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With all the the latest gadgets and technology coming out of CES 2010, leave it to Nalts to spoof the news coverage of the big event. He enlisted the help of his new babysitter as news anchor and produced this short video as "tech guru" correspondent where he "reports live" on,
"the hottest new tech gadgets and trend to take us by storm in 2010. What are the must-have technology toys for the new decade? (Oh, yeah, this is a parody of the clueless media coverage, goofy "must-have" gadgets, and silly tech wars)."
See his blog post, CES Parody: Worst Coverage on New Gadgets | Will Video for Food, on the "making of" the video where explains the pains he endured in editing in iMovie 8 and apologizes for the audio quality. He says he couldn't resist using Femto, which is a word he still can't define.
Kevin says,
"My goal was to capture the clueless field reporter, and the absurdity of the latest gadgets. I also hoped to zing a few of the egos (especially Ballmer, my favorite target)."
Who’s Nalts? Kevin "Nalts" Nalty is one of the most-viewed YouTube personalities and a career marketer. Formerly with Johnson & Johnson and Merck, he now helps companies engage with customers via social media's most visceral form: online video. See NaltsConsulting.com for more, and follow him on Twitter.com/nalts.
For some real CES news coverage, check out these related links
After a few weeks of Streaming Media West 2009 Red Carpet interviews, I'm breaking from the coverage to share news of my guest post on Kevin "Nalts" Nalty's blog, Will Video For Food. I want to thank Kevin for the opportunity to be a guest blogger on his blog and thanks as well to Jan Ischinger for the great editorial work on the post. I'd encourage everyone to visit Nalts' site and subscribe to his blog to read his daily posts and posts by other guest bloggers.
Last month, I had the pleasure of meeting Nalts at at the Online Video Platform Summit where he spoke on our Redefining Monetization panel session. It was a lively session that included Benjamin Wayne from Fliqz, Peter Csathy of Sorenson Media and Teg Granager of Adap.tv. The video from session should be online sometime soon. A few weeks ago, Kevin followed up with a note to "fellow online-video enthusiasts, virtual friends or BFFs" to see if there was interest in writing a short guest blog post on WillVideoForFood.com.
Nalts said,
"I thought it would be fun to have a series of various subject-matter experts chime in on various online video topics as 2009 closes out and we look at future trends for 2010 and beyond."
I was excited at the opportunity, and it's something I've actually been wanting to do on my own blog for some time, and have done on my OnlineVideoPublishing.com blog with a recent guest post by Tim Hawthorne, Creating a Frenzy with Online Video Contests, with another one from Tim in the works.
So needless to say, I wanted to join the fun and be a guest blogger on WillVideoForFood.com and sent a piece I had been working on to Nalts. It's an expanded version of the 250 word article I had sent to Streaming Media for publication in the December/January issue of the magazine, about looking back on 2009 and ahead in 2010 in social media and video.
2009 proved the power of video and social media can change the world.
We experience the Presidential Inauguration with millions of friends on Facebook. We read breaking news stories from citizen journalists on Twitter. We saw live as-it-happens video on YouTube hours before the stories reached our televisions and the standard reports by traditional news agencies were read.
More than any other year 2009 saw the rise of video as one of the most effective communication mediums in world history.
Virtually, every aspect of video is now included in business. From concept, scripting, storyboards, production, editing, encoding, storing, managing, distributing, syndicating, tracking, analyzing, etc… Content producers, media companies, small and medium-sized business all have the same opportunities to build their business and become online video publishers like any major corporation.
As we move into the final day of Streaming Media West and the Online Video Platform the buzz of TV Everywhere, mobile, HD video on the web, adaptive bitrate technology, social video, advertising formats and, the all important question on how to monetize it all echoes through the conference and exhibit halls. The last sessions today wrap up the week long events and later this afternoon, I'm moderating an Online Video Platform Summit panel session on monetization that will feature Benjamin Wayne of Fliqz, Peter Csathy of Sorenson Media, Teg Grenager of Adap.tv and the one and only viral video genius Kevin "Nalts" Nalty.
"Viral video is dead. Long live low production values. The cheaper the better. Don’t cuddle it to death, let go of your brand persona. Those are the sage words of Kevin Nalty, who is an online video strategist, a career marketer, and a YouTube star with more than 100 million views of his videos. In this episode of the New Media Minute, shot on location at the recent iMedia Summit in Las Vegas, he shared his tips for brands that want to play in the YouTube sandbox with New Media Minute host Daisy Whitney."
Within a week of announcing that he had left his corporate marketing job in the pharmaceutical industry, Viral Video Genius Kevin "Nalty" Nalts has landed a new gig as Chief Strategy Officer of HITVIEWS, an online entertainment studio featuring a wide roster of talented web celebrities that produces viral marketing videos for agencies and brands. Hitviews harkens back to the early days of the Hollywood studios by marrying web stars with brands and marketing campaigns. Hitviews' growing stable of stars have a cumulative view count of over 400 million – and a base of over 1 million "fan" subscribers according to their site. Nalts has been associated with Hitviews since its launch last year.
"These video stars are creating content regularly," says Hitviews co-founder and CEO Walter Sabo. "It's not just user-generated videos. These are video performers who have a large following and who understand how to get people engaged and to respond. Rather than attaching pre-roll, billboards, product placement and interruptive commercials, our video stars organically build videos around a marketer's message. Products are presented in ways that are organic – part of the video."
