WESTFIELD, Mass. (The Westfield News) – The city’s police department received a unique donation recently—a video tribute.

The video was a donation from Silent Partner Marketing, a Manchester, Connecticut-based marketing company who is aiming to donate up to $500,000 worth of video production to police departments around the country for similar pursuits. The goal of the videos is to give back to police departments and “humanize the police departments,” according to Kyle Reyes, president and CEO of Silent Partner Marketing.

In the video, officers from the Westfield Police Department discuss the goals of the department, as well as its part within the community. One highlight includes a resident who said that officers brought him food when weather made it so he could not travel to the store.

“We had civilians tell their stories. The main focus was how the police department, civilians and residents need to work together,” Lt. Eric Hall said.

According to Hall, the video came to be after he heard about the outreach Silent Partner Marketing was doing.

“I saw it on social media and I took advantage,” he said.

“These men and women behind the uniforms could care less about politics,” Reyes said. “They don’t look at people and see political affiliation, they see people. They look at people and they just see a human life that needs to be served and protected.”

According to Reyes, the company is working with about 75 departments across the country, with many in Connecticut. In addition, fire departments and at least one emergency medical services department are receiving videos, as well.

Reyes said that the project started last December.

“Last December we announced that we would be donating $250,000 to police departments to help them tell their stories,” he said.

There was positive feedback overall, but also some negative criticism of the videos, according to Reyes. The negative criticism then inspired him to double the amount given and extend it “to first responders and veterans.”

In addition to the videos that are coming out this year, Reyes said that they are also working on a series called “Behind the Uniform,” which will tell the stories of those in law enforcement and first responders.

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Kelly Nyland is the Director of Marketing for Spectacles, a pair of video-recording sunglasses created by Snap Inc., the parent company of the massively popular disappearing photo app, Snapchat.

While this is the first hardware product from Snap Inc., Kelly’s personal history into architecting massive marketing campaigns for innovative and emerging consumer hardware products goes way back.

Kelly worked with Parrot as well as Sphero, helping the latter company go global through a partnership with Apple, and putting them in their stores in more than 70 countries in less than 14 months. Kelly was also involved in the launch of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ BB8 product.

So if you’re a hardware aficionado, love marketing campaigns, or are just curious about how startups conceive, launch, and scale hardware products – get ready, cause Kelly is going to share insights into all this and more!

Hack To Start is a weekly podcast focused on interesting people and the innovative ways they achieve success hosted by @FrancoVarriano and @TylerCopeland.

Rocky Mountain Power launches video contest

Rocky Mountain Power is inviting Utah residential customers to use their home movie-making skills to make a video showing why saving energy is good for Utah and how they live “wattsmart.” The prizes for the 2017 Act Wattsmart Video Contest total up to $15,000 for energy-efficient home upgrades.

“The Act Wattsmart Video Contest showcases and inspires Utahns to make wattsmart changes at home to save energy, money and help protect the environment,” said William Comeau, Rocky Mountain Power customer solutions director. “The money and natural resources saved on energy costs can help our customers and Utah thrive. Being energy-efficient is an investment in our families, our communities and our future.”

Now in its fourth year, the video contest also was held in 2011, 2013 and 2015. New to the 2017 contest is the need for entrants to not only share how to save energy but also why they believe this is good for Utah from saving money to conserving natural resources.

The video contest is open to Rocky Mountain Power residential customers in Utah who are 18 years of age and older. Videos can be submitted through the Rocky Mountain Power website wattsmart.com or via the company’s Facebook page facebook.com/rockymountainpower. Submissions must be between 30- and 60-seconds in length and will be accepted until September 18. A judge’s panel will select the grand prize winner as well as a runner-up awardee, while the public will vote for a people’s choice winner in September. All winners will be announced the week of October 9. Contest rules, requirements and prize information can be found at wattsmart.com.

Osmond Marketing earns BBB accreditation

Osmond Marketing announced its recent accreditation by the Better Business Bureau serving Utah. As a BBB Accredited Business, Osmond Marketing is dedicated to promoting trust in the marketplace.

Osmond Marketing offers clients content marketing, public relations, graphic design and web services. One of the fastest growing companies in Utah, Osmond Marketing received the MWC Fast 100 award in 2016. Under the direction of CEO and founder Amy Cook, Osmond Marketing became a Google Partner and experienced more than 100 percent revenue growth year over year.

“We are pleased to be a BBB Accredited Business because we value building trust with our clients,” Cook said. “Our BBB accreditation gives our clients additional confidence in our commitment to maintaining high ethical standards of conduct.”

