WILL IT BLEND-OLD SPICE (LIVE)

So this morning I got up at 5:30 so Parke and I go on our workout (Blendtec has a gym, and we are usually there alone for the first little while). I get on my laptop and load the new WILL IT BLEND with a parody of the Old Spice ads.

As I spoke in my last entry, I was not very big on doing this one. One of the reasons is that for many people, the Old Spice ads are old and "done", but for many others it is still fresh in their minds. So making the video was rather fun and also very busy. It took longer then most, mostly because of the eye-popping effects (which were still cheesy, but fun).

As viral as things go, only hours after posting the videos and were were already a talk on many web sites' minds. Here are a few link to places that already had us up and we have only been up for about 6 hours.

I am not expecting you to go visit all these, most are crap and I don't really pay attention. Plus I have never heard of any of these sites. But it goes to show you how viral works.

TechCrunch

CrunchGear

Wikio

TrendingTube

ComeAtMeBro-Tech News

Cast TV

Others

WILL IT BLEND-OLD SPICE

We just had to do it!

I wasn't really a big fan of it at first (as usual, always the skeptic). But as time went on, we decided to make a WILL IT BLEND based on the Old Spice ads that have been riddling the internet like crazy.

What also caught on was the BYU parody of the commercial. The students at BYU made a commercial advertising the Harold B Lee Library using the Old Spice gags. They actually did a great job and it has gained a ton of views. Then, I was home teaching a family and they said that their daughter knew the guy who was the actor in the BYU ad. Simultaneously, our new marketing director at Blendtec, Spencer showed us being in the top of the list of viral campaigns (Old Spice being number 3).

His idea was to work with the other viral campaigns and raise ratings. So I decided to pipe up and get this guy from the BYU ad, Stephen Jones. At first I wasn't sure, he seemed a little cocky. But as I worked with him, I really got to like him and and he does a great job.

Also, with the re-innovation going on outside my office, it was a perfect time to possibly build a full-on set for the new WILL IT BLEND. I spent days building a break-away wall, a table that slides and a chair that breaks apart (you can see my assistant Ann Ross standing with an electric saw cutting the wicker chair in half). It actually turned out to be great.

In one part of the gag, I had two dollies on one track, one for my camera, the other for the actor to float over to the Will it Blend set (you'll have to see it). We also do an effect where an iPhone appears on his hand and then blends into his hand and turns into dust. It was a good thing it is close to Halloween! I found a hand and spray painted it green, so I can pour the iPhone remains onto basically "nothing", then add it to his real hand later.

I am currently editing the stuff and it will probably be on-line this Tuesday. This Will it Blend has allowed me to be the most creative I have been in a while.

BUILDING A NEW STAGE AT BLENDTEC

I guess the company found the need for me to have an updated facility with the success of WILL IT BLEND and our on-line presence. What is happening is the WILL IT BLEND set will remain, but next to it will be a new set for other uses.

You see, the reality of it is this.... the WILL IT BLEND set, seen by millions, seen on national television and bla, bla, bla, was really only in the small Blendtec lunchroom. Nothing fancy a-tall. There was constant fun with people popping their heads in while we were filming, wondering if it was clear enough for them to come get a Diet Coke. But no longer...

The new set throws out the lunch room (there is a considerably bigger one on the other side of the building, but we have to walk allll the way there). I am the one that pays the biggest price. I got soft since my office was the only one right in the lunch room. I could just sneak my Chef Boyardee Ravioli's to the microwave without getting a lecture from anyone en route telling me how bad they are for me and "if they could get me some Koolaid with that".

But now, this new set will be a full working kitchen. Our nutritionist Liz Brown, who just moved here from Lewisville, Texas (been there, done that) to come work for Blendtec, is preparing a major on-line cook book of recipes using the blender, as well as produce a ton of recipe videos we are about to film. We've done a few recipe videos already, but we will be doing this on-going.

I helped design the set so that it would be filming friendly, and Liz will be using this for all her testing, so the kitchen will be fully operational. The only problem now is... I will be taste-testing all the food, since it is right outside my door. (It's a good thing Parke and I are working out every morning).

LABOR DAY FUN

Over Labor Day, the family and I went to two places. First we went to Pine Valley, Utah. Where is Pine Valley you ask? In the 20 years I have lived here, I didn't know either. Until my parents, who now live in Las Vegas, tried to find a place close by where they can get out of the heat.

They proposed buying a home there and giving it to the kids. I jumped on that and we now go down about every month or two. (More on Pine Valley in another blog).

We spent 3 days there with Stephanie's kids and Parke and I. It was a little learning experience, driving with the kids. I have gotten spoiled with the two boys I have (Parke now 16 and Forrest almost 20) not having attention spans that are the length of a 30 second commercial.

But it was fun. Then after that 3 days, we dropped Parke off in Orem, then proceeded to Island Park, Idaho and Yellowstone for 3 more days. It was great to see the wild life with Stephanie's family (I mean the wildlife out in the forest, not in our car).

With all the 20 plus hours of driving, Stephanie's kids enjoyed going through almost the entire Battlestar Galactica 1978 series on DVD. It helped going through the long roads without getting too bored.

I will post more photos on a new facebook album.

