The future of Bud.tv, Anheiser-Busch's ambitious digital entertainment network, had been in doubt since CEO August Busch IV commented in May that Bud.TV, launched in February 2007 on high hopes and a budget of $30 million would "probably fade." But last Friday, Adweek reported, A-B's plans to resuscitate the ailing channel, but there's no guarantee it will survive.
Bud.tv may have been doomed at the start. The company chose to minimize Super Bowl related promotions to avoid confusing the new channel with web sites that screening the company's Super Bowl commercials, such as Budweiser.com and YouTube. Bud.TV lost opportunities for viral momentum, not only because of legal requirements to restrict access to underage visitors that inevitably discourage legal drinkers, but also by design.
Prior to launch the company told imedia connection that "the content we develop and what airs on Bud.TV will be proprietary; unless you download it and stream it to a buddy, you will not be able to see our content on any other site," an unusual approach for a site dependent on viral growth. The company plans to reverse this policy with plans to tag content and place it on YouTube, AOL, Yahoo and others. Other fixes include reducing the length of episodes, "edgier" programming, aggregating content and adding traditional promotional tactics such as promotional pos at retail, in bars and at sporting events.
Companies interested in creating online entertainment content can learn a few things from A-B's experience: 1) If you want viral growth to occur, you have to relinquish control of the content; 2) When it comes to length, shorter is better and less than a minute is best; 3) Provide a mechanism for two way conversation; 4)Don't eschew traditional marketing just because its fashionable to do so; 5) Think about your target first then determine the tactics that make the most sense; 6)Nothing is ever as easy as it looks.
Here's a video from Bud.TV that did go viral. Be warned; the title of the video is "Swear Jar."
UPDATE: An AdAge article today reports that "Swear Jar", a discarded Super Bowl ad has gone viral in a big way. The video has been viewed over a million times since being posted on YouTube two weeks ago and traffic to Bud.tv. has increased by 50%. Nuff said.
Via Adweek
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