OK, I saw it on YouTube, but I’m still happy to know there are brands that can deliver this kind of experience.

Amazing video interpretation of what it’s like experiencing a ZUNE.

Some folks at Beyond Madison Avenue were saying that the ad took 45 seconds to display product, which is bad for product recall. Fair point. But what about experiencing what it would be like to be inside a ZUNE looking for a file, be it a song or video or whatever a ZUNE does?

That’s what this spot does. And does well.

It let’s our imagination sore, as if being in a Stanley Kubrick movie. It sells the experience – not the product – through interpretation, how we would use it, what it would feel like, etc. I know when I’m searching for a certain song, I get all tingly inside knowing what will happen when I find it. How I will tap my fingers or wiggle my pelvis. Yea, I wiggle sometimes. Music does that to me.

I’m never going to buy a ZUNE but this ad makes me realize its potential and the experience derived from handling a ZUNE. That I have to respect.

Another fine online installment from AXE. Poor guy flips his truck, watches it explode and gets distracted from women who want to help. Can’t a guy get a break?

Let the Fun continue here.

Yesterday I watched Joost for the first time. For anyone who doesn’t know, Joost was built by the guys who brought us Kazaa and Skype. The business model is simple: ads are highly targeted to users based on location, time and content being viewed.

I’ll start with the obvious: Joost is good. Really good. The interface is totally optimized for video. The controls are intuitive and come loaded with features that enhance my viewing experience, like More Info, What’s Next, and Rate this Show. Nothing new here when I compare it to Rogers on Demand on my “other” TV. However, the rating system is nice. Something Rogers doesn’t care about.

There’s My Joost where I can share and invite others, chat and more: think Joost social network. They have a few widgets to help me IM with other Joost members, date and time widgets, and a few others. The creators are relying solely on user ratings. Over time I’ll be able to add my own widgets.

Then there’s My Channels where I can store my favorites. Again, nothing new but the “if you like that you’ll like this” logic is nice.

While Joost is still in BETA there are a couple of hiccups:

1. the content is lame. I didn’t know the Guinness Book of World Records had their own show.

2. the picture quality is inconsistent.

While Joost has done a fabulous job of bringing a whole new video experience to webizens, they need to be more diligent about the content they select and how it appears if they’re going to succeed.

There’s a why reason I bought a HD Plasma TV: it’s called picture quality. And until they fix this issue (they as in my internet provider or the boys from Joost), it’ll be the same old channel surfing habits for me.

You got to give it up for NBC Universal and News Corp.

Aside from syndication agreements with Yahoo!, MSN.com and Time Warner’s America Online, along with a fairly detailed business brief, the two old-media titans have nothing to show for their ambitious Web video destination site and service. They don’t even have a name for it!

Industry insiders are calling it NewTube. Among other things, NewTube’s videos can be embedded on any site, YouTube-style. But unlike YouTube thus far, they’ll come with Big Media-approved copyright protection and, in some cases, a small share of ad revenues.

What does this mean?

For media geeks, NewTube is big news. But the venture, expected to launch this summer, is merely one of myriad developments that will remake the world of Web video in the next few months. Think about all the new ad revenue models. The advertising possibilities. Contextual messaging. Sponsorships. Oi… the list just gets bigger.

Exciting times ahead.

An interesting article from emarketer showing the popularity of online video skews male. Women are still well represented but they’re more partial to movie trailers and news than all the amateur video forwarded around on YouTube.

TV show + website + community = Acceptable.TV.

The TV show airs every Friday night on VH1 at 10pm. You can watch five episodes of short TV shows, and one show made by the Acceptable.tv community. Show made by the community with the most votes is aired on VH1. Pretty solid idea. Not sure what Jack Black’s role is… Executive producer?