Vivint Smart Home names Nate Randle as CMO

Vivint Smart Home, a smart home services provider, announced that Nate Randle has joined the company as chief marketing officer. Formerly the senior vice president of marketing for the Utah Jazz, Randle will lead the company’s global marketing and communications. Randle’s predecessor, Jeff Lyman, is taking on a newly created executive role where he will work to define the future of Vivint product experiences.

“Nate is a great addition to our all-star leadership team,” said Alex Dunn, president of Vivint Smart Home. “Under Jeff’s leadership, Vivint has made tremendous strides in brand recognition, favorability and interest from consumers and partners, and we’re excited to have him take on a strategic role within our innovation team. Nate’s extensive consumer branding expertise will continue our momentum during a period of rapid growth.”

• by Laurie Sullivan
   @lauriesullivan,

  46 minutes ago

Google has begun testing video ads in search results. The video ads feature movies and serve up in the knowledge box on the right side of the search results page.

The searches require
specific keywords to trigger the movie trailers in the search results. For example, to trigger the video trailer for the movie « Lego Ninjago, » the searcher must type the entire movie title into the
search box plus the word « movie. »

In another example, typing in « Justice League » also triggers a movie trailer in the search results, rather than a link to the video on YouTube.

The
SEM Post, which first reported seeing the feature, suggests that the video will begin playing automatically and
that there is a toggle switch to turn off autoplay. That was not the case in the tests that Search Marketing Daily ran. The videos did not automatically begin to play after being served in
the search results on the desktop version of search. A click on the video was required in order for it to begin playing.

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Google has been testing video ads for years. In 2011, the company
tested expandable search video advertisements in search query results. The ad units were called Media Ads, a paid-search ad unit for movies that is guaranteed to appear at the
top of the query results page.

Microsoft and Yahoo also have tested video ads in search results in the past. In 2015, Yahoo tested full-bleed autoplay video ads in search results that were
focused on retail. For instance, a Land’s End ad unit that ran during the holiday season in 2015 appeared at the top of the search results page across the entire browser window and temporarily pushed
down other query results. 

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has introduced its latest standards for ad units as part of its finalised IAB Standard Ad Unit Portfolio.

The portfolio, created by the IAB Tech Lab, is based on HTML5 technology. Its ad units integrate aspect ratio-based flexible ad sizes, as well as being lightweight, encrypted, AdChoices supported, and non-invasive within all mobile, display and native ad formats. It also includes guidelines on AR, VR, social media, mobile video, emoji ad messaging, and 360° video ads.

The draft portfolio was released almost a year ago in September 2016. Since, it has received industry feedback and extensive testing to come to these finalised standards.

“This new ad portfolio puts user experience front and centre – benefitting both consumers and the brands that want to reach them online,” said Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the IAB. “These new ad units have gone through comprehensive testing, with expanded mobile and video capabilities that will take interactive marketing to new heights.”

The IAB and IAB Tech Lab say they will support the transition from earlier standards through a series of webinars, user-friendly demo pages, and additional guidance.

Video just keeps getting better.

Endlessly looping gifs delight and entertain. Stickers and text, now easy to add to video via social media, bring short vignettes to life. And now, 360 video is poised to further immerse us in an interactive environment.

For the uninitiated, 360-degree videos are filmed with a special camera that captures all possible angles of the surrounding environment. That means that viewers—whether on a smartphone or on the web—can tap, click, drag, or swivel directly inside the video to pan the perspective, allowing them to engage with the content from multiple angles.

Sensing potential, social media platforms including Facebook and YouTube are betting big on the format. Brands are dabbling with the content type, testing whether the interactive nature of the content will help break through the video clutter.

But is this the year 360-degree video marketing will finally go big?

On the consumer side, 360-degree cameras are far from ubiquitous, although falling prices may help popularize the format. On the marketing side, case studies point to better performance from 360-degree videos compared to their traditional counterparts—a prospect that could be a boon for brands wanting to stand out from the pack.

The Case for Betting on 360 Video

There’s a reason why marketers grab onto the latest technology. As humans, we’re primed to want to interact with anything new and novel, and we gravitate toward highly visual content. 360-degree video has great potential because it combines these factors while playing on our natural curiosity.

Consider this video from National Geographic that tracks the life of a young male lion. Who wouldn’t want to poke around the video, discovering the lion cubs that lie just beyond the frame?

If video helps us capture a special experience, 360-video could take things even further. Who hasn’t wanted to capture more perfectly an incredible destination, a fantastic concert, or a poignant family moment? The 360 format offers that opportunity at a relatively low cost. Unlike virtual reality, experiencing 360-degree photos and video does not require the purchase of any special technology, like headsets or goggles; a smartphone or a computer is sufficient. Those who want to create 360-degree video can purchase a 360 camera for as little as $125, according to the Wirecutter.