WILL IT BLEND - Top Viral Ad of All Time

According to MSNBC, (my favorite network... not) has released an article on successful viral videos ads. We have been lucky to be chosen as number one.

Take a look.

LONGEST PINEWOOD DERBY TRACK

Tom (Dickson, of "Will it Blend" fame) came running up to me telling me I HAVE to spend my Saturday on August 28th with him at the Pinewood Derby Track. I was not excited to spend my Saturday at "work", but realized since we are currently without some key marketing employees, including a marketing director, I better fill in.

What I witnessed was at Rio Tinto stadium in Sandy, Utah, the longest Pinewood Derby track in the world. An average Pinewood Derby track is about 40 feet. The previous recored was about 268 feet. Tom's track was measured at 336 feet. The local BSA Chapter, Utah National Parks Council, did the work to get Guinness Book of World Records to record this event.

My objective was to set up artwork signage that represented Blendtec and videotape the event. Scouts were invited from all over Utah to try out their car on the track. I noticed for most of the cars, the real competition was can it even make it through the whole race.

Some "kids" (I use that term loosely, since many of the fathers probably pitched in and helped) came with the official weight and design that make it legal to participate (5 ounces). Many came with altered cars (motors, etc) and obviously would not count, but were allowed to test the track anyway.

The only drawback was the wind was terrible. My hat kept falling off. Speakers that were hanging on stands were falling. The tents were toppling over. It was also a cool image next to the conssession stand when the napkin box fell over and there was a whirl wind of napkins in the air. I think next year Blendtec is thinking of using Energy Solutions Arena (formerly the Delta Center) along with a longer track to help with not interrupting the air flow of the cars.

Here are a few links. We made it on KSL, Deseret News, Salt Lake Tribune and other publications.

WILL IT BLEND on "The View"... whoopteedoo

Ok that didn't sound very convincing. It could just me my "outsider" mentality toward things. I have been known to be a sour-puss toward "popular" events. I guess I look at the eternal perspective things. Part of why I don't like reality shows. They make celebrities out of beautiful people that just sit around in coffee shops and bitch about the environment, or whatever shallow topic is cool to complain about that week.

Ok, ok, not ALL reality shows are like that. But you know what I mean. So when the opportunity came for me to provide footage and information about our popular viral website, I was a little hesitant.

On the day"The View" asked me for footage from WILL IT BLEND, they just had their biggest show ever last week when Barak Hussein Obama was on, and the ladies lovingly asked their softball questions about "the issues" in their shallow-topic manor. So how could I resist...

I got a call from what sounded like a kid who might have been an intern... simply because he was nice. He told me that the Executive Producer of The View "specifically" asked for WILL IT BLEND. As I was returning the information along with the overnight shipment of videos, I sent an e-mail to this young man known as "The Tape Coordinator" for The View. I just told him that if a credit is given on the screen to credit "Kels Goodman/Blendtec".

What I didn't know was that I was CCing (that means copying to another address) the Producer and another crew person from the show, both were ladies. All of a sudden I got an e-mail back from the producer in bold:

No!… we are only crediting the websites…that’s what the seg is about… websites…so we will credit willitblend.com….if pple want info on it they can log onto your website.

I wasn't sure, did that sound like anger? It did to me.

Well I was this close (holding two fingers close together) to saying "Ok, no credit, no video" (after all, isn't that was famous people do?). I already knew by this time that our segment was going to be lame. But I remained optimistic, after all, the Executive Producer "specifically" asked for Will it Blend videos, right?

Then, I got another e-mail from the other lady on the copy list:

Just want to make sure the tape will come tomorrow or Monday morning the LATEST...

That one didn't seem too bad. But after the first one, I figured the ladies at The View were ganging up on me. Just like that poor intern "tape coordinator". (Now I remember why I hate working on live events) My only thought was that he is a young guy trying to "make it" in the biz, and the only way he can is to be castrated by a couple of powerful producer/decision makers.

Just like the castration that was done to Will it Blend when it finally made it on the show. A whopping 53.5 seconds of pure viral goodness. Yeah, we got on and yeah we got talked about. (They showed the iPhone 4 being blended.) The ladies brought on guests who were "experts" in viral material, one who talked about WIB was a guy from the show G4 (don't know where it plays).

He really downplayed WIB (we were last on the list, you can tell we were "squeezed" in). I emailed facts about WIB, but he got it all wrong. He made it sound like Tom Dickson just messed around one day and made this hot blender and decided to film it blending all kinds of things. I tried to tell them it was a campaign for the blender that has already been around for years. A real blender you can purchase. And that the result of WIB was a dramatic increase in sales. But obviously, he missed that.

The ladies all sat around saying "who would want to watch that". Only Whoopee had the balls to say that "some of these video are actually funny". (Joy concluded with, "and many are not"). Leave it to Joy for the final word.

Anyway, my conclusion from this whole event was this: Filmmakers shouldn't make films for filmmakers, for they never pay the bill. Meaning, who gives a crap what programmers and decision-makers say. They may be the one's who get it in the theater, get it on TV, get it on the radio. But it's the everyday people who make the final decision on what works and what doesn't.

There is much more to learn about the entertainment industry.