Author Videos Drive Traffic and Build Buzz

Alice Schroeder's biography "The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life," released September 29, became an immediate bestseller. PR firm CJP Communications recently launched the first two segments of an eight-part online documentary series it produced, "Shaping 'The Snowball': Alice Schroeder on the Oracle of Omaha", to give a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the book and put their client, Schroeder, in the spotlight. 

Producing online videos about authors seem to be emerging as a trend; Internet video solutions provider TurnHere has produced a number of such videos for Simon & Schuster. You can see them here.

The series about Schroeder, which runs on YouTube, Facebook, iTunes and Blip, has received 15,000 views so far. CJP Digital VP Wilson Cleveland, who was its executive producer, said he considers this a successful number considering the niche audience. I interviewed Cleveland at the CJP offices in the Empire State Building yesterday.

It's not the company's first foray into web video: It produced a comedy series called "The Temp Life,"  inspired by The Office and featuring some of its own staff members, for temporary staffing agency Spherion.

CJP first began producing branded content three years ago--ahead of many advertising agencies and content producers. It's interesting to see a PR company succeeding in a space that has been principally the domain of advertisers.

--Kelsey Blodget, Associate Producer