BrandIndex's weekly Brandweek Buzz Report: Burger King, Barnes & Noble, Northwest Airlines

Mayday! Northwest's Buzz Score Crashes

Oct 30, 2009

The domestic airline sector had been the subject of low-flying buzz. But consumer perception took a turn for the worse when Northwest Airlines Flight 188 missed its destination due to pilots who had their heads in the clouds. The pilots were grounded along with the airline’s buzz score, which dipped from 3.3 on the date of the incident (Oct. 21) to -0.5 on Oct. 27.

The Brandweek Buzz Report by YouGov is a weekly consumer perception report that analyzes the most talked about brands based on buzz: If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, was it positive or negative?

YouGov interviews 5,000 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample. Respondents are drawn from an online panel of 1.5 million individuals. A score can range from 100 to -100 and is compiled by subtracting negative feedback from positive. A zero score means equal positive and negative feedback.

This week, the report spotlights:

• Barnes & Noble
• Burger King
• Northwest Airlines


Barnes & Noble Opens New Chapter With Nook
Talk about a brand that needed a pick-me-up. When Barnes & Noble announced the forthcoming release of its Nook e-reader, it was at the end of a weeklong tailspin of buzz. Then Oct. 20 rolled around with the news (see arrow), and the scores went back up, despite some brief initial confusion regarding the product’s Wi-Fi capabilities. The Nook is now the No. 1 requested item at the store and will be released on Nov. 30, setting the stage for a brand battle with Amazon and Sony.




Burger King Gives McDonald's Double Trouble
Burger King has both barrels firing with Double Cheeseburgers, double marketing blitzes and double action, which has distanced the fast feeder from McDonald’s on the value and quality score fronts. By adding a Double Cheeseburger to its dollar menu and launching two new TV ad spots touting its superiority to rival burgers, BK inched its value score from 30 on Oct. 23 (see arrow) to 31.5 on Oct. 27, while McDonald’s slipped from 23.1 to 22.2. BK's meatier pitch seems to be resonating with consumers. During the same period, BK's quality score rose from 13.9 to 15.2, while McDonald’s went from 4.3 to 3.3.







Northwest Airlines Consumer Perception Loses Ground
Consumers haven't been buzzing about the domestic airline industry since the recession began, flight delays piled up, and baggage, holiday and other small fees were tacked onto invoices. One domestic airline, however, got consumers talking last week when Northwest Flight 188 from San Diego to Minneapolis flew 500 miles without radio contact and overshot its destination by over 110 miles. The mystery unraveled five days later when the pilots confessed they were distracted because they had brought their personal laptops into the cockpit, so one pilot could teach the other Delta Air Lines’ new scheduling system as a result of Northwest’s recent merger. The airline’s buzz score has dropped significantly since the incident.

Arrange in-depth interview between client Free All Music and Digital Music News

Free All Music: Will This Ad-Supported Model Float?

Remember when ad-supported music was going to save the industry? Spiralfrog was lavished with praise and endless press coverage, and major labels extracted millions in licensing fees before the ship sank. Nowadays, the darling is Spotify, though according to inside sources, US-based major label executives remain leery of the revenue-challenged company. Others, including MySpace Music, Imeem, Grooveshark, and even YouTube face difficult monetization challenges.

Why so rough? The problem comes from bottom-scraping CPMs, affinity concerns among big-name brands, and a reluctance by consumers to upgrade into premium packages. Indeed, many have written this space off as a hopeless pursuit, though Atlanta-based startup 'Free All Music' (freeallmusic.com) begs to differ. The group is focusing its model on free MP3 downloads, and more direct, action-based advertising deals.

So, instead of DRM-protected experiences with impression-based advertising (a-la-Spiralfrog), Free All Music plans to tie major consumer brands into direct downloading, sharing, and other engaged behaviors. "We're confident that we'll be in major [advertiser] budgets in 2010," cofounder and CEO Richard Nailling relayed during a discussion Tuesday evening.

The company first announced themselves to Digital Music News earlier this month, though the more recent meeting included details on upcoming launch dates, as well as status updates on licensing and advertising negotiations. Specifically, Free All Music enters private beta next month, a public beta in December, and a formal launch during the first quarter of 2010, according to the roadmap.

