Click here to view the embedded video.

Old Spice’s latest commercial, The Man Your Man Could Smell Like, is awesome in a dozen different ways – but it’s also a great example of corporate viral video that works.

How many ads get two million views in two weeks on YouTube?

Old Spice doesn’t have to have to put a URL in their ad or ask you to Tweet this – they’re confident enough in the ad to put on the Web and let the Internet do the rest.

The Man Your Man Could Smell Like is viral because it’s a great idea, brilliantly executed. It grab your attention and leaves you wondering just what the hell you just saw.

One reason it works so well is that actor Isaiah Mustafa is gorgeous and has one of the most listenable voices since Geoffrey Holder made the UnCola Mahvelous.

Another reason is that it’s jaw-droppingly absurd.

What really makes the video work, though, is the amazing one-shot execution. Mustafa goes from his shower to a boat to riding a horse on the beach in one carefully choreographed shot – like the best of lip-dub videos.

Pioneering podcaster Leo Laporte looked at the making of The Man Your Man Could Smell Like in this recent TWiT video podcast.

Laporte talks with Craig Allen and Eric Kallman of the Wieden + Kennedy agency to find out how the ad was made:

Click here to view the embedded video.

It’s an excellent TWiT episode  – and it highlights how podcasts can dig into subjects in ways that would be impractical on TV.

Best of all, it digs into some of the secrets of The Man Your Man Could Smell Like, but leaves you all the more impressed at the ad’s brilliant execution.

via NewTeeVee

Professional podcast training event company and publisher The Podcast Academy is “opening the vault” for a week, offering for sale a set of audio recordings of all the sessions, panels, and keynote addresses from the 2006, 2007, and 2008 New Media Expo.

“I decided to offer a historical look at podcasting,” said Podcast Academy editor-in-chief Michael Geoghegan. “I’ve gathered all of the New Media Expo content [of the past three years], plus bonus files from the Podcast Academy.”

The recordings include keynotes, panels, and presentations by a wide ranging cast of new media experts, and include Leo Laporte, Veronica Belmont, Andrew Baron, C.C. Chapman among many others.

Some session recordings are “vintage” ones from pioneers of the podcast industry. “Many of these presentations have not been publicly available for years,” Geoghegan said.

A more comprehensive list is below, after the break.

Session presenters include:

Howard Lindzon of Wallstrip
Leo Laporte of TWIT
Jim Louderback of Revision3
George Wright, VP of Marketing for Will It Blend, Blendtec (2008)
Ron Moore, Executive Producer of Battlestar Galactica
Andrew Michael Baron, Rocketboom
Veronica Belmont and Tom Merritt: Developing an Engaged Community (2008)
Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine of Ask A Ninja
Bruce Sharpe – Simple Post-Production Techniques to Get Professional Sound
Rich Harrington – Field Production Strategies for Video Podcasting
Michael Geoghegan – Selling the Unique Value of Your Content
Roxanne Darling – Video Podcasting for Business
Jason Van Orden – How to Generate Buzz and Extend Your Brand with Social Media
Panel – Metrics in New Media: Showing Results and Judging Success
Panel – Music Licensing for Podcasts and New Media – A Crash Course
Alex Lindsay – Behind the Scenes at MacBreak and PixelCorps
Paul Colligan – The 7 Secrets of Monetization
Susan Bratton – Selling Advertising and Sponsorships
Mignon Fogarty – Building a Podcasting Network from the Ground Up

Bonus Podcast Academy presentations from podcast pioneers include:

Doug Kaye
John Furrier
Tim Bourquin
Michael Geoghegan
Greg Cangialosi
C.C. Chapman
Eric Rice
Kristopher Smith
Tony Kahn

The archived presentations from the New Media Expo in 2006 and 2007 are available for $49 for the set. A deluxe set of recordings is $99 and includes the Expo recordings 2006 – 2008, along with workshop sessions from the Podcast Academy. Prices go up each day, and the set will be unavailable after Nov. 5. You can get all the details here.

The Podcast Academy conducts podcast training events and publishes a series of how-to books on podcasting. Several of the Podcast Academy workshops have taken place to dovetail with the New Media Expo, which is a podcasting convention devoted to downloadable, portable and new media.

Michael W. Geoghegan is editor-in-chief of The Podcast Academy, as well as founder and CEO of GigaVox Media, a production, consulting and technology company focused on audio/video new media.

