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#WeeklyDisruptor: Party-Time YouTuber & ‘Like/Comment/Subscribe’ Host Andrew ‘Gunnarolla’ Gunadie

Embrace Disruption PR — Thu, 09 May 2013 14:14:43 +0000

Each week at Embrace Disruption we introduce you to an influential person in the digital, blogger, arts, culture, film, or media world! Every Thursday, you can check back at EDPR to find out who we think is particularly amazing at ‘embracing disruption’ within their respective industries. This week, we’d like to introduce you to Music/Video Producer, YouTuber & Musician, Andrew ‘Gunnarolla’ Gunadie!

What’s your official job title, and where did you go to school?

Currently I’m a music & video producer, and Party-Time YouTuber! You probably know me as ‘gunnarolla’ – I’m at least partly responsible for music videos such as “Canadian, Please” and “The Comic Sans Song”. I also co-host and co-curate a live show about YouTube called “Like/Comment/Subscribe”.

I have an Honours BA in Media, Information & Technoculture from Western University, and a diploma in Television Broadcasting from Fanshawe College in London, Ontario.

Elevator pitch. Describe yourself in a nutshell (or sea shell, or any shell for that matter).

Asian-Canadian. Funny & funny-looking. I love to make content that will make you laugh and make you think. I have a few big YouTube videos under my belt (not literally, that’s gross). More and more I love YouTube as a social platform – I love building and interacting with a community, and extending that experience with our tours and live shows. I’d like to think that I’ve facilitated many friendships, and at the end of the day, I just want to be your friend.

Why did you pursue what you’re doing now? What was the inspiration?

Well, I’m doing a lot of things now. Music has been the thread that has run through my life since I was born – I studied piano/keyboard, and went on to teach hundreds of students with the Yamaha Music Education System.

I didn’t really get into producing my own music, or seeing music as a tool for personal expression, until high school. It’s around that time that I also got into video production. I had a great group of friends to collaborate with, and we were always making stuff. Julia Bentley and I produced a ton of music together.

I’ve worked on a few television productions (Canada’s Next Top Model, The Conventioneers) but the job that made the most sense with my degree and my skill set would have to be Senior Multimedia Producer with the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). I did anything and everything relating to digital video – multi-camera recording of events, AV for exhibitions, interviews, Festival coverage, trailers, clip reels, and all YouTube content.

All the while, I was active on YouTube, and it was a fun hobby, and a great place to exercise my creativity. “Canadian, Please,” released in 2009 and currently sitting at 3.7 million views, is our big viral hit, but it wasn’t until a few years later that I really started considering (and treating) YouTube as a potential “job” – or at least, a thing that I could dedicate more time to.

There are no limits to the YouTube content. And because the people who watch me are so awesome, I tend to draw much of my inspiration from them. If you are in tune with your audience, and you make an effort to interact with them, you will never run out of ideas.

What is the best part of your day-to-day?

I set my own schedule, so two-hour lunches are pretty great, as are designated nap time. I love the moment when a project is finally done and out there in the world. I recently completed a daily video series, and that was definitely a highlight of my day; sharing work, and interacting with the audience, building on their ideas, and using their feedback to improve my next project.

What’s the most challenging?

Because I set my own schedule, weekends basically don’t exist! I have to constantly remind myself that most people get at least one day off a week, so I shouldn’t feel bad about not working on a Sunday. To-do lists and scheduling blocks of work time in a calendar help to keep me on track (even though I don’t always follow them!)

A lot of the work that I do on YouTube is tough – so much of what I personally value constantly contracts what is “important” in the YouTube world. If I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it 1,000,000% and I don’t like feeling like I’m not succeeding. So I’ve had to balance what is important to me vs what I need to do to be “successful” on this platform. You don’t get a raise and you don’t get a promotion because you worked hard or because you were super talented. You have to play the game, and I hate that. I’ve had a lot of jobs, but this has definitely been the hardest. But I just can’t give up!