So how does the experience work? Consumers will be able to browse a catalog of songs, but free downloads require the viewing of a brief, 15-second advertising video. The song is obviously chosen by the fan, but so is the advertiser - before downloading, a choice of different brands will be presented. That aims to sidestep sensitive issues that accompany the tying of brands with specifics artists. "Because the users are putting it together and it's a private matter, there's no implied relationship," Nailling described.

After the spot is completed, a DRM-free MP3 is handed to the consumer. But the advertising campaign continues in a novel fashion. First, the username of the downloader is placed alongside the brand and blended into an ad unit. That unit is subsequently distributed across a network constructed by Free All Music.

Sound complicated? Nailling and company believe this experience is better and easier than illegal file-sharing options, and far superior to $1.29 downloads on iTunes. But users are limited to fifteen songs per month, and five per session, a major restriction and a potential deal-breaker for many fans.

Then, the issue of major label licensing emerges. Nailling pointed to "deep conversations with all the majors," though some upfront licensing costs will be involved. "We are not being subject to the advances that have happened to other companies, the labels are really trying to work with us on that front," Nailling disclosed. "But in terms of a pure revenue-share deal, that is not in the cards at this point."

And this is anything but a risk-free bet. The company just raised a $990,000 round, though total investments are already approaching $3 million before the grand opening. At present, the team still needs to assemble the constellation of advertisers and labels to test the hypothesis. Then, the serious work of attracting, retaining, and growing a critical mass of users begins, itself a monstrous hurdle. Indeed, this is not a challenge for weak-stomached entrepreneurs, though anyone able to solve the ad-supported riddle gets serious the bragging rights.

Paul Resnikoff, Publisher.

Place BrandIndex research in Mediapost & QSRWeb stories about QSR brand loyalty

Rising Loyalty Scores Good News For QSRs

Adult perceptions of leading QSRs have been improving for the past year -- and the latest BrandIndex data show brand loyalty, in particular, rising dramatically during the past month.

BrandIndex tracks loyalty by asking consumers whether they would recommend a given brand to a friend.

The averaged "recommend" scores for McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, KFC, Subway, Pizza Hut, Domino's, Taco Bell, Long John Silver's, Hardee's, Chipotle and Jack in the Box (the 12 with the most units in the U.S.) jumped from 16.9 on Sept. 16 to 20.6 on Oct. 22. A score can range from -100 to +100, with zero indicating equal positive and negative feedback.

This rapid rise appears to have been driven in part by aggressive, post-Labor Day advertising focused on new menu items, such as Wendy's Bacon Deluxe, Burger King's $1 double cheeseburger, Taco Bell's Black Jack Taco and KFC's grilled chicken, says BrandIndex SVP and Global Managing Director Ted Marzilli.

However, he adds that willingness to recommend is typically indicative of behavior going forward. Furthermore, both the average "satisfaction" score and the average overall brand health scores for the 12 QSRs have risen from 19 on Jan. 1 to 25 as of Monday.

Loyalty and other scores are improving among the highest-income group (household income of $100,000 and over), along with those at lower levels, indicating that consumers who have traded down from casual and higher-end restaurants to QSRs "are finding themselves pleasantly surprised," Marzilli says. The chains' strategy of capitalizing on this trading down by introducing some higher-quality offerings -- such as coffee and premium burgers -- may be paying off, he surmises.

"This is really good news for the QSRs," Marzilli concludes. "Higher-end consumers may need a very compelling reason to trade back up once the economy starts coming back. If QSRs can hold onto some higher-end consumers, and the folks at the opposite end of the scale who have had to drop QSRs altogether return when jobs return, the chains will obviously be in an even stronger position" than before the recession.

BrandIndex surveys 5,000 adults from a sample that is representative of the U.S. population each day. The margin of error is +/- 2%.

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Consumer perception boosted by QSR marketing

29 Oct 2009

Brand loyalty for the top quick-service restaurant chains has leaped dramatically over the past 30 days, giving them their highest consumer perception scores of the year for adults aged 18 and over, according to YouGov's BrandIndex, a daily consumer perception research service of brands.

Driven by aggressive post-Labor Day advertising focused on new menu items such as Wendy's Bacon Deluxe, Taco Bell's Black Jack taco, Burger King's double cheeseburger for $1 and KFC's grilled chicken, consumers are recommending QSR restaurants more than at any other time this year.