As a pioneer of podcasting, Michael created some of the first corporate podcasts, including efforts by Disney. Michael is also creator of the 2008 James Beard Award-winning “GrapeRadio” and “Reel Reviews: Films Worth Watching”. He is editor-in-chief of the Podcast Academy book series and co-author of Podcast Solutions: The Complete Guide to Podcasting.

The Sydney Morning Herald took a look at the Cult of Podcast Celebrity and profiled pioneering podcaster Cameron Reilly:

One Australian who is using podcasting to give himself – and his fellow podcasters – a voice is Cameron Reilly, who founded the Podcast Network – a stable of podcasts ranging from religion to martial arts.

“I made a decision that I was going to try and use the internet as a platform to try and make the world a better place,” Reilly says. “The very basis of human culture is communication and that’s all the internet is about – sharing information.”

His flagship podcast, Gday World, began in November 2004 and now has about 50,000 listeners.

“It started off as a technology news show but that got boring and these days I usually talk about religion, politics and social justice. Honestly, when I started I thought I’d get about half-a-dozen listeners who would hear me give the same rant as I do over a bottle of wine with dinner.”

The article profiles several other podcasters, too, including Leo Laporte & Beti Nic.

A number of well-known figures in the podcast production and promotion industry will be featured at the MacWorld Podcasting and Rich Media Symposium, all day next Friday, January 18th, at MacWorld Expo in San Francisco.

The MacWorld Podcasting and Rich Media Symposium promises to cover the whole gamut of podcast issues, from creation, audience-building, monetization, and content planning.

“We’re going to share how to move from producing shows you love to do, to shows people love to hear ,” said Scott Bourne, host of The Apple Phone Show.

Session speakers include podcasting and new media figures Leo Laporte, host of This Week in Tech; Richard Burns and Dusty Wright from CultureCatch; Paul Vogelzang, producer of MommyCast and Friends, and Lee Gibbons, CEO of Podango.

The Symposium runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.. Here are the details…..
Pre-Production (9:00 am – 10:30 am)

9:00 * Craig Syverson, Grunt Media — Podcasting Overview — Know the Basics Before Building Your Show
9:30 * Scott Bourne, The Apple Phone Show — Podcaster’s Checklist, Building A Show Clock
10:00 * MommyCast — Building a Successful Podcast from the Ground Up
10:30 * Lee Gibbons, CEO of Podango, Considerations and Options in Choosing a Hosting Platform

Keynote (11:00 am)

11:00 Leo Laporte — Keynote — “The State of Podcasting and New Media Today”

Producing Your Podcast (11:30 am – 1:30 pm)

11:30 * Alex Lindsay, Mac Break Weekly — Video Podcasting Secrets, Tips, and Tricks
12:00 * Richard Burns & Dusty Wright, CultureCatch — Video Production Essentials
12:30 * Scott Bourne, The Apple Phone Show — Selecting The Right Production Gear
1:00 * Don McAllister, Screencasting

Publishing & Promoting Your Podcast (1:30 pm – 4:00 pm)

1:30 * Liana Lehua — Going Beyond iTunes and Promoting Your Podcast on Blogs and Social Networks
2:00 * Paul Vogelzang, MommyCast/Porter-Novelli — Using Viral Distribution Techniques to Get Heard
2:30 * Richard Harrington, RHED Pixel — Creating an Appealing Brand Identity for Your Podcast
3:00 * Tim Street, French Maid TV — Marketing Your Podcast
3:30 * Neil Vineberg, Vineberg Communications — How to Spread the Word About Your Podcast

Super Serving Sponsors (and making money) with Your Podcast (4:00 pm – 5:00 pm)

4:00 * Panel discussion — Ad Networks vs. Sponsorships:
- Lee Gibbons, Co-Founder/CEO, Podango (Moderator)
- Jonathan Cobb, Founder/CEO, Kiptronic
- Doug Smith, Co-Founder/President, Podango
- Mark McCrery, Co-Founder/CEO, Podtrac

4:30 * Richard Harrington, RHED Pixel — Selling Podcasting and New Media as a Service,

5:00 * Conclusion

MacWorld and Symposium conference passes are available online.

For more information on the Podcast and Rich Media Symposium, click here.

Liveblogging the Cult of Blogging session at BlogWorld expo.

We were expecting this panel to be one of the highlights of BlogWorld. Panelists were to include Om Malik of GigaOM; Mike Arrington of TechCrunch; and ubiquitous video podcaster Leo Laporte.

