The map that saved the most lives

In France there was this TV series called "Culture Pub" (translates to "ad culture"). It used to showcase some of the better ads, talk about them etc. I remember it being a pretty cool watch. link That video was great btw. Definitely a high quality ad. But like others said, one good example doesn't a good industry make. (Or like I said in a recent previous post: The ad industry can burn) And frankly, that last-second transition to a product placement was pretty off-putting. It would have given me a weird taste in my mouth if you hadn't told me it was an ad from the get go. But this might be a cultural thing, too. If you want examples of great ads, I really like Jay Foreman's goofy sponsorship sketches on YouTube. Here's a video to get you started: ▶ this video (audible ad starts at 5m33s) (By the way, Map Men is a fantastic series, quick plug to his channel…)

You know, I've been interested to observe why some YouTubers succeed hugely and others just stay specialty channels. For example, Tom Scott assembles stories that you possibly could find elsewhere, but what is it that makes his videos special to have gotten so many views in the 10s of millions? Is it that his videos are relatively short and digestible in 5 min, and have some off-the-beaten path / uncommon / eye catchy subjects? Does he just make the right combination of detail and high level takeaway? Is it that he actually goes to the places to get live footage (versus those Youtube regurgitaters who explain a topic never having left their desk, with 200 ADD-style stock footage clips in a single video)? Is it that he frames each video with a larger more philosophical question? Is it because he has a friendly face? I watch a channel with some quirky British/London guys on weird things about the city (link ▶ this video) but it has never taken off like Tom Scott (-- and this is amusing, despite Tom Scott having initially been the guy who designed their intro clip). Maybe it's just too local (no so-what for me) to feel like it's broadly interesting, or they don't lead out to the bigger theme so-what? Maybe there's just some confluence of x-factors that propel certain people to fame.