If you thought that all that time you were spending on YouTube was a total waste... then you're probably right. But if you are directing some effort towards putting something up on YouTube, then you're most likely on the right track. At least, that's what you could hypothesize after hearing Nick Haley's story.
Haley, an 18-year-old university student from Warwick, England, is currently the center of a lot of Apple fandom hype.
Studying at the University of Leeds, Haley had been listening to a song by Brazilian band CSS,
Music is my Hot, Hot sex. He subsequently decided that the song would make a good backing song for Apple's latest gadget; the iPod Touch.
A 30 second ad that he posted on YouTube--where he gave a tour of the Touch, its features and wrapped it in a very professional package--was quickly viewed some 2000 times (it's currently sitting at 556,987). Among those viewers were comments such as 'That's awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' and 'Makes me want to buy one and hack it' (if you're wondering, that's 15 exclamation marks!).
However, in addition to the Apple fanboys and girls were employees at the Apple headquarters in California. The employees were so taken with the ad that they directed the Apple advertising agency TBWA/Chiat/Day to the ad, and later to hire him.
"I was sitting on the bus and I got this e-mail on my phone," Mr Haley, who got his first Macintoch when he was 3, told The New York Times.
The email message read as follows: "We represent Apple and we've seen what you have produced and we'd like to have a chat with you." Haley at first felt that it "seemed ridiculous and far-fetched. My initial reaction was someone wanted to steal it."
But it didn't take him long to be persuaded to the contrary, and was soon flown out to Los Angeles to work on a polished version of the clip. Apparently the advert has remained true to his original concept, and Haley's input and opinion were entirely respected.
As to his compensation? Haley was apparently "compensated like any creative professional, for his idea and his contributions to the creative process," according to an Apple spokesman. Apple refused to say just how much he had made, but added that Apple would be "making a significant financial contribution toward his education at Leeds." In addition he got to take home several Apple gadgets, including a Mac Book Pro.
The advert is currently playing in the US, and is soon to appear in the UK. It has also already notched up some 62,000 hits on YouTube. Whoever said YouTube was a waste of time?
Joshua Hill, a Geek’s-Geek from Melbourne, Australia, Josh is an aspiring author with dreams of publishing his epic fantasy, currently in the works, sometime in the next 5 years. A techie, nerd, sci-fi nut and bookworm.