The session got of to an inauspicious start, though. Malik apparently dropped out because of a back injury. Mike Arrington didn’t have as good an excuse, though. According to panelist/keynoter Leo Laporte, “Mike Arrington says he forgot.”

Improvising, the BlogWorld Expo folks asked gorgeous young lifeblogger Justine Ezarik of iJustine.tv to sit on the panel.

So, Leo says, if you want to promote yourself, and create a cult of dedicated fans online, do these two things:

• Add multimedia to what you do;
• Create a community to talk and share about what you do.

“Focus on passion, on what you’re passionate about. To really work, your blog work has to come from your heart.” Leo says. “For some people, that passion is about making money.”

How did you first get become involved in online activities?

Leo’s first experience of online community was the WELL, when in his 20′s. He vividly remembers the epiphany that there were “thousands of people in the world able to commuicate with one another.”

Justine got her start online in sixth grade (!) when she made a Tripod webpage about a mean kid who kicked her at school. Way to make me feel archaic, Justine.

(How) do you make money? How do you build community among your “cult”?

Justine hates the word “monetize” (yay-I don’t like that word, either), but says the last time she had a “real” job was a year and a half ago. She uses Revver to generate revenue with her videos. Her video about her giant iPhone bill was a viral Internet hit. She says if she’d stuck her ad pre-roll, she would have generated even more bucks.

TWiT started on cable, and when it was cancelled, Laporte had a built-in audience to take to the web. Asked for folks to support the show with small, monthly recurring donations. About 5,000 people (out of audience of 470,000) donate a total of about $10,000/ month via Pay Pal. It insures that Leo’s rent is paid, and that his producer gets a salary. People are very supportive when you ask for money, but the percentage is small.

Justine gets some “tips” from visitors, like a small donation with a wish “go get yourself a cup of coffee.”

Justine has a parcoeur video with her roommate. Is launching a Ning social networking website; she tracks people via Twitter. Leo uses Jiku for his microblogging (aka “presence stream”), for his “hardcore fans.” The hardcore fans are your apostles, who spread the word on what you’re doing, Leo says.

Leo: “Building your cult of personality requires geting your inner circle of apostles,” and then spreading your message and brand via Facebook and other social networking tools.

If you’re in a more serious profession (doctor, lawyer, mortgage broker), do you need to be careful not to look frivolous in your online persona?

Leo: Yes. You are creating a persona, and it is tricky. I talk a lot about creating a cult of genuineness, authentic persona, but a person doesn’t want to see their doctor in their boxer shorts on Facebook. And your persona has to be who you really are, people have a strong radar for fake-ness.

Justine: The current people you’re working with are on all these platforms, too, and you can use them to stay on top of what everyone is doing.

Leo: You need to get the innovators to adopt you, and then the rest of the world will follow. Example: the innovators didn’t adopt the Newton, and it died. Innovators embraced the iPod, and it became a household name. Same goes for people.

Privacy, Transparency, Dealing With Negative Attention:

Leo: When you write a blog, you put yourself out there, and open yourself up to negative attention. Many people turn off comments on their blog, or their Twitter stream. People will be nasty to you, about you. I took the comments off TWiT, because I didn’t want people to click on a podcast post, and see 18 comments about “this is the worst podcast ever.” Because some people will do that every single time, regardless. Other people, like Dave Winer, just close comments to stave off stupid comments. If you want to create your “cult,” prepare to get “hated on.” The 90% of positive comments wash off in the face of a handful of “you’re an asshole.” You can’t get in a shouting match with them. Protect the integrity of your persona.

Justine: Kill them with kindness. After a few email exchanges back and forth, the detractors feel “heard” and become your supporters, oftentimes. Originally, when JustinTV was doing his thing, lifecasting, I was one of those snarky commenters. When I got started doing my lifecast, I realized, wow, that’s harsh.

Leo: Privacy is an issue…. if you want to be private…. when I first blogged, I was embarrassed by the whole process. It feels very egotistical, very self centered…. You are exposing yourself. You get over it, and you keep doing it. By being in this medium, we take that step, and say, I’m going to be a public person. If you’re genuine, and showing passion, people treat you with respect most of the time.
But there’s the issue of people doing/saying creepy things about your family, so you need to think carefully before you blog about them.
Even if you only have 10 readers, you open yourself up to them, and you have a relationship with them.

UStream, StickAM allow you to stream live video. UStream is in the front row, streaming the event. Justine likes Mogulus (which is in closed beta right now), which is like a tv station. UStream lets viewers send back live video responses.