For this research, BrandIndex averaged the Recommend scores of Subway, Wendy's, Pizza Hut, KFC, Burger King, Taco Bell, Chipotle, McDonald's, Domino's, Long John Silvers, Hardee's and Jack In The Box -- the chains with the most units in the US.

The Recommend score question asked to respondents is: "Would you recommend the brand to a friend?"

On Sept. 10, the sector's average recommend score was 16.9. On Oct. 22, the score was 20.6. A score can range from 100 to 100 and is compiled by subtracting negative feedback from positive. A zero score means equal positive and negative feedback.

YouGov's BrandIndex interviews 5,000 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample. Respondents are drawn from an online panel of more than 1.5 million individuals. The margin of error is +/- 2%.

BrandIndex's weekly Brandweek Buzz Report: Motorola, Yahoo and VW

Droid Powers Up Motorola

Oct 23, 2009

Battered wireless phone manufacturer Motorola finally has a reason to be cheerful. The announcement this week of its iPhone rival, Droid, has consumers buzzing already. According to market research firm YouGov's BrandIndex report, the phone maker's score has jumped from 10.9 to 15.6 since August.

The Brandweek Buzz Report by YouGov is a weekly consumer perception report that analyzes the most talked about brands based on buzz: If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, was it positive or negative?

YouGov interviews 5,000 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample. Respondents are drawn from an online panel of 1.5 million individuals. A score can range from 100 to -100 and is compiled by subtracting negative feedback from positive. A zero score means equal positive and negative feedback.

This week, the report spotlights:

• Motorola
• Yahoo
• Volkswagen


Motorola Gets Consumers Talking
Motorola's new futuristic campaign for the first Android phone—which will become available on the Verizon Wireless network—is registering on consumers’ radar. The new Droid, rumored to launch next week, is being directly positioned as superior to the iPhone, given its abilities to take photos at night, have a workable keyboard and open multiple apps at the same time. The cell phone maker's buzz score is up significantly.




Yahoo on the Rebound
Yahoo's $100 million global ad campaign on “owning the Internet” got off to a sputtering start, with its buzz score dropping from 35.4 on September 22 to 24.2 on October 13. Since then, the numbers have modestly rebounded to 28.4. Yahoo has already called in the cavalry: It hired Goodby Silverstein & Partners to handle strategic planning, advertising, digital marketing and campaign tracking, joining agency of record Ogilvy, and strategic branding firm Landor and Associates.




Volkswagen Rolls Off the Buzz Chart
The German automaker’s buzz scores have stumbled since August for a few reasons: 1) The recall of 13,500 (mostly) 2009 model year vehicles due to problems involving a temperature sensor in the Direct Shift Gearbox (DSG) transmission. 2) The Tiguan, which is VW's new entry into the small SUV category, is on the verge of a much-needed facelift. 3) The U.S. market has not taken to the recently introduced Routan mini van—a category people do not normally associate with Volkswagen. The automaker is currently in the middle of a search for a new agency to handle its $220 million U.S. creative account.

BrandIndex's Brandweek Buzz Report: October 16, 2009

Wendy's Gets Real Buzz From Bacon Deluxe Launch

Oct 16, 2009

Only a week after unleashing its Bacon Deluxe burger and a new campaign with the slogan, “You know when it’s real,” Wendy's is generating serious buzz among consumers. According to market research firm YouGov's BrandIndex report, the fast feeder's buzz score rose from 30.8 on October 6 to 33.4 on October 13.

The Brandweek Buzz Report by YouGov is a weekly consumer perception report that analyzes the most talked about brands based on buzz: If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, was it positive or negative?

YouGov interviews 5,000 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample. Respondents are drawn from an online panel of more than one million individuals. A score can range from 100 to -100 and is compiled by subtracting negative feedback from positive. A zero score means equal positive and negative feedback.

This week, the report spotlights:

• Wendy's
• Microsoft Windows
• T-Mobile


Wendy's Continues to Move the Needle
The fast feeder is appearing high on the buzz chart for the second week in a row. After a big run-up last month in value perception, Wendy’s switched to the next gear in October with both a new campaign and a new menu item. Representing the first work from the Kaplan Thaler Group, the new “You know when it’s real” campaign with its freshness and quality themes, and the new Bacon Deluxe burger, already seem to be connecting. Both developments have caused a spike in Wendy’s buzz score.




