I understand that product placements seem to be the only substantial revenue source for online video series, and LG15 is not the only one that is doing this, it has become the norm.

I have been trying to put my finger on exactly why this Produce Placement particularly annoyed me, and I think it is because it seemed to be more deceptive than the others. When we see the Tampax label, and hear characters talking about Tampax we know that this is a PP, we know that someone is trying to sell us something. In the case of Neutrogena we were made aware that this was coming ahead of time and again knew someone was trying to sell us something.

In this case it was done in a more manipulative and deceptive way. We were lead to believe that whatsweird.com and watchyourjack was a part of the story of LG15 and had a significance to the plot, we had no idea that someone was trying to sell us something. So when the fact that it was a promotion gimmick for the movie Jumper was eventually uncovered by inquiring fans, many of those who invested time in trying to make sense of this and follow the developments felt betrayed.

keep the awsome work the story is great the actors are great and the writers are great.

and Creators You Rule!!!!

So far, though, I think you’ve done an admirable job with integrating the PP into the story. The Ice Breakers wasn’t subtle, but it wasn’t that bad, either. I like the way Jack is being mentioned actively, but isn’t really a serious part of the series. Spencer, actually, was the perfect way to do it- subtle, but there. The problem with that was, as others have said, that we got very attached to him, and it hurt when he left.

Here’s my two cents: if you’re gonna use actual, new characters to plug products, either keep them seperate from the storyline, with occasional crossovers, so we can choose whether to watch or not (like Jack), or, if you want to integrate them into the main story, commit to keeping them, so we don’t complain when they’re gone (like with Spencer).

Of course, I’m just a fan, and that’s just my opinion. Like I said, you’re already doing a great job! I can’t wait for the Season 2 finale and Season 3!

-Karen

And, the placement that you have done for Jumper is actually a great way to advertise.
When I heard that Jack was placement for Jumper, I went and I watched the tralier for it and I really think I am going to watch it..

And as gas prices keep going up….I wouldn’t be surprised if you guys started selling ad space on the site.(Hopefully that won’t be anytime soon!)
Keep it up guys

So, yeah, PP does work, and the way you guys are doing it is delightfully pleasant.

As for what the others have suggested, I agree that iTunes, Starbucks, Nike all seem to be right up LG15’s alley. I’m honestly surprised that nothing’s come out of the constant use of the laptops the characters use in this series (HP, Dell, Apple, etc would love the extra attention).

And nice with the Match.com bit — though that doesn’t appear to be any official PP, it was placed into the series quite well, with not only developing McKinnley’s personality better (and more humorously), but by allowing a puzzle to come out of it.

So all in all, I have no worries about what you guys do — you’ve done great so far!

I don’t have a problem with Jack though. He’s kinda funny, but I’m still curious as to how this will fit into the breeniverse. And it worked, considering I’m curious about Jumper too. So success!

That all being said, I think that you should keep up the good work in getting your well deserved compensation while keeping LG15 open to anyone with access to the internet. Personally, I would not mind if you did take ads a step further and incorporated traditional ones into the shows. While it wouldn’t be fun to watch per se, I know that I, as well as many other fans, would not mind being subject to a bit more advertisements in order to protect the longevity of lonelygirl.

-Caroline

Oh, and P.S. If you all didn’t notice from the statistics of how many people watch your videos, those who are active participants in the forums etc aren’t the only ones with lonelycrack addictions. I’m sure that I am not the only one who has faithfully watched every single episode (and read the lgpedia etc) while staying quiet for the more interactive portions of lonelygirl15.

Thanks for clearing things up.

Folks here have a lot of good points. It’s amazing the different opportunities y’all could have for promotions on the show - the problem, I imagine, would come with not just getting the backers, but the spotlighting.

Things like laptops and cell phones…easy. You’d just have to get a particular brand to sponsor. It would, though, be great if you could get some good product placements like that for LG15 (no Tampax-y things though…that was just =weird=! ROFL!)

But that Match.com thing - well, I’m not sure on that for a couple reasons. For one, how far ahead was that planned? Could you have gotten a promotional sponsorship in that amount of time? It truly WOULD have been great. Then again…would THEY have wanted to sponsor something showing that a bunch of crazy folks could break into one of their accounts - showing off a lack of security on their part? Yeah, it would have been…uh…interesting advertising… LOL If I’d been in their ad department, I’d've had to pass… *chuckle*

Now…on to Jumpers’n'Jack… I’m wondering, is there a way, if Jack is going to be a =mention= in the storyline, could he be integrated =into= the story somehow? WELL integrated? In a little less peripheral manner?

I think one of the complaints I’ve seen on the forums about this is the fact that Taylor has finally come back to us…but seems more concerned with Jack than with her sister - and that doesn’t seem to our folks to be a good way of bringing things together somehow. Does that make sense?

Anyway, that’s my 3-1/2 cents worth… Or so.

Loves you!