Insider Chatter by Donna Bogatin

Who are the biggest winners in the latest Internet fueled business model disruption? Independent filmmakers and videographers. YouTube may not be a big money maker for Google, but it has spurred the money making ambitions of unsung video creators and the monied interests that seek to leverage their low-cost video production skills.

On the local video advertising battlefield, ambitious players TurnHere and Spot Runner not only duke it out for lucrative video production and distribution contracts, but fight for the highest quality, most prolific independent video producers as well.

TurnHere has built its 3200 member “Filmmakers Network” from the ground up, Spot Runner has fueled its ”Production Network” with the absorbtion of GlobeShooter, a 1200-person strong group of local video professionals.

TurnHere leverages its base of independent video creatives for a variety of vertical applications–travel, publishing, local directories–while Spot Runner has its roots in a core local advertising message.

SpotRunner CEO Nick Grouff: “The acquisition of GlobeShooter is a natural extension of our strategy to be a central resource for local businesses’ broad spectrum of advertising needs.”

TurnHere “has established a strong foothold in the directory and local markets,” said John McWeeny, Business Development, TurnHere, in announcing a video production agreement with YellowPages.com this week, on the heels of its non-exclusive vendor agreement with Superpages.com, announced last month. TurnHere has been supplying video production services to Citysearch since last May.

Why such local business interest in videos?

According to Matt Crowley, CMO, Yellowpages.com, “Advertisers recognize that video can play a key role in delivering a unique and memorable message that engages the consumer and influences action.”

TurnHere’s McWeeny offers: “We continue to see rising industry demand as small merchants embrace online video as a platform to attract new customers and drive businesss growth.”

Citysearch itself, however, is more nuanced in evaluating video traction among merchants online. In November, President Jay Herratti spoke of the need to lower cost of video entry for advertisers in order to spur greater adoption, while keynoting at the Kelsey conference in Los Angeles.

The local video battle for advertisers and production contracts is NOT solely an online one. The Spot Runner founding claim to fame is ”the first Internet-based ad agency that makes it easy and affordable for local businesses to advertise on TV.” Nevertheless, GlobeShooter’s video producers serve to “expand the company’s ability to offer highly customized ads for both TV and the Internet.”

The TurnHere founding Internet message was Web-centric, offering “studio quality Internet adverising and Web distribution for building online traffic.” TurnHere is now poised to leverage good old fashioned television as well, however.

When I spoke with TurnHere CEO Brad Inman about the Yellowpages.com online video deal this week, he began by underscoring how TurnHere is key to bringing “television quality advertising” and television like distribution to the reach of local merchants. What’s more, the TurnHere video product is “more micro-targeted than cable television.”

Inman also hailed the television worthy work of the TurnHere “Filmmakers Network.” Will videos by TurnHere soon be playing then on a TV near you? Stay tuned!

ALSO: Spot Runner Sells For Rival Google: Local SEM Bandwagon Grows and TurnHere Video Gets the Book Marketing Party Started

PLUS: Reach Local Advertising? How Google Squeezes SEMs and AdWords Buyers and Google Apps & Maps: Enterprise and Local Business STILL Missing and
Local Advertising Online: SMEs Hold the Billion Dollar Keys, ILM ANALYSIS and Google TV Ads Auction: NO AdWords Buyer’s Remorse

CONTACT DONNA BOGATIN

TurnHere is on a local video roll. Just months after landing a deal to power the production of online video spots for Citysearch, the “full service Internet video solutions provider” is now making videos for Idearc’s Superpages.com.

TurnHere Founder & CEO, Brad Inman, is enthusiastic about the market opportunity for his company’s 2000 member strong ”Filmmaker Network,” independent creatives making “high-quality videos for the Web that capture the true local spirit of a place and the people and businesses that bring it to life.”

I asked Inman today how the TurnHere partnership with Citysearch is progressing. Local online video is NOT a “case study,” Inman underscored, “We are nearing 1000 videos for Citysearch,” he told me.

Citysearch President Jay Herratti is more nuanced in his discussion of video traction among merchants at Citysearch, however. In his keynote at the Kelsey Interactive Local Media conference last week in Los Angeles, Herratti spoke of the need to lower cost of video entry for merchants in order to spur greater adoption.

According to Inman, the restaurant and salon catgegories are the leading buyers of TurnHere videos at Citysearch.

“TurnHere, with their efficient and highly scaleable production process, is an obvious partner for us and will meet the needs of Superpages’ customers,” said Eric Chandler, president, Internet for Idearc Media.

Nevertheless, at Superpages.com, Turnhere will not be the sole video vendor promoted by Idearc to merchants. Denver MultiMedia has also been retained to “produce online videos for Superpages.com advertisers.”

How will Superpages.com divvy up the local merchant video opportunities between TurnHere and Denver MutilMedia, I asked Inman. TurnHere is not aware of how Idearc will be selling the two video services to its clients, Inman told me.

