Patrick MacDonald, Inside Classified

Last month we wrote about www.realpeoplerealstuff.com in Inside Classified. This month I want to share observations I have made while perusing the ad messages (videos) posted by some of the real people selling their real stuff on the site. I encourage you to check out this site.

Also, go to marketplace.publicradio.org for the story by Pat Loeb for National Public Radio.

In the story, Alan Jacobson of realpeoplerealstuff.com points out the sociological underpinnings fueling the phenomenal growth of self-made video clips that are created for the purpose of publishing to the Web. And in the case of realpeoplerealstuff.com, self-made videos created and published with the purpose of selling something to someone.

“It seems as if the public has an insatiable desire for personal celebrity. It’s kind of like what Andy Warhol said a generation ago. He said, ‘In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.’ Well the future is here now, and everyone may not be famous yet but it sure seems like most of them want to be,” Jacobson said.

If he is right, one reason realpeoplerealstuff will succeed is because it exploits vanity. The site urges users to be the star of their own commercial.

There are other more compelling reasons the site will stir the imagination of millions.
First is the ingenious URL. To me this resonates even before the content is populated. I could be wrong, but I think branding will be a cinch