Raven Riley, Moving Units

05 Oct 2008

raven-riley-moves-units.jpg Editors Note: There are links herein NSFW

Learned from Gawker’s Fleshbot that 2.0 pornstar Raven Riley now has a website in which she is SFW and and talking about her favorite brands – like Lipton, SunChips and Tropicana. Obvs this is of her own doing, but it teases out two questions.

First, I’m wondering when ads and brands will start embedding themselves within the world of 2.0 content creators who have traffic and equity. Rather than attempting to make new content to go viral – why not foster narrative product placement in YouTube content like that of film or TV? Dr. Pepper did this with Tay Zonday for ‘Cherry Chocolate Rain’, but at the same time, that content was high (TV) budget. It could be done for less and notch a strong ROI. The UGC movement from brands and agencies taps this vein, but too many of those campaigns go unnoticed. There is still a wealth of blue ocean.

I’ve spoken with a lot of the top rated YouTubers, and while there is rev-share from YouTube – nary a brand or agency has approached them about narrative. The below vid by gamer Arsha Asteraki, is already an ad for Mountain Dew and Frito Chips – why not capitalize on this?

Second, while I do doubt that brands and porn are gonna get in bed together, might we soon enter a shift in the public relationship with the sex industry – or at least that which is projected via Madison Ave? Juno already got me wondering about this. Much in the same way that hip-hop and brands have a sometimes secret affair, I bet 30 years ago that idea got guffaws in the boardroom. But swagger sells. Sex too.

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Comments:

  1. 6 Oct 2008 Michael

    Raven Riley is my favorite pornstar. Word.

  2. 6 Oct 2008 nerditry

    Ha, moving units!

    Unless the product placement can be hidden in plain sight both visually and informationally, this idea won’t fly.

    Is it worth it for major companies to try and advertise when they have no idea how long a trend will last? Also, they’re getting much less bang for the buck as the timeline will force them to pickup talent well after the initial (and most important) impact of the video.

    Not that we’re seeing Mr. Tanday splashing around the web these days…

    It might be smarter to make creative planners and team leaders out of the people found online. Takes the pressure off having to come up with another bolt of lightning and allows for a more focused use of corporate resources.

  3. 6 Oct 2008 MHB

    @ michael: we support such public declarations of love

    @ nerditry: I def think it can be hidden in plain sight, happens all the time with film and TV, it’s just a matter of understanding the lingua franca of the content. Also def. think that there are plenty of YT auteurs who have a consistent kind of content and number of viewers that it’s not a risky gambit – and agree with you that many of these buys will be short term, but that’s OK – it just takes a nimble client.