Ninja and Ask

Published by James May 18th, 2007 in Advertising, Working

Today we were able to launch a great conversational marketing campaign on Ask a Ninja that I am really proud to be a part of.

Big thanks goes out to everyone at Federated Media, the Ninja Crew, Castfire, and Sean Cummings over Ask, who helped make this idea come to life!

A few write ups I have seen so far are on NewTeeVee and PuppetVision.

I like this part:

This is a brilliant example of direct sponsorship because the promotion has viewers actually use the sponsor’s product and immediately rewards them for their effort with a short video. It’s simple, it’s honest and a win-win for everybody. The Ask A Ninja guys gets sponsorship, Ask.com gets new people trying their search engine and fans of the show get a short bonus video.

Wouldn’t it be nice if all advertising and promotion worked like this?

A little blurb on Federated Media:

Author-driven, next-generation publishing firm Federated Media is a pioneer in conversational media. Rather than simply selling the industry standard pre- or post-roll video ads on behalf of its authors, FM starts conversations among marketers, authors and their communities. By doing this, FM helps advertisers become engaged with the author’s audiences and start the kind of transparent, authentic dialogue that community members demand.

“The most successful online publications and video programs are two-way conversations in which the ‘content creator’ hosts a community engaged in sharing entertainment and information,” said John Battelle, founder and CEO of Federated Media. “Marketers with the courage to let their brands be a part of those conversations engender trust and affinity among those communities in a way that traditional advertising can’t. Ask.com’s partnership with video podcaster Ask A Ninja is a shining example of conversational marketing done right.”