If you took a look in the cliché crystal ball, what do you see for yourself?

I’ve had a lot of major life changes in the past two years – I left a prestigious full-time job, did a ton of traveling, slept on couches and even in cars. I also got out of my comfort zone and started doing more music and live shows. I don’t have any regrets about these decisions – they’ve helped me realize what is really important in life, and the necessity of (calculated) risk-taking to really be happy.

That said, I would love to continue what I’m doing, but without the constant underlying fear that I won’t be able to make my rent, or that I will be forever alone because I have too many things going on at once. Hopefully that’s what my future has in store, but I’m starting to suspect that that’s just life…

How do you embrace disruption in your work and personal life?

My life is based on disruption! I mean, I tried the stable, predictable, traditional thing – and I definitely could have continued down that route. But if I hadn’t taken chances (probably the biggest one was leaving my full-time job) then I wouldn’t have learned about myself in the way that I did, through traveling, and through the relationships that I built after leaving my job.

Regarding risks and disruption, a friend once told me “decisions are never final: even if you make the ‘wrong’ decision, it’ll just lead you to new choices, and the option of making another decision” which I really impacted my outlook on life.

I’ve also recently had a few incidents in my personal life and with my family that have helped to put the bigger picture into perspective. I will never pass up the opportunity to travel, and I refuse to worry or complain about money. I am healthy and I have skills – I’m incredibly fortunate to live the life that I do.

What is the most memorable moment in your career?

I produced a lot of great work and worked with very important people when I worked with TIFF. It’s great seeing your work up on the big screen, and all over the Internet.

I’ve had a ton of highlights relating to my work on YouTube. I’ll forever look back fondly on my first cross-continent tour with Andrew Huang. We packed up a U-Haul truck and drove from Toronto to LA, stopping in a major Canadian and American cities for shows. I had never really driven long distances, I had never really performed live, I had never really met up with fans, Andrew and I barely knew each other, and somehow it all worked out. We met so many incredible people on that journey, and we didn’t fight once – which is a feat considering that we were literally inseparable for almost two weeks. Australia and New Zealand were also amazing, but we were pros by that point.

On a similar note, my first show with Andrew Bravener presented at Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2012 in Toronto was quite the experience, even though I don’t remember much of it. We hosted this show for 12 hours straight. But we had amazing support– particularly from a group of dedicated crazies known as The Blanchettes (hey, Tarra!), and it really opened my eyes to how fun and valuable these live shows can be.

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I’ve had a lot of triumphs in my YouTube career – getting support from people that I admire (hello Hank Green & the good people over at YouTube), and I’ve become friends with most of the people that I enjoy watching. Any chance that I get to spend time with viewers has been amazing – shooting music videos in Vancouver & Melbourne, brunch & games in Toronto. I get a lot of fan art and video responses, and I love that – people take time to make these things, and time is one of the most valuable things you can give someone. I have truly invested and appreciative viewers.Do you support any initiatives or charities?

I’ve supported the Coalition for Music Education (http://www.musicmakesus.ca/) and Partners for Mental Health (http://www.partnersformh.ca/) during the Project for Awesome movement on YouTube.

I’m still very involved in children’s music education as a teacher for Yamaha Music Education System. It’s so important for kids to not only just get into music lessons at a young age, but to have a positive, fulfilling experience. I will always been a huge proponent of Yamaha music lessons!

Tell us what you see yourself doing at 65 years old.

Probably what I’m doing now, with more naps and less duck lips. (Let’s hope.)

Just for fun: if you had to pick one app in the whole APPVERSE, what would it be?

I’m so bad with apps. I use my phone for email and social media; I don’t have much time for anything else! A friend recently introduced me to Voxer, and it’s been great for keeping in touch with my international friends.

