5 ms·

Emailing 25k Marilyn Manson fans a video of their house

93 points by leemartin 9y ago

kowdermeister 9y ago
Really clever campaign. Architecture wise I would have rendered the video server side and just send a link to the MP4 to the user skipping the 6MB attachment.
- leemartin 9y ago
  Cheers man. I would usually do something like this server side but didn't have much time to test the pros and cons of rendering via something like FFMPEG vs. After Effects. I was pretty excited to try out the DataClay plugin as well. We really wanted to mail the attachment because most folks would receive this via mobile and you can't download a link (easily, to my knowledge) to your mobile file system or photo library. By putting the attachment in their inbox, it's a one-click process which gets them one step closer to sharing.
faitswulff 9y ago
This is pretty awesome. Updates on the AC bill would be appreciated ;)
- leemartin 9y ago
  Well it's probably not going to be as bad as my S3 bill but I'm not looking forward to it.
carlob 9y ago
> Contestants were required to give their email address and share their location in order to earn a chance to win tickets to see Manson live at a show near them. ah ok
- leemartin 9y ago
  In addition, we contacted a few online store customers since we knew their mailing address. I believe the Manson camp also mailed some of those folks post cards with a similar theme.
5_minutes 9y ago
Smart idea, and you got lucky there with the addresses :)
- leemartin 9y ago
  If we're counting luck, this campaign was a god damn fluke.
paulgb 9y ago
This reminds me of the interactive video to Arcade Fire's The Wilderness Downtown: http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/ http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/
- leemartin 9y ago
  You nailed it Paul. That campaign really inspired me early on as a developer (and I think a lot of devs in music would say the same) and I've used similar tricks of geo-nostalgia in other projects.
anotheryou 9y ago
no video example?
- leemartin 9y ago
  Check this out: https://twitter.com/Mapbox/status/908100445754859521 https://twitter.com/Mapbox/status/908100445754859521
- justsaynope 9y ago
  https://s3.amazonaws.com/wkwyfl/WYWYFL_X.mp4 https://s3.amazonaws.com/wkwyfl/WYWYFL_X.mp4 where X is 1-22357
  - drivers99 9y ago
    Access denied even after replacing X with a number. leemartin wrote that he locked the S3 bucket the exact same minute of your post, unfortunately.
  - leehung92 9y ago
    #!/bin/bash for ((i=1; i<=22357; i++)); do ffmpeg -ss 00:00 -t 00:01 -i https://s3.amazonaws.com/wkwyfl/WYWYFL_$i.mp4 https://s3.amazonaws.com/wkwyfl/WYWYFL_$i.mp4 -vframes 1 -f image2 mmfanloc-%05d.jpg done whoops..
    - leemartin 9y ago
      Out of curiosity (since we are on Hacker News) - what would have been your next logical step on trying to connect those videos to their actual fans?
ThinkingGuy 9y ago
In June 2004 Reason magazine did something similar: Every subscriber to the magazine received an individualized copy with an aerial photo of the subscriber's house on the cover, and the title "[Subscriber name], they know where you are!" http://reason.com/archives/2004/06/01/database-nation http://reason.com/archives/2004/06/01/database-nation
- leemartin 9y ago
  YES. Wow. This is what I referenced when pitching the project.
DanBC 9y ago
I assume the competition had finished. Why hadn't this personal data been deleted? Did competition entrants have to opt in to allow you to use their personal data for marketing? Or was that opt in assumed?
- leemartin 9y ago
  Competition is still ongoing. It's tied into a larger campaign. The videos were sent directly to users as part of an email confirmation of their contest entry. We did not use the videos for marketing. It was up to the user to actually share the video.
  - beberlei 9y ago
    I think parents question is about if you have consent from your competition users to use their location data as part of marketing campaings as part of the ToS. While from a technical PoV this campaign is awesome, in Europe you might easily get sued for this kind of use of the data, especially since you make it quite obvious how you used the data (v.s. "hidden" data mining, which most companies can get away with).
    - leemartin 9y ago
      Yeh, I hear you. Users consented to sharing their location as one of the variables required to enter the contest. It was a ticket giveaway so knowing their location allowed us to figure out which show they might go to. Again, the videos themselves were emailed directly to users and while sharing them publicly was encouraged, it was not something we did ourselves. It's like... you gave me an email address so naturally I'm going to email you. You gave me a location so (unnaturally) I'm going to make a video for you.
      - leemartin 9y ago
        I should also note that the location consent was (in most cases) initiated by the HTML5 Geolocation prompt. Now a lot of companies use this technology to reposition something like a Google Map on their website. We did the same thing but positioned a static map and made it part of a video composition.
Quanttek 9y ago
Sounds like an wesome campaign. Congrats! Are there any sample videos available?
- leemartin 9y ago
  Cheers man, check this out: https://twitter.com/leemartin/status/907308086184087552 https://twitter.com/leemartin/status/907308086184087552
climber_mac 9y ago
This is awesome. How did you end up working on projects like this one? This kind of interactive one-off experiences are something I've been interested in for a long time.
- leemartin 9y ago
  1) Got lucky: http://leemart.in/origin http://leemart.in/origin 2) Worked really hard and stayed as curious as possible 3) Add 15 years
- rollcat 9y ago
  There are companies that specialize in one-off, 100% bespoke digital media marketing campaigns. Source: worked for one for 4.5 years. Did awesome stuff. Burnout is real though.
justsaynope 9y ago
you leaked the videos url in your medium post :( Now everyone can check the location of MM fans. https://s3.amazonaws.com/wkwyfl/WYWYFL_1.mp4 https://s3.amazonaws.com/wkwyfl/WYWYFL_1.mp4 https://s3.amazonaws.com/wkwyfl/WYWYFL_22357.mp4 https://s3.amazonaws.com/wkwyfl/WYWYFL_22357.mp4
- leemartin 9y ago
  Haha. That's like saying Google Maps can leak the locations of people. There's nothing to tie the users to the videos but I've gone ahead and turned off that S3 because you gave me a small heart attack.
  - justsaynope 9y ago
    better safe then sorry! ;)
    - leemartin 9y ago
      Agreed. Thanks for the nudge
sandworm101 9y ago
People are very sensitive about other people seeing images of thier homes. I'm in the military and once had to deal with a complaint about our aircraft "buzzing" a house. As the address was in nearby farmland I called the person to confirm the exact location. Maybe the house was on an approach to our airport or maybe our pilots were using it as a landmark for an exercise. "I'm with one of our pilots now. We're looking at what we think is your house based on the address you gave us. Is it the one with the gravel driveway and L-shaped pool?" "What? Are you taking pictures of my house?" "No ma'am. I've got a satellite view of your address on my screen." "You have spy satellites over my house!!@!$#!#" "Google maps!, just google maps!" #Click#