Anticipation for Windows 7 Drives Buzz
Early positive buzz and anticipation for Microsoft’s new Windows 7 software has pushed the product’s buzz score up as it heads for release next week. With ammunition like a thumbs-up review from the influential Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal and a set of national in-home Microsoft-sponsored “house party” events, Windows’ buzz score has risen from 13.8 on September 14 to 20 on October 13.




T-Mobile Loses Steam
T-Mobile is just beginning to recover from its Sidekick data loss debacle last week, and just in time. After building positive buzz for most of the year, a lot of it generated by its “Mobile Makeover” campaign promising consumers to find the best wireless plan regardless of carrier, T-Mobile began sliding downwards from the last week of September through October. Once the campaign faded, T-Mobile’s Android line couldn’t match the charisma of its rivals, sending the carrier’s buzz score from 40.7 on September 23 to 32.1 on October 13.

BrandIndex's Yahoo perception data broken in Mediapost and Silicon Alley Insider

Survey: Yahoo Campaign Dampens Perception

The $100 million marketing blitz Yahoo launched two weeks ago to revitalize its brand may be having the opposite effect, according to early consumer feedback.

Perception of Yahoo among U.S. adults has fallen steeply since the company kicked off its global campaign centered on the tag line "It's You" on Sept. 28, based on YouGov's BrandIndex, which tracks daily consumer perception of brands. It found Yahoo's buzz score had tumbled from 35.4 on Sept. 22 to 25.5 as of Monday.

Regarding Yahoo, people were asked if they had "heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, was it positive or negative?" YouGov said the 10-point drop follows a steady climb in the Web portal's index score from mid-May through most of September, and marks the biggest plunge Yahoo has had all year.

BrandIndex scores are based on interviews of 5,000 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample of 1 million. A score can range from 100 to -100, and is compiled by subtracting negative feedback from positive. A zero score means equal positive and negative feedback.

"There's been a lot of buzz leading up to the campaign, and when it finally broke, maybe a bit of a letdown," said Ted Marzilli, senior vice president of BrandIndex, offering a possible explanation for the sudden drop in Yahoo's score.

The company's global "It's You!" campaign, spanning TV, online, outdoor and other media, is intended to emphasize the increased personalization Yahoo offers following its home page redesign and addition of features giving users greater ability to customize the site.

Yahoo's "Anthem" TV spot features a series of eye-catching images, from a woman shooting rose petals out of a gun to kids kicking a soccer ball across world capitals to people gyrating on a crowded dance floor.

Marzilli said he himself found the initial spot visually impressive, but not necessarily effective in communicating how Yahoo is different now than six months or a year ago. "There just seems to be a bit of disconnect between consumers and the campaign," he said.

The rebranding effort developed by Ogilvy & Mather and Landor Associates has drawn similar reaction around the Web. A dozen comments posted on AdAge.com asking about the TV ad when it launched were mostly negative.

"Yes it is a lot of glitz and glamour, and I am aware that 'something" is coming that is all about "Y!ou' but I have a hard time believing Yahoo! will be able to live up to the hype they are creating in this ad,'" read one post.

The campaign also includes online and outdoor ads featuring a diverse range of actual Yahoo users and lines such as: "The Internet is under new management, yours," "This time it's personal," and "Totally, you."

To help reinforce the focus on personalization, Yahoo Tuesday announced a competition allowing people to submit their own versions of its signature "yodel" audio tag to a specially created site through Nov. 8 for a chance to be included in the global ad effort and featured on the Yahoo home page.

Yahoo Tuesday also set up one-day temporary recording studios in Times Square in New York, London and Mumbai with celebrity hosts to encourage people to enter the yodel contest. While Yahoo's brand perception score may have dropped sharply, Marzilli noted that it's still higher than rival portals such as AOL (-7) and MSN (3), but lower than Google (42).

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CHART OF THE DAY: Yahoo's "It's Y!ou" Campaign Turns Off Consumers (YHOO)

There's evidence that Yahoo's $100 million "It's Y!ou" ad campaign might actually be hurting the company's brand.

A company called YouGov interviews 5,000 people a day and asks them about brands. For Yahoo, they asked "If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, was it positive or negative?"

