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It has over 2.9 million fans that “Like” it on Facebook.

In August this year it hit the 1 million subscriber mark for its YouTube channel, with individual videos receiving view tallies well over 20 million each.

It made the current Bloomberg Business Week “Popularity Issue” as the Top Web Series. And it was recently discovered by my family during our annual beach vacation. Ugh! Why the ugh? It’s the Annoying Orange.

And it’s exactly that. Annoying Orange is the wisecracking, purposely irritating punster who stars in his own YouTube web series.

The videos feature a real orange with superimposed human eyes and lips.  The plot line for each video is simple: Annoying Orange meets his episode’s co-star(s): another fruit, vegetable, object, or even other YouTube “celebs.”  Annoying Orange tells jokes, laughs a lot, makes fun of and annoys the co-star, who ends up being eliminated, whether it’s by knife (the demise of most fruits and veggies), or by some other physical comedy.

Having had to listen to and/or watch the videos again and again during my vacation, and looking to make lemons out of lemonade (or orange juice out of oranges), the videos got me thinking about what’s making this series so amazingly popular, and what marketers can learn from it in attracting an audience.

It’s simple, basic, and consistently updated – Seriously, no big budgets here.  It’s just a talking orange with a little bit of editing magic and other household props.  The plot lines are mindless, easy for anyone of any age to get, and pure shtick.  And the videos are refreshed every Friday – a good reason to subscribe and/or return to the site.

It’s quick – The videos are less than three minutes each.  No attention span needed.  A great video “snack” for anyone surfing through YouTube. It’s appropriate for the channel – According to eMarketer, videos shot by consumers and uploaded to YouTube (i.e., user generated) are the most frequently watched type of online video.  (May 2010 stat)

It leverages partners – A few of the videos feature other YouTube “celebs” as the targets of Annoying Orange’s antics.  At the end, you can click and go to these stars’ specific YouTube channels.  It’s an interesting means of cross-selling these “brands” within the YouTube community.

It has lots of engagement opportunities – The Annoying Orange YouTube channel features, and each of the videos end with, lots and lots of engagement opportunities.  Calls to action include: follow on Twitter, Facebook, answer a question relevant to the video in the comments section, buy a shirt, download a ringtone, subscribe to the channel, or just click to watch another episode.  Annoying Orange truly is its own brand looking for ongoing loyalty.

Now, I’m not suggesting that marketers use third-grade boy level jokes, bodily function noises, nor any type of produce in their creative approaches in order to achieve success.  Rather, Annoying Orange is an interesting case in how to deliver content and sell a brand, without letting a consumer know that you’re really selling a brand.  It’s the right content, in the proper amount, delivered in the perfect channel, and given support, ongoing attention, and engagement opportunities that make it work.

Interesting to note that despite its popularity, very little has been written about the Annoying Orange.  CNN.com – one of the few press sites that has picked it up – said that the current Nabisco Cheez-Its “Mature Cheese” is probably the closest creative rip-off of the series.

Hey…hey reader.  Hey reader.  Orange you glad I shared these insights?  *rimshot*  Ugh.

In 2009 we saw marketers everywhere seeking out one-to-one connections with their customers. The world of “mass” seemed a far-off reach in a world pressed for ROI, leads and conversion. But what was most interesting to watch in 2009 was the up-rise of technology and new channels, once only used by a small portion of the market, gaining scale and turning consumers from passive brand observers to active participants responsible for shaping brands and extending the marketing dollar. A “new mass” market approach unfolded in a big way that forced even the most traditional brands to take note and take the plunge. Once upon a time, a satisfied or unsatisfied customer would tell their close circle of family and friends if they loved or hated a brand. Now that same customer can tell the whole world in seconds–it’s mass marketing turbocharged. Pretty exciting stuff. (more…)

Last week, marketers from all around the tri-state area converged in New Jersey at our Fuel for Thought conference to learn, share experiences and develop ideas to get a handle on social media marketing.  There’s a lot we covered/learned from each session and we’ll be sharing key highlights and materials here on our blog.

We’ll kick-off the first conference recap with John Battelle’s (CEO/Founder, Federated Media) keynote on “All Media is Social.  Now What?”  John’s keynote was brilliantly right-on-topic to get us all kindling new ideas.  Here are four key areas he covered:

1.  The Rise of Conversational Marketing: First we declared our intentions (what we want) through search.  Then we declared our relations (social graph — who we are as defined by how we are connected to other people) on sites like Facebook.  Finally, during the past year we declared our utterances (what we are doing, what we are interested in, etc.) on sites like Twitter.  When you put all these declarations together — intention, relations and utterances, you have an economy of conversations. (more…)

Why should I?  What does it matter?  How can one person change the world?  We’ve all heard the phrase, “Think globally, act locally,” but how often do we actually heed the meaning of that phrase?