93 points by leemartin 9y ago

Really clever campaign. Architecture wise I would have rendered the video server side and just send a link to the MP4 to the user skipping the 6MB attachment.

leemartin 9y ago
Cheers man. I would usually do something like this server side but didn't have much time to test the pros and cons of rendering via something like FFMPEG vs. After Effects. I was pretty excited to try out the DataClay plugin as well. We really wanted to mail the attachment because most folks would receive this via mobile and you can't download a link (easily, to my knowledge) to your mobile file system or photo library. By putting the attachment in their inbox, it's a one-click process which gets them one step closer to sharing.

faitswulff 9y ago

This is pretty awesome. Updates on the AC bill would be appreciated ;)

leemartin 9y ago
Well it's probably not going to be as bad as my S3 bill but I'm not looking forward to it.

carlob 9y ago

> Contestants were required to give their email address and share their location in order to earn a chance to win tickets to see Manson live at a show near them. ah ok

leemartin 9y ago
In addition, we contacted a few online store customers since we knew their mailing address. I believe the Manson camp also mailed some of those folks post cards with a similar theme.

5_minutes 9y ago

Smart idea, and you got lucky there with the addresses :)

leemartin 9y ago
If we're counting luck, this campaign was a god damn fluke.

paulgb 9y ago

This reminds me of the interactive video to Arcade Fire's The Wilderness Downtown: http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/ http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/

leemartin 9y ago
You nailed it Paul. That campaign really inspired me early on as a developer (and I think a lot of devs in music would say the same) and I've used similar tricks of geo-nostalgia in other projects.

anotheryou 9y ago

no video example?

leemartin 9y ago
Check this out: https://twitter.com/Mapbox/status/908100445754859521 https://twitter.com/Mapbox/status/908100445754859521
justsaynope 9y ago
https://s3.amazonaws.com/wkwyfl/WYWYFL_X.mp4 https://s3.amazonaws.com/wkwyfl/WYWYFL_X.mp4 where X is 1-22357
- drivers99 9y ago
  Access denied even after replacing X with a number. leemartin wrote that he locked the S3 bucket the exact same minute of your post, unfortunately.
- leehung92 9y ago
  #!/bin/bash for ((i=1; i<=22357; i++)); do ffmpeg -ss 00:00 -t 00:01 -i https://s3.amazonaws.com/wkwyfl/WYWYFL_$i.mp4 https://s3.amazonaws.com/wkwyfl/WYWYFL_$i.mp4 -vframes 1 -f image2 mmfanloc-%05d.jpg done whoops..
  - leemartin 9y ago
    Out of curiosity (since we are on Hacker News) - what would have been your next logical step on trying to connect those videos to their actual fans?