YouGov then gives the company a score between -100 and 100, compiled by subtracting negative feedback from positive.

Here's the bad news for Yahoo (YHOO). Since the launch of "It's Y!ou" campaign on September 28th, Yahoo's buzz score dropped from a 35.4 to a score of 25.5 as of yesterday, Monday, October 12th.

(See pictures of the ads plastered all over New York →)

A YouGov spokesperson tells us, "The score's drop comes after Yahoo steadily built its buzz score from mid-May through most of September. On May 13th, Yahoo was at 25.4, which is where it is right now. This is definitely the biggest buzz score drop Yahoo has taken all year."

Arrange and kick off Brandweek magazine's weekly BrandIndex feature

GM, Chrysler Show Signs of Improvement

Oct 9, 2009

- Brandweek Staff

Are recent marketing efforts by GM and Chrysler working? It appears so. According to statistics from market research firm YouGov, the automakers' scores are up since July. Since bottoming at an Index score of 5 at the end of 2008, Ford has dramatically grown its overall brand health scores. As of October 7, Ford has improved consumer perception 21 points to a two-year high of 27.

The Brandweek Buzz Report by YouGov is a weekly consumer perception report that analyzes the most talked about brands based on:

• Buzz: If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, was it positive or negative?
• Willingness to Recommend: Would you recommend the brand to friends, family or co-workers or tell them to avoid the brand?
• Index: Overall brand health score, average of six underlying indicators of brand health (Impression, Quality, Value, Reputation, Satisfaction and Willingness to Recommend)

YouGov interviews 5,000 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample. Respondents are drawn from an online panel of more than one million individuals. A score can range from 100 to -100 and is compiled by subtracting negative feedback from positive. A zero score means equal positive and negative feedback.

This week, the report spotlights:

• KFC
• Wendy's
• McDonald's
• Burger King
• Starbucks
• GM
• Chrysler
• Ford
• Michelin

KFC Benefits from Grilled Chicken Launch and Oprah Coupon Giveaway
KFC’s Buzz score averaged 15 in April, the month before the Oprah coupon giveaway and Grilled chicken product launch. Scores surged to a high of 30 in the weeks following the promotion and subsequent brand activities. Almost four months later, KFC is still reaping the rewards, and is elevated 9 points from mid 2009 Buzz levels. Scores began to improve again during the first week of October.




Starbucks Generates More Positive Buzz
From mid-March through mid-April Starbucks pulled their Buzz scores out of negative territory, increasing 10 points from -3 to 7. After holding relatively steady through July, Starbucks again improved Buzz ratings. Starbucks Buzz scores remained elevated through the first week of October, but have flattened out and dropped since September. It still remains to be seen what type of buzz Starbucks' newly launched Via instant coffee line will generate in the coming weeks.




Wendy’s Moves Needle on Value
Wendy’s—which recently tapped The Kaplan Thaler Group as its lead agency—had a great month. The fast-food chain celebrated 40 years in existence, and this week, introduced a fresh ad campaign with a new slogan: “You know when it’s real.” Wendy's also successfully improved its Willingness to Recommend scores with consumers. Wendy’s 99-cent deals on a variety of menu items and focus on differentiating from other QSRs on quality has resulted in a 10 point increase in its Willingness to Recommend score. As a comparison, competitors McDonald’s and Burger King increased only 1 point and 2 points, respectively.


McDonald’s Closes the Gap With Burger King
During the first week of October, it appears BK has begun to accelerate growth, while McDonalds has dropped down a point. As of October 7, BK's Index score was 19, while McDonald's was 13. Since launching the Angus Third Pounder in July, McDonald's has been fairly quiet on the marketing front, while BK has been generating buzz with several efforts including a beefed up BK.com, a product launch at Walmart, several celebrity endorsements, and a tie-in with the upcoming New Moon movie.




GM, Chrysler Improve, While Ford Continues to Outperform
Though Ford continues to do well, GM brands were not hit as hard as Chrysler, with each showing modest signs of improvement recently. In September, General Motors started offering a 60-day "Satisfaction Guarantee" to eligible buyers of new Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles, and has kicked off an effort touting its "Reinvention"—factors that have contributed to its rising scores. Index scores for GM and Chrysler bottomed out at 6 and -10, respectively, in July 2009, and have since improved. As of October 7, GM’s growth has slowed with scores dropping very slightly. Chrysler has continued its steady climb out of negative territory, improving 1 point since last week.




