From Variety: `Advertising's future on the Internet'

Variety is running one of my interviews from The Future of Web Video, which deals with viral advertising. It's a conversation with Jamie Tedford, SVP of marketing and media innovation at Arnold Worldwide, a Boston ad agency that works with clients like Volkswagen, Timberland, and RadioShack. Tedford says:

Advertisers think, `We'll just put our existing TV spot up, and it'll become viral.' A lot of marketers are learning quickly that the rules for what makes something viral are a totally different set of rules.

Video also gets passed on because it's surprising, funny, new, comical, sexy, or provocative. People want the currency of having found something first.

Many clients have a more traditional view: `Here's the product message I want to come through, and if you can get some entertainment in there, great.' Now, you're asking someone to discover this on their own, and figuring out what would make a consumer forward it to a friend.

Also worth a look are Jamie's picks of three interesting Internet video ads, at the end of the piece.