The Denver MultiMedia value proposition is almost identical to that of TurnHere:

“We’re excited to work with Superpages.com advertisers across the country,” said Bob Kennedy, President and CEO for Denver MultiMedia. “Businesses in any local market across the country can now have high-quality videos that personalize their business and give prospective customers a reason to visit their store or give them a call.”

“Our new relationship with Idearc demonstrates our growth and success in the local market sector,” said Jared Simon, vice president of business development for TurnHere. “Our goal is to help companies convey the unique personalities and services behind their businesses through a real-time medium that is both dynamic and cost-effective.”

I asked Inman who he views as his competition; Denver MultiMedia was not mentioned. TurnHere believes it is creating a new category and therefore does not have any competition at present. Competition would be welcome, though, Inman told me, as it would help build the market for all players. 

How Superpages.com aims to build the local video market, the merchant pitch:

Tell your story as only you can with Superpages Video: Superpages Video is the easy way to let customers get to know your business better. You decide who and what to feature and a video professional will do everything else - film, edit, revise and place your video on Superpages.com.

ALSO: Citysearch’s Herratti on Social Media and Merchant Reputation: ILM INTERVIEW and TurnHere Video Gets the Book Marketing Party Started: EXCLUSIVE

MORE FROM KELSEY CONFERENCE: Local Advertising Online: SMEs Hold the Billion Dollar Keys, ILM ANALYSIS
Google Apps & Maps: Enterprise and Local Business STILL Missing
Google Beware: Facebook Takes Local Advertising Gloves Off, ILM REPORT and
Jason Calacanis: ‘Wrong About Local Too,” ILM REPORT
The Future of Local IS (Google) Search: ILM REPORT and
Local is Global: $134 billion in Yellow Pages, Classifieds and Internet Advertising, ILM REPORT

CONTACT DONNA BOGATIN

Brad Inman, Founder & CEO of TurnHere online video production and distribution service, is having a good time “revolutionizing” the marketing of books on the Web with his ”authentic, mini-docs” of authors’ “back stories.” A really, good time!

Last evening, Inman brought together Manhattan publishing execs with TurnHere’s filmmakers to share an authentic New York City experience: Dining, dancing and drinking at the one and only “Sammy’s Roumanian Steak House.”

Why did an Irish Catholic choose a Lower East Side institution famous for old world style Jewish food and humor for his celebration? Because Sammy’s old fashioned authenticity relfects the TurnHere video production style of real world, heart felt story telling, Inman told his guests. What’s more, one of the first TurnHere videos ever produced told the Sammy’s story.  

Can video make reading sexy? I headlined in May, announcing bookvideos.tv, an online book channel developed by TurnHere and sponsored by CBS Corporations’s Simon & Schuster publishing arm.

“Videos will humanize authors,” Sue Fleming, VP, Online & Consumer Marketing for the Adult Publishing Group told me:

Now readers will have a way to view and share compelling content about our authors, available on a 24/7 basis. BookVideos.tv will allow readers to easily use the internet to replicate, for the digital age, the critical and time tested word of mouth excitement that comes from talking about a good read. Tapping this huge potential audience is an exciting new way of marketing for us, and we expect to find legions of new readers while at the same time giving a new experience to dedicated fans of our authors.

Now the question is: Can online video help sell books? YES, according to last evening’s chatter. Lovers of the written word are using the power of the spoken word to pitch their books. Taking a cue from Oprah Winfrey, book publishers are embracing personal, direct-to-readers communication between authors and their fans, via video.

In other TurnHere bookvideos.tv words, “watch the story behind the story.”

So far, so good, for Simon & Schuster and TurnHere. Fleming told me in May she was starting with a 40 TurnHere video trial; Now, there are 100 more author videos in the works, Inman told me last evening. What’s more, additional publishers are on board to join the bookvideos.tv lineup.

What is the bookvideos.tv appeal to publishers? The Turnhere value propostion:

TurnHere produces professional digital videos, accessible on the Internet, for clients across the globe.  Each TurnHere digital video is driven by an individual filmmaker’s vision in lockstep with client goals, translated into compelling storytelling, authentic perspective and high entertainment value. TurnHere clients all have one thing in common – they each have recognized the power of quality filmmaking to convey important messages both externally and internally.  And they have been able to accomplish this quickly and inexpensively.

The bookvideos.tv network offers readers and book clubs a one-stop shop for videos and other content and functionality to learn about all their favorite authors and purchase all their favorite books onlline. It is the place where favorite books and authors come to life, and it’s also where readers engage with the literary community on a whole new level. Using the site’s variety of social media tools, author videos can be embedded on Web sites and blogs, emailed to friends, or shared with book clubs. Readers are also encouraged to subscribe to to the videos with RSS, as well as adding them to del.icio.us and Digging favorite new titles.

The book marketing party was in full swing last evening in the heart of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. TurnHere aims to foster an ongoing social celebration of books at bookvideos.tv.

MORE: Why Use Video Online? TurnHere Has 2000 Reasons

PLUS: Web 3.0: From AOL to TechCrunch, NYC Takes Center Stage and FeedBurner VC Smart Money on the Cheap: $4 CPM

CONTACT DONNA BOGATIN