JibJab

JibJab Media Inc.
Main Page as of 8 November 2011
Type Private
Founded 1999
Headquarters Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Key people Evan Spiridellis, Founder
Gregg Spridellis, Founder & CEO
Employees At least 90[1]
Slogan(s) Fun worth sharing!
Website http://www.jibjab.com
Type of site Humor
Registration Optional
Available in English
Launched 1999
Current status Active
Evan & Greg Spiridellis at Entertainment Gathering 2010

JibJab is a digital entertainment studio based in Venice, California. Founded in 1999 by Evan and Gregg Spiridellis, it was noticed during the 2004 US presidential election when their video of George W. Bush and John Kerry singing "This Land Is Your Land" became a hit. The company creates, produces and distributes original content. It has three main sections on the website: eCards; "Everyday Fun Sendables" such as funny videos; and "Originals," including "This Land," "Time for Some Campaignin'," and "Big Box Mart."

JibJab has also produced commercials and shorts for clients like Sony, Noggin, and Disney.

Elections

"This Land"

For the 2004 presidential election, JibJab created a Flash movie entitled This Land, which featured George W. Bush and John Kerry singing a parody of Woody Guthrie's song "This Land Is Your Land."

This animation was an instant success, and the site was listed number one on Alexa's "Movers and Shakers" list. The video was so popular, it was viewed on every continent (including Antarctica) as well as the International Space Station.[2] The traffic surge forced JibJab's server to be shut down after one day, and the clip was placed on AtomFilms, where it got more than 1 million hits in 24 hours.[3]

After being linked to on thousands of websites, the song was featured several times in the printed media and on television, including NBC Nightly News, Fox News and ABC World News Tonight. On July 26, 2004, the creators appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. In December 2004 the brothers were named People of the Year by Peter Jennings.[2]

The Richmond Organization, a music publisher that owns the copyright to Guthrie's tune through its Ludlow Music Unit, threatened legal action.[4] JibJab responded with a lawsuit in a California federal court, claiming the song was protected under a fair use exemption for parodies. JibJab and Ludlow Music reached a settlement after JibJab's attorneys unearthed evidence that the song had passed into the public domain in 1973. The terms of the settlement allowed for the continued distribution of This Land.[5] Jim Meskimen voiced almost all the characters.

"Good to be in DC"

In October 2004, JibJab followed up with another original animation, "Good to be in DC", set to the tune of the song "Dixie". George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, John Kerry, and John Edwards sing about their hopes for the upcoming election.

"Second Term"

Immediately after George Bush's election victory, JibJab released another animation, "Second Term". Set to the tune of "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain", Bush gloats over his successful bid for a second term as president, although John Kerry would, maybe, have a turn to become president, someday.

"Time for Some Campaignin'"

For the 2008 presidential election, Jib Jab released another election-themed animation, "Time for Some Campaignin'" in July of that year. Set to the tune of Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are a-Changin'". Bill and Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Barack Obama, George Bush, and Dick Cheney sing of their presidential hopes. Viewers had the option of inserting their own face as that of a harassed voter.

"He's Barack Obama"

Upon Barack Obama becoming President, Jib Jab released 'He's Barack Obama', where they portrayed the about to be President as a Superhero; the music becomes a heavy metal interpretation of 'When Johnny Comes Marching Home', as he promises he would fix the Middle East, defeat the Taliban, fix the schools, fight a bear, fix the deficit and healthcare, etc.

2012

For the 2012 Presidential Election, JibJab did not make an election video, and instead began to focus their efforts on their e-card business. However, an election web app was released in October.[6]

E-cards

In 2007, JibJab made an option to put photographs of people's faces in some animated JibJab videos, and the option to send them to other people as e-cards or "sendables".[7] This option is included in a video site Elf Yourself by OfficeMax,[8] where an uploaded photo is put onto a singing/dancing elf. JibJab has let people "star" in many movies, such as renditions of Star Wars in honor of the 30th anniversary of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back[9] and Mad Men.[10]

Year in Review

Starting in 2005, JibJab annually releases "Year in Review" videos, usually late in December between Christmas and New Year's Day. The videos are uploaded on YouTube.

"2-0-5" - 2005 Year In Review

2-0-5 is the year in review video for the year 2005, it reflects the songs "Auld Lang Syne" and "Turkey in the Straw". 2-0-5 is sung in the perspective of George W. Bush and reflecting on the year's downpoints such as Hurricane Katrina, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Guantanamo Bay detention camp, Avian Flu, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, piracy in Somalia, stem cells, Scooter Libby, Tom DeLay, and his own steadily dropping approval rating.

Nuckin' Futs! - The JibJab Year In Review 2006

This Year in Review portrays a Christmas concert with the kids singing about the past year, sung to the tune of Jingle Bells. Topics include Iraq, Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden, Britney Spears, the trial and execution of Saddam Hussein, the Dick Cheney hunting incident, the liquid ban following the 2006 Transatlantic Aircraft Plot, 2006 Thai coup d'état, Mel Gibson's DUI incident, Fidel Castro's health crisis, Ariel Sharon's stroke, Google buying YouTube, Paris Hilton, Kim Jong-il, Kenneth Lay, Escherichia coli in food, 2006 Lebanon War, and Iran's nuclear program. At the end of the video it states that the way that things are going, Armageddon won't be long.

