It’s something we have all imagined. Quit our 9 to 5 and fulfill a lifelong dream, whatever that may be. For me, it was (and sometimes still is) joining the Ice Capades or convincing TLC to give me my very own reality television show. For Merck’s Marketing Director, Kevin Nalty, it’s viral online video. And American Idol’s infamous contestant, Bikini Girl, helped these dreams come true.
Well known in the online video community as “Nalts,” and known to some as a “viral video genius,” Nalty led two separate lives: Consumer Product Director at a Fortune 100 company by day and YouTube comedian and viral video creator by night.
Nalty claims that Merck knew about his alter-online ego when he was hired to market the hair-growth treatment, Propecia. However, it was only recently when his true identity was outed in the online community and Merck felt implicated by his self-proclaimed “goofball antics” that Nalty decided to make a decision in his career.
Nalty recently wrote on his blog, “Last night Katrina Darrell (Bikini Girl) sang Mariah Carey’s ‘Treated Me Kind’ on American Idol 2009. Her song inspired me to quit the full-time job as a Product Director at Merck. . . . Now it’s full-time to follow my passion: making videos, working with Hitviews, and starting my own consulting practice that will help brands engage in social media, especially the most visceral kind: online video.”
To watch his very funny, public career decision, click here.
You might think Kevin Nalty is completely crazy. [pullquote]But as online video continues to reach new viewing records every month, his decision may simply be genius.
According to web tracker, comScore Video Metrix, the U.S. internet audience watched almost 16.8 billion videos on the web in April, with the average user viewing 6.4 hours of online video during the month, up 16 percent from March. As expected, Google's YouTube remained the leading site for Internet video viewing.
Online video communities are sprouting in almost every industry due to the new social media spin on exchanging information. SciVee.com aims to educate scientists and researchers in a virtual studio through “pubcasts” (linking video with published text), “postercasts” (video summaries of associated scientific posters) and video findings and commentary. Launched in 2006, PharmaTelevision, an online TV channel for the biopharma industry, offers insights and feature interviews with industry leaders every week.
As the demand for industry-relevant online video continues to grow, PharmaManufacturing.com is ramping up our video efforts as well. Our editors are equipped with video cameras at all major shows and events, and our new veeple video player offers interactive features like the ability to click on the video to find out more information about a person or company.
Stay tuned later this summer for PharmaManufacturing’s own YouTube channel, which will house all of our video coverage, backpack video, aggregated video content and perhaps some offbeat video from my new own personal hero, Kevin “Nalts” Nalty.