ThinkingGuy 9y ago

In June 2004 Reason magazine did something similar: Every subscriber to the magazine received an individualized copy with an aerial photo of the subscriber's house on the cover, and the title "[Subscriber name], they know where you are!" http://reason.com/archives/2004/06/01/database-nation http://reason.com/archives/2004/06/01/database-nation

leemartin 9y ago
YES. Wow. This is what I referenced when pitching the project.

DanBC 9y ago

I assume the competition had finished. Why hadn't this personal data been deleted? Did competition entrants have to opt in to allow you to use their personal data for marketing? Or was that opt in assumed?

leemartin 9y ago
Competition is still ongoing. It's tied into a larger campaign. The videos were sent directly to users as part of an email confirmation of their contest entry. We did not use the videos for marketing. It was up to the user to actually share the video.
- beberlei 9y ago
  I think parents question is about if you have consent from your competition users to use their location data as part of marketing campaings as part of the ToS. While from a technical PoV this campaign is awesome, in Europe you might easily get sued for this kind of use of the data, especially since you make it quite obvious how you used the data (v.s. "hidden" data mining, which most companies can get away with).
  - leemartin 9y ago
    Yeh, I hear you. Users consented to sharing their location as one of the variables required to enter the contest. It was a ticket giveaway so knowing their location allowed us to figure out which show they might go to. Again, the videos themselves were emailed directly to users and while sharing them publicly was encouraged, it was not something we did ourselves. It's like... you gave me an email address so naturally I'm going to email you. You gave me a location so (unnaturally) I'm going to make a video for you.
    - leemartin 9y ago
      I should also note that the location consent was (in most cases) initiated by the HTML5 Geolocation prompt. Now a lot of companies use this technology to reposition something like a Google Map on their website. We did the same thing but positioned a static map and made it part of a video composition.

Quanttek 9y ago

Sounds like an wesome campaign. Congrats! Are there any sample videos available?

leemartin 9y ago
Cheers man, check this out: https://twitter.com/leemartin/status/907308086184087552 https://twitter.com/leemartin/status/907308086184087552

climber_mac 9y ago

This is awesome. How did you end up working on projects like this one? This kind of interactive one-off experiences are something I've been interested in for a long time.

leemartin 9y ago
1) Got lucky: http://leemart.in/origin http://leemart.in/origin 2) Worked really hard and stayed as curious as possible 3) Add 15 years
rollcat 9y ago
There are companies that specialize in one-off, 100% bespoke digital media marketing campaigns. Source: worked for one for 4.5 years. Did awesome stuff. Burnout is real though.

justsaynope 9y ago

you leaked the videos url in your medium post :( Now everyone can check the location of MM fans. https://s3.amazonaws.com/wkwyfl/WYWYFL_1.mp4 https://s3.amazonaws.com/wkwyfl/WYWYFL_1.mp4 https://s3.amazonaws.com/wkwyfl/WYWYFL_22357.mp4 https://s3.amazonaws.com/wkwyfl/WYWYFL_22357.mp4

leemartin 9y ago
Haha. That's like saying Google Maps can leak the locations of people. There's nothing to tie the users to the videos but I've gone ahead and turned off that S3 because you gave me a small heart attack.
- justsaynope 9y ago
  better safe then sorry! ;)
  - leemartin 9y ago
    Agreed. Thanks for the nudge

sandworm101 9y ago

People are very sensitive about other people seeing images of thier homes. I'm in the military and once had to deal with a complaint about our aircraft "buzzing" a house. As the address was in nearby farmland I called the person to confirm the exact location. Maybe the house was on an approach to our airport or maybe our pilots were using it as a landmark for an exercise. "I'm with one of our pilots now. We're looking at what we think is your house based on the address you gave us. Is it the one with the gravel driveway and L-shaped pool?" "What? Are you taking pictures of my house?" "No ma'am. I've got a satellite view of your address on my screen." "You have spy satellites over my house!!@!$#!#" "Google maps!, just google maps!" #Click#