A chat with the founders of JibJab

The creators of JibJab from JD Lasica on Vimeo.

You know JibJab, right? The wildly popular online animation site has been around since 1999 but became a global phenomenon with their 2004 animated hit This Land, which spoofed the campaigns of John Kerry and George W. Bush. The short has been streamed more than 80 million times. 

The brothers Spiridellis — Evan, the head art guy, and Gregg, CEO guy — spoke at The Conversation, a gathering of filmmakers and new media types at the Pacific Film Institute in Berkeley in October. I snagged them for 5 minutes afterward before they had to run off for another appointment (which is why we had no choice but to live with the noise in the background).

In the clip, Gregg and Evan talk about how their business has evolved over the past nine years, what business models are working for them, and how their use of social media propels the site forward.

After trying about 20 business models, Gregg said, they found that their best business model was "working around social expression content," with a mix of subscriber-based premium content and some free, ad-supported digital content.

Web 1.0 was about ecards, Gregg says, but now it's about personalized cards that you become a character in and that you can share or post to your own site. "We've had 13 million heads loaded and put into our movies. People will pay for content that they can use to express themselves in their digital lives. They won't pay to watch a 2-minute funny video."

This holiday season you can upload your image to JibJab and put the image onto gifts, holiday e-cards, mouse pads, mugs and knickknacks.

But the most interesting thing about JibJab we'll be watching in the years ahead is how they use the power of social media to create relationships with their users and empower them to become co-creators. 

Watch or download video in H.264 QuickTime on Ourmedia
Watch video in Flash on Vimeo

Cross-posted to socialmedia.biz .