The needs of the world just seem so overwhelming, right?  We find ourselves saying, “Why bother? We can’t fix everything!” and then doing nothing.  I think that’s probably a very logical solution according to our selfish, perfectionist, overachieving natures –  “If it can’t be done right, why do it at all?“  Sound familiar?

While it is true that one person can’t solve all the troubles of the world, we at Sigma have realized that everyone holds great power to make a big difference.  The power that one person has to improve the quality of life for a few, or the ability that one person has to lend a helping hand, is tremendous.

We recently created a community outreach program called Team Hercules (we have a tradition that lends itself to all things Greek).  There were two reasons we created Team Hercules.  Reason #1: It’s a program that empowers all of our employees to reach out beyond themselves and beyond the confines of these office walls to give back and better our community.  And Reason #2: I’ll get into that in a minute, at the end of this post. (more…)

Oscar Wilde said that “to expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect.” He was right.

The reality is that things never go as planned. But when you think about it, is that a bad thing? Those shaping the world make a difference by going beyond the expected. They figure out ways to capitalize on the unexpected twists and turns that come their way. They relish in the opportunities that are presented when unexpected things happen and as a result make great strides in the economy, environment, society, etc.

Business owners and entrepreneurs…the best bubble up when they expect the unexpected. They plan for the unexpected. They know that nothing should be taken at face value. And even further, it’s their ability to capitalize on unexpected opportunities that really makes them superstars. (more…)

I decided to round up some interesting facts, figures and best practices on online video, while many of my fellow Sigmites are out this week producing them.

Recently comScore reported that in April 09, U.S. Internet users viewed 16.8 billion online videos.  Nearly 152 million folks watched an average of 111 videos, and an average online viewer watched 6.4 hours of video.  The age of online video viewers trends slightly younger, however, viewership by Generation X and older boomers are at no small scale.

(more…)

Rarely does a day go by without my reading or hearing a going-out-of-business article/message.  Each time I hear the company/brand name, I ask myself, does it matter to me (as a consumer) that they will no longer exist?  Sure, there are some that make little or no impact on my life, but there are far more brands/companies that I say, “it matters.”  Why?  Because I have a personal relationship and connection to them.  Those relationships range from personal preferences to convenience to reminiscence of what some of them meant to me at some point in my life.  (more…)

Faced with an uncertain economy, lingering steady holds in client budgets, procurement mandates driving margins down and a general reduction in client spending, we realized that creative steps would be needed to manage our own expenses and better position ourselves for the next few years. With some strategic brainstorming and a focus on manpower, workload and agency functions, we set out to develop a solution that would win for everyone.

With a goal of streamlining overhead without reducing workflow or impacting our creative product, we found eight positions in the company that could benefit from a reduced workweek (4 days) while also helping to shed some weight from our bottom line. As a result we were able to save jobs and in turn we have been encouraged by the new vigor and level of productivity that we’re seeing. The outcome? Inspired employees who thrive in the condensed workweek, an even better and more focused creative product and an improvement to operating expenses that allows us to focus on growth, innovation and further expansion.

Just goes to show what happens when creative minds work together. CNN and Alina Cho – thanks for featuring us today!

If you’ve dabbled at all with Papervision yet, you may have already seen small wisps of smoke coming from your processor, as have I.  I’m having a love-hate relationship with Flash player. Flash player does not yet live up to the potential that 3D APIs such as Papervision have to offer. I am ready, willing and able to use many of the wonderful features that the Papervision Team has added, such as shaders; but when it comes to practical implementation, I’m always faced with the limitations of Flash player and the processor. To keep us on good working terms, Optimization is key. (more…)

The shift towards social media today is huge. Numerous articles, case studies and statistics extol the myriad benefits of this powerful new marketing movement each day.  However, getting your feet wet in social media can be quite a challenge as social media is not just another medium or channel where traditional marketing messages can be pushed. Instead, it’s all about understanding the culture of participation. And then harnessing and incorporating that into all your marketing and business processes.
So, what is the best way for an organization to embrace social media?  Here’s some of our top-line suggestions: (more…)