Michelin’s New Campaign Gets Consumers Talking
Michelin’s Buzz scores have improved 3 points during the first week of its new campaign. The global effort kicked off on October 7, featuring the Michelin Man as the superhero in ads that carry the tagline: "The right tire changes everything." YouGov will continue to monitor the brand's success over the next several weeks.

Tubefilter.TV covers the launch of "Web Zeroes" series

Revision3 Nabs Its First Scripted Comedy, ‘Web Zeroes’

Most people equate San Francisco based Revision3 with unscripted, net-friendly hosted web series—Diggnation, TekZilla, Film Riot. Some of the series clock in over the hour mark, firmly rooted in the vein of freeform tech video podcasts. And it’s around that techie niche that the company has built out an online network of dedicated fans, and incidentally, loyal sponsors like Netflix and GoDaddy looking to make waves in that scene.

But with the launch of its latest series, Web Zeroes, Revision3 is taking the leap into scripted comedy with what it calls its first “sitcom.” Truthfully, its closer to an Office-style single-camera comedy, than a multi-camera TV sitcom. The geek comedy was a pickup from indie creators Eddy Rivas, Nick Comardo and Daniel Miller, who together make up Houston-based Smooth Few Films. Their previous series, The Leet World, was a machinima series shot in Counter-Strike: Source.

The trio of web series creators in fact play themselves, or, as they see it, “amp-ed up versions of themselves”—the control freak Alex (Eddy Rivas), the jaded filmmaker Ray (Daniel Miller), and the nerdy fanboy, Nate (Nick Comardo).” In true modern geek fashion—a blend of online dependency tweaked with a relentless desire to be internet famous—the three are pining to become the next great web stars in hope of “making the big bucks” (and meeting Diggnation host Kevin Rose). First stop: making their own podcast.

Alex: I think we all know too much about too much to really narrow it down to any one thing. Or at least I do, and I’ll be in the driver’s seat anyway.

Nate: Shotgun!

Ray: You can’t call shotgun on podcast!

Nate: You’re just mad that I called it first.

The series had been previously released on the Smooth Few Films site, though as part of the Revision3 deal, episodes have been removed and re-cut with sponsor shout outs to Netflix. Just the pilot episode, “Cast Aways” (above) has been released. New episodes of Web Zeroes come out every Wednesday (the same day as Diggnation), with a total of 13 planned for this season.

Launch "Web Zeroes" net TV series with front page Houston Chronicle story

Going for Zeroes on the Internet

This is the story of three dudes with big dreams of getting famous on the Internet.

They tried once by creating a Web TV series inspired by a video game.

They tried a second time with a short film.

Still, megawatt Web stardom -- and that phone call from Hollywood - eluded them.

So they created an Internet sitcom about themselves -- three dudes with big dreams of getting famous on the Internet.

Web Zeroes, a comedy written, directed and produced by high school buddies and Texas natives Eddy Rivas, Nick Comardo and Daniel Miller, premieres today on the Web TV network Revision3.com.

Munching on deep-dish pizza during lunch break from day jobs, the trio explained that just when they were about to give up -- they got lucky.

"We had pretty much finished," Rivas said.

"We were going to go our separate ways," Comardo added.

The three of them started collaborating during their teen years, when they used to make homemade horror flicks such as Spoonfed -- about homicidal flatware -- and Revenge of the Shopping Carts --about grocery carts with a murderous bent.

In 2007, they formed their Web production company, Smooth Few Films. In between work commitments, they produced short films and the Web series The Leet World, based on the video game, Counter-Strike. While using video game technology to create movies and TV shows was cool among fellow Web and gaming geeks, it was a bit too nerdy and niche for the masses.

Plus, there was no money or glory.

Last summer, Miller came up with the idea of making a show that told their story. Comardo and Rivas were an easy sell, and in short order, the trio filmed four episodes of Web Zeroes.

"We wanted something live action with us in it," Comardo said, "where we weren't just sitting around computers all day."

"We wanted to make something that was ours," Miller added. "It was very meta. It was a show about us trying to do what we're doing."

"Caricatures of ourselves," Comardo said.

"Hopefully, people will think we're cool," said Miller with a deadpan face as the others laughed.

