RSSComing to a 'webisode' near you, the US Postal Service
By Jacqueline Emigh | Published August 21, 2008, 12:14 PM
High definition "webisodes," RSS feeds, podcasts, and iTunes downloads will be integral elements of a new image-making campaign for the 256-year-old US Postal Service.
The new, multiple award-winning "Mark of the Eagle" campaign hardly represents the first time the US government agency has stepped to new technologies over the past two-and-a-half centuries. But instead of automating processes such as sorting and processing mail, the USPS' latest move is geared to drawing more business among new generations who have a lot more communications options open to them than just popping a letter into a physical mailbox.
Taking a sneak peek at one Webisode, BetaNews found that the series satirizes the computers and other machines which consumers and postal workers alike increasingly depend on for getting things done. Meanwhile, the USPS package pick-up guy is cast as a hero. The pesky computers portrayed in the webisodes came from existing Post Office stock.
| All that's missing from Episode I of Mark of the Eagle is a Quinn Martin-style intro with the voice of Hank Simms. |
In the first webisode in the campaign, a copy machine appears to come alive, spewing out packages that careen into an office space in an avalanche.
Have computers ever gotten in your way, too? Who could answer 'No'? Maybe the Postal Service is trying to bond with us here.
But the main message behind "Mark of the Eagle" -- a series that carries the witty subtitle of "Epic Web Saga" -- is a new wrinkle on a very old adage you might have heard somewhere along the way. This time around, neither rebellious computers -- nor hail, sleet, or any of the rest of it -- shall prevent the USPS from delivering the mail.
Actually, people today seem to be relying almost as much as their ancestors on snail-mail, anyway. According to a recent study by InnoMedia, commissioned by the USPS, 18-to-24-year-olds get an average of 11.6 pieces of mail each week, whereas 45-to-54-year-olds receive an average of 24.1. People in the 25-to-34-year-old and 35-to-44-year-old brackets fall somewhere in the middle as to the amount of snail-mail they get.
Also according to the study, 82% of "Gen-Y-ers" and 70% of "Gen-X-ers" sort through their snail-mail immediately. Another 68% of "Gen-X-ers" and 73% of "Gen-Y-ers" have used coupons received in the mail.
But people are also accessing online video, RSS feeds, and iTunes, and the USPS knows that. Consequently, the Postal Service will post the HD video webisodes for four consecutive weeks on a Web site designed by Nashville-based Magnetic Dreams.
Podcasts will be offered to subscribers. Users will also be alerted to the webisodes through RSS feeds, and the segments will be available for download at Apple's iTunes store.
Unfortunately for Comcast users, attempting to download HD content isn't what the average American (read: computer illiterate button masher) does online, so if you do, they might just have to "throttle" you.
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|Your tax dollars at work, folks. Forget about actually improving an ever more expensive and irrelevant service, lets blow millions on an ad blitz. Jesus.
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|humm you mean comcast ruling or the USPS... The USPS is a govt org but its funding isn't from TAXES its from postage.
(ok you can argue that postage is a tax but its a tax only to send not to receive in this sense you never ever have to pay postage in your life and can still receive for free)
"An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits 146 million homes and businesses, six days a week. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products, and services to cover its operating expenses. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $73 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.
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Its getting more expenive because FUEL costs are rising and Labor costs are rising.
People are using it less. If more people used it it could reduce costs because a bulk delivery costs not much more then a single delivery. Everyone in the US is authorized a mail box and the route has to be walked, driven, or a box maintained REGARDLESS if you use it to send something.
They are trying to improve service that is why the are using Advertisment... to get MORE people to use the product.
I guess you have never gotten a letter or you wish you could send everything for free? That would be your tax dollars at work. But sounds kind of like socialism.
http://www.usps.com/comm...sroom/2007/pr07_012.htm
if you want some financial data....
If those millions "blown" create an increase in service use then its worth it... Or else why do any companies advertise?
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|Umm yeah... Getting tax dollars ended in the early 70's. Welcome to 2008. You also have to consider the fact that the US Government is actually taking money from the Post Office since they force them to do free polical mailings and stopped paying them for that service years ago.
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|They need something to counteract their increasing unreliability in the analog world.
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|You don't need iTunes to download podcasts. Any podcast manager will do such as Creative's Zencast Organizer at Zencast.com.
iTunes suck. Creative invented the iPod interface, which Apple stole. Creative ZEN players are better than the iPod. Creative calls podcasts zencasts.
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|So when does the shootout happen? TUNE IN NEXT WEEK TO FIND OUT!
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