Creating a 360-degree photo on Facebook is even easier. Simply upload a panorama photo from your smartphone, and Facebook will stitch it into a 360-degree experience.

Image attribution: Facebook

Social media platforms have quickly set the stage for a 360-degree video explosion. Facebook has unveiled live 360 videos to all users; YouTube had previously offered that same option. Twitter is on a similar path, offering live, 360-degree videos from select partners.

How 360-Degree Videos Perform

While data on the performance of 360 videos is still limited, several studies have uncovered some encouraging data points.

Google partnered with Columbia Sportswear to compare the performance of a traditional video ad to a 360-degree video ad. The 360 ad boasted a higher click-through rate, higher interaction rate, and more shares, subscribes, and other actions, driving 41 percent more earned actions than the standard ad, according to the company’s blog.

Movies and TV shows have also toyed with the format and achieved notable results. On Snapchat, for example, a 360-degree video ad for Fifty Shades Darker earned double the engagement than any of Universal Pictures’ other video ads on the platform, according to Digiday.

Similarly, on Facebook, a Game of Thrones 360 preview hit 5.3 million views over a twenty-four-hour period, according to Adweek.

In another test, Magnifyre partnered with StoryUP to compare a traditional video of a ballet dancer on a stage with a 360 version. Again, the 360 version performed better: Average percentage viewed was 28.1 percent higher, and double the number of viewers watched the entire video, according to the company.

Marketing Considerations

It seems clear that 360 content offers definite advantages when compared to traditional counterparts. But is it the right move for your video marketing strategy?

As usual, it depends. Highly visual industries—think retail, travel and tourism, and real estate—can obviously benefit from expanding their visual repertoire of content.

Other industries may want to wait and see. Despite the cool factor, 360 video has limitations, as noted previously in the Content Standard. With traditional video, the narrative moves forward through cuts to different scenes, new locations, and so forth; something difficult to achieve through 360 video. Viewers, too, may not be quite sure what to do with the format. YouTube found via its heatmap insights that users spend 75 percent of their time viewing the front 90 degrees of the video—suggesting that unless the content is really outstanding, many viewers may not want to swivel around to explore.

Moreover, it’s unclear right now whether 360-degree video will become a bona fide video category, or whether it will serve as a mere stepping stone to bringing virtual reality to the mainstream. For now, it’s important for marketers to consider the value 360-degree content can bring to their audience versus other content types. The format puts a new, unique tool at marketers’ disposal. But that tool is only meaningful when used strategically.

For more stories like this, subscribe to the Content Standard Newsletter.

Featured image attribution: Steven Diaz

Campbell most recently served as managing director of global growth marketing for Google Cloud.

Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins is continuing to build out his c-suite, naming Google Cloud veteran Kelly Campbell as chief marketing officer. 

In her new role, Campbell will be responsible for leading Hulu’s marketing strategy across its streaming video and live television services. She will also oversee Hulu’s brand and performance marketing, media, content marketing, creative, entertainment publicity and consumer research teams. In addition, Campbell will work with Hulu’s technology, distribution, content and product leadership to help it build its subscriber base and grow awareness of its brand and offerings. 

« Kelly is a respected, data-driven marketing expert who has consistently proven her ability to develop effective strategies and build strong, high-performing teams, » said Hopkins. « With her deep background in performance marketing and in building strong connections between brands and their consumers, she’s going to be an invaluable addition to Hulu as we enter the next chapter of our business. » 

Campbell joins Hulu from Google, where she began her career in 2005 and most recently served as managing director of global growth marketing for its cloud business. During her time in that role, she helped the company grow its G-Suite business to three million paying customers and led its global re-branding. She has also held roles at JPMorgan Chase and FleetBoston Financial Corporation. 

Campbell, who lives in Manhattan Beach with her husband and two sons, will join Hulu later this summer and report directly to Hopkins. Her appointment comes two months after Hulu tapped AMC’s Joel Stillerman as its chief content officer. 

Hopkins, who has served as CEO since late 2013, has been building up his executive team in recent months as he has focused in on expanding Hulu from a home for next-day television into a streaming service with buzzy originals such as The Handmaid’s Tale and several offerings, including a live television service. Hulu revealed in March that it was seeking a CMO, a role that has not been filled under Hopkins. At that time, the streamer also announced that head of marketing Jenny Wall would be leaving the company at the end of May, after helping oversee the launch of Handmaid’s and the rollout of the live TV service. 

