 Millennials. Those cord-cutting snake people who always seem to be on the cutting edge of what's cool. Parents just don't understand them, but brands are desperate to win their affection. In fact, one of America's biggest brands, Verizon, just launched a massive marketing campaign for something called Go 90. The app is Verizon's attempt to transform itself from a stodgy old phone company into a hip mobile media service. So this is Go 90. It's a pretty standard mobile video app. Verizon has paid big bucks to get folks like Comedy Central, ESPN, and the NFL on here. Now normally you'd need a paid subscription to watch that stuff on mobile, here you just have to sit through some ads. And of course there's also a lot of videos on here you'd recognize from YouTube. Verizon is also paying web video creators to make original content, folks like Vice and Nerdist News. The idea is to have lots of live events, so we have a great network for doing live video over our mobile network. So we can do live events and we have music, we have news, and we have sports. There's a combination of content that is traditional television content, things like the Daily Show and internet content. So it's the only place you can get those things put together in whole. And we have a fair amount of original content that we're bringing in. Okay, before you get too excited, you won't be seeing Verizon's version of House of Cards anytime soon. They're going to be paying web video creators to make originals that you can't find on YouTube. And they're going after people like Vice and Nerdist News, hoping that they can bring their community of youthful audience with them. Now, what that means is that Verizon isn't just trying to create a video platform, it's also hoping to build a social network. When you first look at the app, even when you just browse content, social is inherent in the solution. So you can like shows, you can comment on shows, or you can create these groups called crews. And then you can have a dialogue around a show inside that crew. So share that out to your crew. Let's let them know what's fresh, what's happening this morning. Like I see some monster dunk, I can come in there and I can create that clip. And then if I click continue, it takes a thumbnail that represents the click, and I can say, cool, whatever kids say. So ignoring the painfully street savvy approach of crews, clipping may be my favorite part of Go 90. You can easily grab short little highlights, your favorite joke or sports dunk, and then you can share those with friends. It's a smart bet. I believe what we are doing is we're in the process of at least reinventing part of Verizon. You see that around the other deals Verizon has done bringing in AOL. It is about changing the DNA, it's about bringing the company around to more of a technology focus, more of an experience focus. They think the Apples and the Facebooks of the world are the sexy products, right? And we want to have a compelling solution for them as well. And not make them think of Verizon as a telco or a phone company. Verizon has a big business selling cable TV subscriptions, but it knows that market is shrinking and fast. Now teens may not think of Verizon as a brand they love, but millions of millennials do rely on its mobile data network to power their smartphone habits. So Verizon is dreaming of a world where they're not just the dumb pipe carrying that video, but also the media company creating and packaging content like this. As you can see, creating Verizon original content that isn't cringe worthy is going to be an uphill battle. If it was as simple as collecting video from a lot of other places and putting them in front of a big audience, then Samsung's milk video would have been a hit. Instead, it's closing next month. Love it or hate it, Go90 is going to be around for a while. Verizon is putting a ton of money behind this project and there are lots of media companies, old and new, who are more than happy to take it. Time will tell if this is actually a product which can connect with the youth or just a very expensive experiment from an aging telecom trying to reinvent its brand. The 90s are pretty weird. Yeah, but Go90 is pretty cool. It's the ultimate recommendation engine. High five.
 Millennials. Those cord-cutting snake people who always seem to be on the cutting edge of what's cool.
 Parents just don't understand them, but brands are desperate to win their affection.
 In fact, one of America's biggest brands, Verizon, just launched a massive marketing campaign for something called Go 90.
 The app is Verizon's attempt to transform itself from a stodgy old phone company into a hip mobile media service.
 So this is Go 90. It's a pretty standard mobile video app.
 Verizon has paid big bucks to get folks like Comedy Central, ESPN, and the NFL on here.
 Now normally you'd need a paid subscription to watch that stuff on mobile, here you just have to sit through some ads.
 And of course there's also a lot of videos on here you'd recognize from YouTube.
 Verizon is also paying web video creators to make original content, folks like Vice and Nerdist News.
 The idea is to have lots of live events, so we have a great network for doing live video over our mobile network.
 So we can do live events and we have music, we have news, and we have sports.
 There's a combination of content that is traditional television content, things like the Daily Show and internet content.
 So it's the only place you can get those things put together in whole.
 And we have a fair amount of original content that we're bringing in.
 Okay, before you get too excited, you won't be seeing Verizon's version of House of Cards anytime soon.
 They're going to be paying web video creators to make originals that you can't find on YouTube.
 And they're going after people like Vice and Nerdist News, hoping that they can bring their community of youthful audience with them.
 Now, what that means is that Verizon isn't just trying to create a video platform, it's also hoping to build a social network.
 When you first look at the app, even when you just browse content, social is inherent in the solution.
 So you can like shows, you can comment on shows, or you can create these groups called crews.
 And then you can have a dialogue around a show inside that crew.
 So share that out to your crew. Let's let them know what's fresh, what's happening this morning.
 Like I see some monster dunk, I can come in there and I can create that clip.
 And then if I click continue, it takes a thumbnail that represents the click, and I can say, cool, whatever kids say.
 So ignoring the painfully street savvy approach of crews, clipping may be my favorite part of Go 90.
 You can easily grab short little highlights, your favorite joke or sports dunk, and then you can share those with friends.
 It's a smart bet.
 I believe what we are doing is we're in the process of at least reinventing part of Verizon.
 You see that around the other deals Verizon has done bringing in AOL.
 It is about changing the DNA, it's about bringing the company around to more of a technology focus, more of an experience focus.
 They think the Apples and the Facebooks of the world are the sexy products, right?
 And we want to have a compelling solution for them as well.
 And not make them think of Verizon as a telco or a phone company.
 Verizon has a big business selling cable TV subscriptions, but it knows that market is shrinking and fast.
 Now teens may not think of Verizon as a brand they love, but millions of millennials do rely on its mobile data network to power their smartphone habits.
 So Verizon is dreaming of a world where they're not just the dumb pipe carrying that video,
 but also the media company creating and packaging content like this.
 As you can see, creating Verizon original content that isn't cringe worthy is going to be an uphill battle.
 If it was as simple as collecting video from a lot of other places and putting them in front of a big audience,
 then Samsung's milk video would have been a hit.
 Instead, it's closing next month.
 Love it or hate it, Go90 is going to be around for a while.
 Verizon is putting a ton of money behind this project and there are lots of media companies, old and new, who are more than happy to take it.
 Time will tell if this is actually a product which can connect with the youth
 or just a very expensive experiment from an aging telecom trying to reinvent its brand.
 The 90s are pretty weird.
 Yeah, but Go90 is pretty cool. It's the ultimate recommendation engine.
 High five.