Hitviews launched in November 2008 under the guidance of 20-year old Australian Caitlin Hill, who is a co-founder and serves as Chief Creative Officer and is one of the most popular video stars on YouTube producing under the name TheHill88. Hitsview is backed by entertainment industry leaders Robert Weinstein of The Weinstein Company, Slaight Communications' Chairman Gary Slaight, cable news entrepreneur Reese Schoenfeld, former ABC Radio executive Allen Shaw and Sabo, who was former head of ABC and NBC radio.
According to Jack Myers of The Huffington Post, "Hitviews offers marketers and agencies one stop shoppinghandling creative, video production, editing, music scoring, rights management, and distribution wherever the brand wants. But, Sabo adds, the brand has full control and approval before videos are distributed."
In his new role as Chief Strategy Officer Nalts will be responsible for continuing Hitviews' aggressive entry into the marketplace. Sales tactics, marketing rollouts, public relations and industry relations will be his responsibility.
"Listening to Kevin Nalty talk about the power of online video marketing is inspiring to our clients and prospective clients," says Sabo. "He has extraordinary marketing experience at the highest corporate levels working for the most demanding clients. Hitviews is very lucky to have his leadership."
As Nalts embarks on his new role at Hitviews and develops his social media consulting strategy he spoke with Jim Edwards of BNET Pharma Blogabout social media marketing and had this to say, "Almost every major brand has a desire to move from traditional online and offline media, and engage in the conversation already taking place. The smart brands are engaging expert liaisons to help them be invited guests rather than annoying salespeople, and there are a load of amateurs with large audiences that can help. I’m focusing on the industries that are already serious about this medium — entertainment, consumer-product goods, and travel — rather than pharmaceutical. However as pharma gets serious about social media and video marketing, it’s a natural fit."
Visit theHitviews websitefor more information, or call 877-HITVIEWS.
“Viral Video Genius" Nalts, well known in the online video world as one of YouTube’s most prolific viral video creators and YouTube comedians, led two separate lives until yesterday when the two worlds recently collided and he was outed as a Consumer Product Director at Merck, where he marketed Propecia. Kevin Nalty had kept his day job private from his viral video fame offering only a vague reference in his online bio that he was a "Consumer Product Director at a Fortune 100 company." But as Liz Gaines noted yesterday in her scoop on Nalts, "he thought he could keep the viral video world and the day job separate," she said. "However, a recent MediaWeek story about product placement on YouTube mentioned Nalty’s employer, and that garnered some attention in the pharma blogging world. So this morning, he quit his job and became a full-time online video marketer."
Nalts made the following announcement on Twitter yesterday morning: Nalts has left his job as Marketing Director of Merck to pursue his passion for online video and social media with FULL force! :) More d ...7:57 AM May 21stfrom txt
A few weeks ago when the MediaWeek article broke the news that Nalts actually worked for Merck, Jim Edwards commented on the pharmaceutical industry BNET Pharma Blog, that Nalts' dual identity, "Seems harmless — most of his stuff is for kids. The reason it’s interesting is that the drug industry is so buttoned-up it’s surprising Merck hasn’t sent him a stiffly worded HR memo."
However, Nalts told NewTeeVee via email, “Merck knew about Nalts before they hired me. But as Nalts grew, it became harder to keep ‘low profile.’ I went to great lengths to keep them separate because I didn’t want my goofball antics to reflect poorly on a company focused on health and medication…The fact that Merck was recently being unfairly linked to me and fart videos was the 'straw that broke the camel’s back.'"
He posted the following video on his blog which helps explain the inspiration behind his decision. "Last night Katrina Darrell sang Mariah Carey's "Treated Me Kind" on American Idol 2009. Her song inspired me to quit the full-time job as a Product Director at Merck, he said. "Now it’s full-time to follow my passion: making videos, working with Hitviews, and starting my own consulting practice that will help brands engage in social media, especially the most visceral kind: online video. Stay tuned next week for more details."
A top-10 “most subscribed” YouTube comedian Nalts has created more than 800 short videos that have been viewed on online-video sites more than 73 million times, and include the popular “Farting in Public,” which was featured by YouTube has been viewed more than 7 million times. He and his online videos have won numerous awards, and have appeared on CNN, ABC, BBC, Fox and CBS News (see Nalts in News). He speaks, writes and consults in the area of online marketing and viral video and has a page in his web site for information if you'd like to hire Nalts.
Nalts also just turned 40 a few weeks ago and as he makes this change from a dual identity to a full-time online video and marketing practice he offered these reflections, "Gotta do what you love, and trust the money to follow. Should have listened to that advice right out of school. Not too late for some of you. Full steam ahead in video "entertaining," and helping brands engage in social media and video... via Hitviews and via my own consulting firm to be announced next week! Seriously- thanks so much for watching and subscribing, since I couldn't afford to do this without some income from the ads you watch."
UPDATE:
While many have commented that this may just be stunt pulled off by a master comedian, like doing a prat fall at a Streaming Media conference panel session just to gain attention, I think he’s playing for keeps. Like anyone in the public eye he has his fans and detractors but from his friends and fans in the online video community there’s been an outpouring of support. (From my post on ReelSEO)
All the best to you Kevin "Nalts" Nalty! We're all rooting for you!
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