But by December, the show was hardly the breakthrough hit they'd anticipated.
"Not a lot of people seemed to watch it," Rivas said.

Miller planned to decamp for Los Angeles.

Smooth Few Films seemed destined for the scrap heap.

Then they got an e-mail from a fan who happened to be a production intern at Revision3, a Web broadcasting site.

In August, they signed a deal to produce 12 episodes of Web Zeroes, the Web broadcaster's first scripted sitcom.

"They're a credible and perfect fit for our audience," said Ryan Vance, Revision3's vice president of programming and production. "While the characters and situations are fictional and amplified for laughs, their writing comes from their real experiences and expertise online."

Today Rivas, Comardo and Miller spend weekends and evenings filming and fine-tuning Web Zeroes.

Rivas writes the scripts, Miller directs and Comardo edits. Even Rivas' wife helps out, making cameo appearances and sometimes holding the microphone.
Revision3 will air the shows, and the trio will pocket a portion of the advertising proceeds.

"The cool thing about the Internet is that it gives you the chance to show a bunch of people something you've done," said Rivas.

"To get your movie in a theater, forget about it," added Miller. "If you don't have millions of dollars and a suit behind you, no one cares."

Rivas, Comardo and Miller haven't quit their day jobs yet.

That will take, said Comardo, "a unique set of circumstances."

Everyone, after all, is trying to figure out how to make big money on the Web.

"It involves a lot of zeroes at the end of a check," said Miller, as he finished up his pizza.

Then all three burst out laughing.

Break out Free All Music's seed capital funding all over the viral web

Free All Music to offer free MP3s, new ad model

Free All Media, an Atlanta-based start-up, is the latest company to propose an ad-supported music downloading service. The company, which just announced its first seed round of funding Wednesday and expects to begin public beta testing by December, hopes to differentiate itself from flameouts like SpiralFrog with a unique advertising model that asks users to participate more directly in choosing the ads they'll see.

The company's CEO, Richard Nailling, explained how the company's Web site, Free All Music, will work. Users will select an MP3 they want to download and a sponsor they'd like to "buy" that MP3 for them. They will then watch a video advertisement, between 15 and 18 seconds in length, from that advertiser. Once the ad is completed, they'll be free to download the file, a 256kbps MP3 with no copy restrictions. No further advertisements will be served for that download.

But here's the unique part--Free All Music will then use the downloader's handle in other banner ads for that sponsor, which Free All Music will place around the Web using an (as yet undisclosed) third-party ad network, as well as through its own ad network, which will focus on music-oriented sites. In other words, you might be visiting CNET and see "MattR just downloaded 'Angry Chair' by Alice in Chains...sponsored by Converse." In this way, Free All Music will be able to sell multiple ads per download and perhaps earn enough money to cover the license fee for each song.

There's a catch, of course: users will only be able to download as many songs as Free All Music can sell sponsorships for. At launch, the company is aiming for what Nailling calls "typical iTunes behavior," which is 15 songs per month, spread over three sessions. If the site takes off and advertisers buy more space, the song allowance will increase.

The key to success will be whether the company can get all four major labels and enough indies on board to make for a competitive selection of music. So far, the company claims it's signed up one major label (unnamed), and is aiming for the "full digital catalog" from each label, giving it full parity with iTunes and sites like Amazon MP3.

Would you be willing to sit through an 18-second video ad in exchange for a perfectly legal and guaranteed legitimate MP3? Or will you stick with file-trading networks?

Correction at 7:13 a.m. PDT October 1: This post incorrectly stated the number of free songs that Free All Music aims to offer at launch. The site plans to offer 15 free downloads per month, spread over three sessions.

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New Ad Supported Music Downoad Site FreeAllMusic.com Gets Seed Funding

PLUS A Q & A With CEO Richard Nailling

Free All Media has secured seed funding to launch its FreeAllMusic.com ad supported free digital music service in late 2009. The initial round includes founding investor, Scott Barber, CEO of Reform Records, and Free All Media’s CEO Richard Nailling. FreeAllMusic.com will offer ad supported songs without DRM for free download.

The FreeAllMusic pitch is that all previous ad-supported download services have been too cumbersome, too restrictive, or too limited in content. No one to this point has offered DRM-free music downloads with an easy, no- gimmicks process.

