Ice.com takes to YouTube to promote its brand

Ice.com’s executive vice president Pinny Gniwisch has an alter ego—Mr. Cupid who resides at YouTube.com. Ice, which has a history of quick adoption of alternative online marketing tactics, launched a Mr. Cupid channel at YouTube three weeks ago as a way to create buzz about the online retail jewelry site as Valentine’s Day approached.

Gniwisch, who is speaking at Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition, June 4-7 in San Jose, interviewed and videorecorded random people in New York and Deer Valley, UT, about Valentine’s Day and posted the results at the Mr. Cupid channel at YouTube. In that time, 13,000 people have viewed the videos and nearly 1,000 have subscribed to the channel, making it the sixth-most subscribed channel at YouTube this week.

While he can’t say that Ice.com, No. 193 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, has gotten specific results from the YouTube videos, CEO Shmuel Gniwisch says Ice has gotten “good vibes” from the videos. But more importantly, he adds, is that the videos are part of all the things a marketer needs to do to succeed online. “You can’t be cookie cutter with your marketing any more,” he says. “There are major brands online spending lots of money and being very creative and we need to one up them. Every single thing of added value that you do keeps you one step ahead in the game.”

Pinny Gniwisch will speak in the Marketing Your Retail Web Site Workshop, June 4, 3-4:30 p.m., in the session New Age Marketing Tools: Is Today`s Hype Tomorrow`s Help?