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Tech Startups Ditch TV, Put Their Super Bowl Ads on YouTube
Remember how the Super Bowl in 2000 was flush with ads from tech startups riding the Internet boom (only to ride it back down the following year)? Well, these days small tech startups aren't so interested in shelling out $2.6 million for a 30-second spot during the big game. But a few have nonetheless produced ads to go along with the event, and are posting them online.
A Forbes blog item by Stephanie Mehta talks about how Plaxo, RockYou.com, Technorati and three other small companies have banded together, and have put their Super Bowl-style ads on the branded YouTube channel SuperDotComAdsXLI.
John McCrea, vice president of marketing for online address book company Plaxo, says the various startups involved began kicking the idea around two weeks ago. Plaxo is home to some budding filmmakers (and apparently a few smart alecks) so McCrea let a small team of employees put something together. He was so impressed with the effort that he decided to use the spot to launch Plaxo's new logo and tagline. "Until this opportunity came along I never even thought about commericals," he says. Now, he says, he's considering doing even more video ads, but solely for the online medium.
