Hostage video

Under the Tuscan Sun full

From today’s NY Times

• Donkey Punch movie
  
  Three Way divx

  Being There move

profile of Howcast, a site that’s producing a deep library of how-to videos. In addition to ad-supported videos on generic topics (how to recognize and avoid poison ivy, or how to how to look hot when you get out of the ocean like a Bond girl), Howcast will produce custom videos in partnership with brands, such as Nescafe, whose marketing department needed videos on how to make instant coffee for customers in some oversees market:

“In this light, Howcast may look like more of an advertising agency than a media company [that makes its money from advertising fees]. Unlike pricey ad agencies, however, that can charge hundreds of thousands of dollars for a 30-second advertising spot, Howcast produces videos for corporate customers at a fraction of that cost. Its executives say this is its entree into big corporate ad budgets.”

As more brands compete for attention — and search traffic and social-media referrals — with content publishers and video sites like YouTube, it’s getting more important for them to develop content that goes beyond brochure-ware. If agencies don’t adjust their economics and retool their content-develop capabilities, they’re going to have trouble convincing brands not to funnel dollars through new publisher-agency hybrids like Howcast or (my old joint) Federated Media.