Dan Schock, Director of Retail Industry for Google looks over the morning's stats with Jon from Homefront
AMC joins Google in Cyber Monday Madness!
Well not exactly madness, but Cyber Monday was the hot topic on today’s very early morning shoot. Bright eyed and bushy tailed I joined our partners from Home Front Communications at 4 AM to host a sort of virtual national press conference for Google focused on how to get the best deals on Cyber Monday!
We were shooting in our friend’s studio, AVM, on 26t street here in the city…for those of you who don’t know AVM – they’re the studio that hosts PUPPY BOWL every year (okay, so that’s not all they’re known for, but in my opinion that’s the coolest gig EVER).
Dan fielded questions from morning anchors surrounding Cyber Monday Madness. What trends Google was seeing was a hot topic among most of the reports along with what his predictions were for this holiday season’s hot new “item” will be.
Dan shared that “tablets for kids” was one of the fastest growing searches online since November 1st, and he mused that parents are finally looking at purchasing a tablet for the kids so they can finally have their ipad back! “Air Swimmers” is another widely searched item for children that Google has seen a big spike in searches for. This toy is basically a shark shaped balloon filled with helium that children control via remove control…it does sound kinda awesome, doesn’t it?
Dan recommends that all consumers do their “due dilligence” on Cyber Monday – by this he means comparing prices of specfic items using online tools like the Google shopping option which will provide consumers with a side by side price comparison. He recommended having family members search YOUTUBE for videos demonstrating the specfic toys or items they have in mind for the holiday, as this will allow the adults to get a better sense of the product and if it’s right for their child.
And if you just weren’t able to take advantage of the Cyber Monday deals, Dan wanted to console you. He reported that Cyber Monday is really just the kick off of what Retail Insiders are calling Cyber Week, in which sales and specials will be offered for a few more days to kick off the online holiday shopping this month.
All of the networks and radio stations participating into today’s Cyber Monday linked in through a satallie with coordinates and a special password. After logging in at the predetermined time, they were patched through to Dan live. But as we all know, anything that can go wrong will, and several of the networks had trouble connecting to the satallie on time. Producers Jon and Sarah were superstars, rearranging the day’s tight schedule and assisting networks in their connection. Cyber Monday and related searches (i.e. Cyber Monday discount, Cyber Monday coupon, etc.) made up more than half of google’s top 20 searches.
But the BEST part of the morning for me by far was talking with Dan about a topic totally unrelated to Cyber Monday. In between his engagements, Dan was gracious enough to chat with me about the roll out of GOOGLE TV. I’m VERY excited to share this inside information with you in my next blog entry team – so definitely check back.
In the meantime, check out some of my behind the scene’s snap shots of today’s shoot…and happy shopping!
Ever seen an "Auto Cue" teleprompter? Well now you have! Big and bulky, it's for in studio use only.
Today's camera was a blast from the past – this is more Camera Man porn that anything else ; )
This is Dan's view from his chair on the green screen stage…by looking into the hooded glass he looks into the eyes of morning new anchors across the country!
It's almost go time, Dan Schock gets a few last minute touches before we go live!
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