The fact that neither of the top execs come from the music industry could offer fresh perspective. CEO Nailling worked in Hollywood in TV and interactive and #2 Brian McCourt helped fund the original "Blair Witch Project" and is a long-time brand sales veteran and consultant.

In an exclusive interview, CEO Richard Nailling explained how FreeAllMusic.com differs from other free music sites:

Q: Are the downloads ad supported?

NAILLING: Yes, each individual download is sponsored (purchased for the user) by a brand. The chosen sponsor owns 100% of the download sequence on our site.

Q: How are the ads positioned or added?

NAILLING: One (required) video Ad (15-30 sec.) will be shown on our site to the user before the song is downloaded. No more ad viewing is required or contained in the song file itself. While the song is downloading the user will also be exposed (exclusively) to other clickable display ad units from that brand sponsor. User-informed promotional ads outside FAM are also part of the display ad package for advertisers, but our FAM user does not see those ads.

Q: Have any major labels signed on?

NAILLING: We have one major label signed and intend to have all four majors signed by our launch date.

Q: How have publishers reacted?

NAILLING: We are not a streaming site. Downloads only. Publishing is covered in our label deals.

Q: Do you see Spotify and other streaming services as competition?

NAILLING: We are building a free site that works for both advertisers and consumers. In the major streaming models advertising is looked upon as the ‘necessary solution’ for funding the free model while they try to convince users to pay. In addition, streaming audio sites are not a truly effective medium for digital advertisers. People don’t watch banner ads while they stream music.

Downloaders are much more willing to watch and be engaged with advertising in return for the content.

We’re a site that people will visit to get (permanent unrestricted ownership) of the hits for free, and they’ll trade a little of their attention as part of the deal. We will make it easy for our users to get a weekly dose of the top 20 hits (in their favorite genre) and get free, legal ownership of those tunes in an easy and entertaining way.

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Free All Media Raises Nearly $1 Million For Ad-Supported Digital Music Downloads

Free All Music is a new digital music startup that plans to make money by getting people to watch ads in exchange for track downloads. If it sounds familiar, that’s because it’s the business model that startups like SpiralFrog tried and failed at—all while blowing through tens of millions of dollars. But Free All Media managed to get some investors to buy in to its business model; the startup has raised a seed round of funding that an SEC filing shows was worth at least $990,000.

CEO Richard Nailing said he and co-founder Brian McCourt invested nearly $1.5 million of their own money since the Atlanta-based startup was founded in mid-2008, but wouldn’t comment on the amount of this new round, which was led by private investors. The team thinks its music site will succeed because it’s monetized on a cost-per-action (CPA) vs. cost-per-impression (CPM) basis; users have to watch a 15-second online video ad for every DRM-free track they want to download. Nice premise—but there are a few reasons why the site has a steep uphill battle.

—Interaction vs. Scale: Any site that wants to attract advertisers needs to prove it can build a large user base first, but Nailing’s sales pitch was about user interaction vs. scale. Free All Media will charge advertisers on a cost-per-download basis and users get to pick which ads they watch. AdPerk, a startup launched in 2007, tried the same model, but gave ad viewers mini-subscriptions to various magazines instead of music. (It seemingly hasn’t gained much traction since then).

—Some display: Free All Media will also promote the site through search and social media ads, and Nailing said the company will supplement brands’ CPA buys with impressions. After a user downloads a track, the company will promote that download in a banner ad somewhere else on the web.

—Privacy: But that sounds like Beacon, the ad platform Facebook tried and got lambasted by users for. To avoid a backlash, Nailing said users need to give the site permission to publicize their downloads when they first sign up. “You agree that you’ll be cookied, we can store your preferences and that we can use your registered user name in the banners,” he said. “It’s part of the fair trade.”

—Licensing : Nailing said the company had just closed its first deal with a “major” label, and was in late-stage negotiations with “three others;” some of the funding was used for up-front payments for the licensing deals. This is one of the biggest hurdles that a music startup has to face—cutting licensing deals that don’t wind up bleeding it dry. Free All Media seems to have come up with a patchwork of solutions that it hopes will be able to solve the problems that have plagued other digital music startups.

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OTHER ARTICLES...

Digital Music News

Atlanta Business Journal

The Music Industry Report

Digital Media Wire

Techdirt

Tech Journal South

Digital Digest