Fred

J sent me the following two links (here and here) on Fred, whose videos on youtube are becoming really popular. The LA Times article says he's being paid "generously" for his product placements, and I wonder how much that is. He's promoting something called the zipit, which is apparently a texting device that has become really popular among parents. I kind of wanted one when I saw this, and especially after learning mid-season that the price had dropped on them (he complains in one episode because Kevin bought his zipit after the price reduction, but Fred before, which wasn't fair! It reminded me of the iPhone complaints).

I can't remember at all how I found this guy - oh yeah, it was some economist blogging and making a note of the product placement in one of the episodes, noting that in the future, product placements would be the actual entertainment, and not merely distracting incidentals to some story. That is one thing that is such a riot about Fred's shows, for sure. But I also love everything about it, and the videos that J sent me pointed out that the target audience appears to be little kids, not grown men like me. Below is one of my favorite episodes, entitled "Fred Loses His Meds" that kind of epitomizes who this kid is. I love the line at the beginning where he says, "If you're wondering why I'm acting rather extraordinary it's because I've lost my medication!!"

Update. Ho. Ly. Crap. Read about the payment structure associated with creating viral videos. This kid from Nebraska is awesome. How cool is it that the Internet creates these kinds of economic opportunities for some random kid in a small town in Nebraska? Real talent (and I'll hit you if you say otherwise) can be identified and value created at so much lower cost now.