Film Monday: CGP Grey, A Unique Spin on Complex Explanations

Embrace Disruption PR — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 15:26:39 +0000

The world is full of complex situations and concepts that sometimes you wish someone would take the time to break them down for you and explain them in a way you’d understand. That’s exactly what CGP Grey has done on YouTube. His unique video style and witty commentary have helped him go viral with subjects such as The Difference between the United Kingdom, Great Britain and England Explained & Death to Pennies

Check out one of his most popular videos, Coffee: The Greatest Addiction Ever, and see why we shouldn’t necessarily feel bad about needing all those glorious cups!

Not Just Kooky Kids & Animals: How Brands Use YouTube To Their Advantage

Embrace Disruption PR — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 17:24:25 +0000

This post is written by staff blogger, Tarra Matthews.

Nothing will grab a consumer’s attention better than a video from a brand; a product demonstration, a celebrity endorsement or an innovative commercial all demonstrate this perfectly. The problem is, brands used to utilize large budgets on flashy commercials to enter the video market, and this (as we know) is no longer a relevant way to spend ad dollars. Modern technology such as DVRs and Internet streaming mean that people are recording or downloading their favourite shows, meaning commercials are not making nearly as big of an impact to their intended audience. So where can you, as a brand, post your videos/commercials for your products where people will actually consume them? With a quick internet (or common sense) search, the answer is pretty clear, YouTube.

Undeniable YouTube Statistics

The user and viewing statistics for YouTube are pretty staggering:

Over 800 million unique users visit YouTube each month
Over 4 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube
72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute
YouTube is localized in 53 countries and across 61 languages
25% of global YouTube views come from mobile devices
People watch one billion views a day on YouTube mobile
YouTube is available on 400 million devices

Souce: http://www.youtube.com/yt/press/statistics.html

YOUTUBE PARTNERS

With such amazing global attention, learning how to harness the power of YouTube is undeniably valuable, and brands have attained desirable reach doing so.

Basically, if you are a brand on YouTube, you have 2 options to advertise; run ads in front of other channels’ content as part of the YouTube Partners program, or you could run your own channel. The YouTube Partners approach has pretty wide appeal, more than a million advertisers use Google ad platforms, the majority of which are small businesses. (x) The advantage of these ads is that YouTube only places your ads on the category of videos that it feels your potential customers will come from, there’s no point of putting an ad for make-up as the intro to Wii U console review, it just won’t garner the desired traffic. The one drawback to these ads is that 65% are skippable. So again, if someone doesn’t want to see your ad, they don’t have to watch it.

OLD SPICE

The other approach for brands on YouTube is to have their own channel where they can upload their own videos, have people leave comments about the brand, etc. This approach is another way a company can develop the brand identity and personality, creating a personal connection with their consumers. One brand that did this very well was Old Spice. Back in 2010, the Unilever brand had a major viral/commercial hit on their hands with the ‘Old Spice Guy;’ the seemingly perfect, gentlemanly specimen who was a Jack-of-all-trades and could do anything better than your man. Who WOULDN’T want to smell like this guy? As part of their marketing campaign, the Old Spice Twitter followers were invited to submit questions or comments and then the Old Spice Guy would film video responses to them. The initiative was beyond successful, probably due in part to the fact that Old Spice Guy responded to some pretty famous names. Below is the original ‘Questions’ video & the video response to ‘Everyone’

HEINEKEN

Looking at current YouTube data, Heineken is the clear winner in beer market as not only YouTube leader but overall social media leader in their industry.(x)

So what makes them the best on YouTube? Let’s take a look at their channel. The branding of the channel is clear and it’s very user-friendly: props to their marketing department!

And the content itself is beyond creative. Their featured video at the moment is entitled “The Candidate,” and yes you’re right, it has nothing to do with beer.

This video completely focuses on the company culture; what it is like to work at the company. Customers who identify with a culture or personality of a firm aren’t just product loyal; they are brand loyal which is way more valuable. Clearly, the marketing and public relations firms & agencies at Heineken are rockstars.