Hulu announced at its upfront presentation in May that it has 47 million viewers with 32 million watching via its ad-supported service. The company has moved away from reporting subscribers, which competitor Netflix reports, but last year said it had 12 million subscribers. Hulu is owned by Disney, 21st Century Fox and silent partner NBCUniversal, with Time Warner owning a smaller, 10 percent share in the company. 

Hulu announced this morning the appointment of Kelly Campbell, the current head of Global Growth Marketing for Google Cloud, as its new Chief Marketing Officer. The strategic hire for the streaming service will see Campbell tasked with driving Hulu’s overall marketing strategy across both its subscription video on demand business and its new Live TV service, the company says.

Campbell will oversee Hulu’s brand marketing, performance marketing, media, content marketing, creative, entertainment publicity, and consumer research teams, and will report directly to Hulu CEO Mike Hopkins.

“Kelly is a respected, data-driven marketing expert who has consistently proven her ability to develop effective strategies and build strong, high-performing teams,” said Hopkins, in a statement. “With her deep background in performance marketing and in building strong connections between brands and their consumers, she’s going to be an invaluable addition to Hulu as we enter the next chapter of our business.”

In March of this year, Hulu began the search for a new heading of marketing, as its then current SVP of Marketing, Jenny Wall, announced her departure. Wall had effectively functioned as CMO, but the title was different. With Campbell’s hire, the position is now officially that of CMO.

Campbell is joining after a lengthy career at Google, where she has worked since 2005. Most recently, she was tasked with creating awareness and driving adoption of Google Cloud products, including the Google Cloud platform and G Suite. While at Google, she grew G Suite to 3 million paying customers, and was responsible for the re-branding of G Suite globally. (Before, it was known as Google Apps for Work.)

Prior to serving as Managing Director of Global Growth Marketing for Google Cloud, Campbell had also held several other marketing roles at Google, including having led Global G Suite Marketing, Small Business and Education Marketing, and the North America Ads Marketing team. Before that, she led the Dedicated Client Services team for North America, and spent a year in Tokyo where she built out Google’s Online Sales and Operations team.

Before Google, Campbell worked in investment banking for JPMorgan Chase and FleetBoston Financial Corporation. She also holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor of science from Vanderbilt University.

Wall had stayed on with Hulu through the end of May in order to oversee the launch of Hulu’s anticipated series “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which has now received 13 Emmy nominations – or the majority of Hulu’s total of 18, and effectively put Hulu on the map as being series about investments in quality original content.

Though the streaming service had received nominations before, none had yet been in one of the top categories – for example, it got nods for variety (“Triumph’s Election Special 2016”), visual effects (“11/22/63”), and sports series (“Behind the Mask”) in years past.

Campbell is also joining at a time when Hulu is facing a number of challengers in its newer business, its Live TV streaming service, which allows subscribers to watch and record live TV programming from broadcast networks and cable TV channels, in addition to watching on-demand shows, movies and Hulu originals.

In this business, Hulu has several competitors all vying to be top internet TV providers, including Dish’s Sling TV, Sony’s PlayStation Vue, ATT’s DirecTV Now, and Google’s YouTube TV.

Part of Campbell’s work will be to make consumers aware of what Hulu’s brand and content offers, including its original programming and its live TV service (and how it compares with others), while also developing Hulu’s strategic vision and voice behind its consumer marketing campaigns.

One initiative that could be set on her plate more immediately, is handling some consumer backlash over the Hulu redesign. With the launch of Live TV in May, Hulu also began the rollout of a new look for its service, which some complain makes it harder to navigate and use. In fact, the most upvoted item on Hulu’s user feedback forums is a thread with complaints about the new experience.

Outside of Live TV, Hulu’s on-demand business contends with major players, like Netflix, Amazon, and HBO’s over-the-top offerings, including HBO NOW. Hulu said in May it has grown to 47 million unique viewers (note: not subscribers, a figure it stopped reporting). Meanwhile, Netflix in April passed the 100 million subscriber milestone, and just last week surpassed expectations with the addition of 5.2 million new subscribers in the quarter.

Campbell isn’t Hulu’s only recent exec hire. The company also in May announced AMC and Sundance TV president of original programming, Joel Stillerman, as its Chief Content Officer. Stillerman helped develop a number of top programs for the network, including “The Walking Dead,” spinoff “Fear the Walking Dead” and “Breaking Bad” prequel, “Better Call Saul,” among others.

Hulu says Campbell will come on board later this summer.

Jul 24, 2017 01:00 PM ET

Former Google executive will push both SVOD and live TV services