ADVERTISING AGE — Online video creators, advertisers and producers have an unhealthy fascination with viral videos, and that obsession is dragging down the entire industry. Why? Because viral videos are, at their core, no better than a fluffernutter white-bread sandwich, delivering little or no value to anyone. Online video hasn't been a hotbed of success so far, and while I used to blame discovery, being relegated to the podcast ghetto and the immaturity of some of our biggest practitioners, those are just symptoms. It's the incessant focus on viral success, I now believe, that's really keeping us down...

IMEDIA CONNECTION — Hello marketers. Look at your marketing. Now at this Old Spice campaign. Now back at your marketing. Now back again. Sadly, your marketing isn't the Old Spice campaign. And guess what? Even if we want to switch to the Old Spice campaign strategy, few of us will ever have the resources for that kind of effort...

CLICKZ — Hyundai’s "Uncensored" campaign for the 2011 Sonata, which started July 5 and continues through August, began with TV spots and concludes with driving events in 10 major markets. But the bulk of the campaign is social media, with YouTube and Facebook being used to provide opportunities for consumers to comment on the Sonata and competitive cars in an effort to drive sales. Uncensored is a testimonial campaign, but the testimonials don’t come from satisfied customers; they come from prospective buyers who drive the Sonata and compare it with other cars on hidden camera. TV spots feature clips of those comments, and on YouTube extended videos and outtakes are also available...

EMARKETER BLOG — Evenflo, the marketer of child car seats, infant feeding products and other baby gear has done little, if any online marketing until this summer when it launched "The Savvy Parents Guide" campaign. The primarily digital communications platform seeks to position Evenflo as a savvy and empathetic partner in the frequently overwhelming business of parenting. After all, trying to remove the baby from the car seat without dislodging the entire apparatus from the backseat can be rather daunting. Even Bethenny Frankel, reality show and real-life mom on Bravo’s "Bethenny Getting Married?" had trouble figuring it out. In "The Savvy Parents Guide", Evenflo thinks it’s found a fun and engaging approach to helping first-time parents along...

THE SOCIAL TIMES — When Blip.tv and Happy Little Guillotine Films partnered up with 7-Eleven to create a web-based reality series they could not have anticipated the amazing response the show would receive. The series, which followed two teams in a convenience store product-inspired race across the country, received nearly 2 million views, an impressive following on Twitter, a multitude of video shares and, overall, achieved more than they could have ever expected. I had the opportunity to speak with Evan Gotlib, VP Advertising Sales at Blip.tv, and Yuri Baranovsky from HLG Films to find out a little bit more about the success of the 7-Eleven Road Rally...