RED BULL

If you want to see a company that knows how to market itself on YouTube, look no further than Red Bull. Besides being the major sponsor of some very popular sporting events, including Red Bull: Crashed Ice, Red Bull was the main sponsor of one of the most discussed stunts in recent history, Felix Baumgartner’s jump from the edge of space. That event was live streamed and the residual video from that jump can be used for a time to come in product videos as well as brand videos.

Red Bull has done their research when it comes to their targeted audience and brand positioning. Their sponsorship of extreme sports fits very well with the YouTube community as many BMX riders and skateboarders use technology (such as GoPro cameras) to capture their latest and greatest stunts and upload them to YouTube. When fellow extreme sports enthusiasts are searching and watching content on YouTube, Red Bull wants to be in there to capture a portion of those views, and boy have they ever. As of January 2013, the Red Bull YouTube channel had over 1.4 Million subscribers, (x) more than the next 2 top ‘Brand User Movers’ (Apple & Sony Music India SME) combined.

TARGET

A recent FORBES article ranks Target as the top retailer on social media and a quick look at their YouTube page shows why. Target has never shied away from strong branding; their logo is a bright red bull’s eye for goodness sake!

What they’ve done well is consistence. Their images are crisp, clear and easily distinguishable as Target. Their stylish shopping bag full of celebrity endorsements, product lines and partnerships don’t hurt either. Clicking through their uploaded videos you see: The Fray, Coco Rocha, B.O.B., and Brad Goreski, amongst others. The most recent edition to the Target family of celebrities, Mr. Suit and Tie himself, Justin Timberlake; when the guy makes a comeback, he does it in a big way. Check out his spot below:

What makes Target such a force to be reckoned with on YouTube is a combination of elements. Their content isn’t only fun, full of catchy songs and bright images, it is also informative. Without even stepping into the store, I bet the average person could name off a list of products you can buy from the retailer thanks to their videos. Their videos are also filled with tips and tricks from top Hollywood stylists on how to look like a star while sticking to a budget; in today’s image obsessed society, doing those types of videos well will definitely put you ahead of the competition.

RECAP

So what have we learned today?

1. Top successful brands should be using YouTube to share their video content with consumers, the facts and figures are too incredible to ignore.

2. A brand on YouTube needs to present their channel pages properly; make them user-friendly and make sure the colours and images presented represent the brand.

3. Content creation needs to be consistent and topical; if you’re a company that only posts a video every couple months, or on an inconsistent basis, you will be forgotten. Additionally, if you’re a brand posting videos than cannot relate back to your brand at all, what’s the point?

4. Be creative; such a clichéd phrase but still true. No one wants to watch a video of a spokesperson just standing there blabbing on about how useful or delicious your product is, they will click away faster than you can upload your next ‘masterpiece.’ You have a matter of seconds to capture your audience’s attention, don’t waste it.

5. MOST IMPORTANTLY: Use YouTube to develop your brand identity and personality. A video combines moving pictures, words and audio capabilities to engage a viewer more than a single sense medium such as print or radio. Written words can be misinterpreted, a well constructed video that shows what your brand is all about just can’t.

So there you have it, a list of tips and suggestions along with viable examples of brands that have taken over and used YouTube to their absolute advantage.

How will you utilize YouTube for your company?

Youtube Done Right: Brownes Dairy Farm Infographic

Embrace Disruption PR — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 17:17:58 +0000

We came across this ‘udderly’ fantastic infographic video made by a dairy farm over in Australia. Because this is such a prime example of how to modernize your advertising approach while embracing social media: we couldn’t wait until Film Friday to share it with you!

“Every year millions of litres of milk are trucked into Western Australia (WA) from over east. At a time when WA dairy farmers are struggling to survive. Not a lot of people realise this is happening because much of that imported milk comes in as yoghurt.

Brownes are saying “enough” and making next Saturday November 3rd the official Use Buy Date for all yoghurts imported into WA. From that day on, we invite you to buy locally-made yoghurt instead. It’s fresher for your family and better for all those families who own and run WA dairy farms.” via Brownes.

Job well done Brownes, job well done.