend?” YouTube video series a viral sensation and an economic success.  He also shared his tips for what we can learn from doing product videos in our own retail, e-commerce, and marketing activities.

I originally met and interviewed George Wright back in late 2008, when he was Blendtec’s VP of Sales & Marketing. (George has…

I suppose that the title is about as obvious as saying water is wet but sometimes pointing out the obvious can get you to think a little differently to make some profitable changes.  For many products, descriptions can be pretty straight forward but for others such as wine, descriptions become a bit more subjective.

Here was a description I found for a Tenuta Biserno Insoglio Del Cinghiale:

Medium crimson hue. Intensely brambly aromas of raspberry and pencil shavings. Lovely mouth-feel frames juicy flavors of strawberry and earth; perfect balance. Clean, tart finish.”

I love wine and despite growing up in…

Today I  began my day no different than most others; I browsed through numerous news articles, blogs and trends related to online video.  I’m continuously excited to see how quickly online video is moving in so many different directions and benefiting people and businesses around the globe.  From YouTube’s new scheduling feature, greater mobile optimization and the speed of social video (most recently surrounding Osama’s death) to effectively leveraging advertising dollars in each of these areas, there is always something going on that’s pushing the online video envelope.  That excitement aside, a reality dawned on me that there are…

We’ve talked plenty on this site about the importance of creating a smart online video strategy, one that complements and advances your specific brand message and provides a roadmap toward the right style of video for your company.

But what about the video that you can’t affect? In particular, the hundreds of thousands of customer-generated videos now freely posted on YouTube and other sites that dole out brand opinions and product reviews to millions of passionately interested viewers.

How do you go about making that part of your video strategy?

That’s the marketing challenge many retail…

“We consider Borders to be in the very elite group of high-quality retailers,” said Linda Farquhar, a securities analyst for Alex Brown in New York.

That was in 1998.

Thirteen years later, having filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy late last month, Borders now finds itself teetering on the edge of extinction. Once a proud and vital brand, the company has become a cautionary tale, a reminder of the perils of stagnancy and business as usual.

It’s a harsh reality. No company wants the cautionary tale label, but in an entrepreneurial era of high-velocity media and marketing innovation, the sluggish company…

In our continuing review of the iPad 2 before its release on March 11, we will explore the device further to decide whether it’s a viable business video solution for companies that are serious about using video for content and marketing.

The iPad 2 is coming out this week, and there’s a great deal of news and debate on what the new version has and what it doesn’t especially with its video functionality and new apps. Below, I’ve shared my own “preview review” on whether or not the iPad 2 can function as a good mobile business video studio – either as a standalone solution or to complement to your current business video activities.

I interviewed a major retail company’s director of digital and video content to learn what mass merchants are looking for today when hiring a video production specialist. Read on to find out how hiring the right set of video production skills help a $1-plus billion, multi-channel merchant maintain its leadership position in the video commerce industry.

[This article is the second in a three-part series on creating your online video strategy and creating your own in-house studio. Click here for Part 1, and here for the introduction.]

So you’ve made a case for online video. Armed with your own confidence, a few suggestions from last week’s post, and perhaps a partner or two from the blogosphere, you’ve successfully cobbled together one or two small video campaigns by any means necessary and taken a big step forward for your brand. Now that you’ve piqued the interest of your company leadership, it’s time…