Justine: I’ve been doing this for about six months. I’m not doing it at this exact moment, because my battery died! It’s so funny, scheduling and planning where to go based on whether I can find an outlet.

Who else is “building the cult” masterfully?

Cali Lewis, Geek Brief TV
Chris Pirillo – uses every possible form of media to promote his brand
Jonathan Coulton
Matthew Ebel (Justine originally met him on Second Life)

Leo: I’m starting to make money on my podcast, because every advertiser I have, they come back again. My listeners listen to my podcast, they take it seriously, they buy the product. I charge $35 per thousand cpm, which is probably under-charging. I use Podtrac for my advertising, so I don’t have to be in sales or client service.

I only accept advertising from sponsors whose products I like, and use.

Update: Mike Arrington writes “Here is why I didn‚Äôt attend Blogworld in Las Vegas this week. I never agreed to attend the conference.”

“The problem here is that Leo said on stage that ‘I forgot’, which is inaccurate and sensationalist,” adds Arrington. “At this point I‚Äôm pissed off.”

On the other hand, Valleywag points out that Justine Ezarik is “far, far easier on the eyes than Arrington or Malik.”

Update 2: Show organizer Rick Calvert says the misunderstanding is his fault.

And that he’s “going to ask Mike to come out for the 2008 event.”

Amid an ever-increasing number of podcast event offerings, the very first Blog World and New Media Expo officially kicks off tomorrow in Las Vegas, Nevada. Business executives were gathering today for a special pre-conference new media workshop, followed by a special sneak preview of the upcoming movie, “The Kite Runner.”

Podcasting News‘ publisher Elisabeth McLaury Lewin tracked down event CEO and co-founder Rick Calvert on Tuesday, in the middle of setting up for the Expo.

Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: This will be your very first foray into putting on a blogging/new media conference. How will Blog World Expo be different from the other podcasting and new media conferences and conventions? (The PodCamps, the Podcast and New Media Expo, BlogHer, etc.)

Rick Calvert: Well, for one this is not just podcasting, or tech-centric. This is event is for bloggers, vloggers, podcasters, Internet radio and TV broadcasters, digital photographers, and any other type of new media content creator.

We have also made a concerted effort to reach out to several key communities in the blogosphere including the sports bloggers, military bloggers, political bloggers, pop culture and Godbloggers, in addition to the tech and business guys you normally see.

Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: For the newcomers to the blogging, podcasting and new media world, what can they expect to see and do?

Rick Calvert: They are going to be able to learn from the leaders in the industry on how to build their readership and community, monetize their content, improve the look and functionality of their site and network with their peers.

Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: For seasoned veterans, what features of the conference are worth noting?

Rick Calvert: Keynotes from Mark Cuban, Leo Laporte, Matt Mullenweg, and Larry Benet.

Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: Is it too late to register/attend?

Rick Calvert: No, it’s not too late. People can register on-site.

Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: I know you can’t play favorites, but what are a few of the things you are especially looking forward to?

Rick Calvert: The keynote with Mark Cuban will definitely be a highlight, but the political track and the milblogging track are favorites of mine. The sports blogging track should be a lot of fun as well.

Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: What do you see as the current state of podcasting — for hobbyists and for the corporate podcaster?

Rick Calvert: Well I think more than anything saying you are a “podcaster” or a “blogger” is going to be a term of the past. We are all moving to multimedia. You need to be engaging your community in as many ways as possible.

The other thing I would say is… for as much as has happened this far, and as much as we have experienced explosive growth to this point, we are still at the very beginning of where this medium is going.

Elisabeth McLaury Lewin: Is there anything else you’d like us to share with the readers of Podcasting News?

Rick Calvert: Just that this event has been a dream come true for me. This whole thing started a little over a year ago when I wanted to attend an event like this, but it didn’t [yet] exist.

The other thing I want to mention is how much we appreciate all of the support we have received from the industry, from the exhibitors and sponsors, to the influencers who are speaking and all the attendees who wanted to go to the same show I wanted to go to. Blog on!

Forbes has posted their take on the Web Celeb 25, a list of who they consider to be the biggest, brightest and most influential people on the Internet.

Their pick for the No. 1 Web Celeb?

Faux jailbait vlogger Lonelygirl15.

Vloggers and video podcasters are well-represented on the list. Other Internet videographers to make the cut include video blogger Amanda Congdon, political blogger (?) Robert Scoble, video blogger Hosea Frank (aka ZeFrank), podcaster Leo Laporte and sex educator Violet Blue.