In 2007

The tune "We Didn't Start The Fire" by Billy Joel was used in this Year in Review. The theme is the 2007 Annual Humanity Report arriving and a group of angels do not want to anger God so they "sugar coat" it in a song. Topics such as global warming, Lindsay Lohan's cocaine bust, Michael Vick and the Bad Newz Kennels dog fighting investigation, Alberto Gonzales, the war in Darfur, the Don Imus Rutgers University women's basketball team controversy, Blackwater USA, Britney Spears' performance at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, Caitlin Upton, Halo 3, the rise of Facebook, Sanjaya Malakar, the inaugural flight of the Airbus A380 (with Singapore Airlines), the Wii, the Malibu forest fires, the death of Anna Nicole Smith, and the iPhone were used in this Year in Review.

The JibJab Year in Review 2008

In this Year in Review the former Baby New Year (caricature of Jimmy Durante) is seen singing about the past years events to the next Baby New Year for 2009, telling him the year was bad. The song used in this is "Miss Susie Had a Steamboat". Some topics in this videos were the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the liquidity crisis of the American International Group, the Big Three automobile manufacturers, the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal, David Duchovny going to rehab, Daniel Radcliffe performing in Equus (he is referred to as "Harry" in the video), Miley Cyrus's Vanity Fair cover, Sarah Palin, the Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing, the 2008 South Ossetia war, the United States presidential election, 2008, the John Edwards extramarital affair, and Hurricanes Ike and Gustav. In the end of the video, the future Baby New Year leaves, making Baby New Year '08 stay to chronicle another year.

Never A Year Like '09

Sung to the tune of "The Entertainer", it chronicles the year's past events. The animation style is notably different from past years. Events featured include:

So Long To Ya, 2010

The 2010 Year in Review aired on December 19, 2010 on CBS News Sunday Morning. It featured puppets of Obama and Biden singing about what happened in the year 2010; the song was set to the tune of "The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze".[11] The review focused mainly on Barack Obama, as well on other political events such as:

This video ends with a basketball being thrown at President Obama, knocking him through the first "0" of "2010" and Biden stating that it will need stitches.

2011, Buh-Bye!

On December 20, 2011 the 2011 Year in Review, titled "2011, Buh-Bye!" was released, and is available on YouTube and their website.[12] Sung to the tune of "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean", it covered several events. These included the introduction of Ben & Jerry's new (yet controversial) ice cream flavor, Schweddy Balls; Charlie Sheen's removal from Two and a Half Men and subsequent rise to internet popularity; theft claims by Lindsay Lohan; charges of sexual assaults against Dominique Strauss-Kahn; the 2012 presidential campaigns with the 9-9-9 plan; the trial and conviction of Dr. Conrad Murray, Arnold Schwarzenegger's love child scandal; Standard & Poor's lowering the United States score for the first time; the high unemployment rate; the United States debt-ceiling crisis; the Anthony Weiner sexting scandal; Rupert Murdoch and the News of the World investigation; the Greek debt contagion; the Arab Spring (including the 2011 Egyptian revolution and the 2011 Libyan civil war); the removal of Don't ask, don't tell; the claims of homosexuality in Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie; the death of Osama bin Laden; the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan; the 2011 England riots; the 2011 end times prediction by Harold Camping; the widespread 2012 phenomenon; the short-lived marriage by Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries; the de facto bankruptcy of Borders Group and Netflix; Justin Bieber's new hairstyle; "Friday" by Rebecca Black; the Royal Wedding; the Occupy Wall Street movement; the deaths of Steve Jobs, Elizabeth Taylor, Betty Ford, Randy Savage, Andy Rooney, Peter Falk, and Amy Winehouse; the new Astrological Signs; and the incident in Zanesville, Ohio when exotic animals, such as lions, tigers, and bears were released.

2012: The End is Here!

Originally posted to the Internet on December 20, 2012, the 2012 Year in Review used the so-called "Mayan Prophesy" of the end of the world as its visual theme, complete with two Mayan characters carving a stylized calendar in stone, while a meteor is seen in the sky hurtling towards Earth. It is sung to the tune of "Down by the Riverside". Events covered include:

2013: What a Year!

Posted on December 19, 2013, the 2013 year in review was themed as a Broadway musical number. It is sung to the tune of "Give My Regards to Broadway". Topics mentioned included:

2014, You Are History

Posted on December 21, 2014, the 2014 year in review is sung to the tune of Beethoven's 9th Symphony (Final Movement), a.k.a. "Ode to Joy". Mentions include:

Others

Big Box Mart

In 2005, JibJab released the video "Big Box Mart".[13] Sung to the tune of "Oh, Susannah", it tells the story of an American factory worker who buys quantities of cheap, imported "crap" from his local Big Box Mart, a parody of big-box stores, running up large amounts of credit card debt. However, everyone else is also buying cheap, imported crap from Big Box Mart, so the American factory goes out of business, leaving our hero out of work and mired in debt at the age of 53. Along with the rest of his coworkers, he goes to work at the only industry left in town, which is Big Box Mart, where he spends the rest of his life living paycheck to paycheck, with little hope of being able to retire.

What We Call the News

Sung to the tune of "Battle Hymn of the Republic," "What We Call the News" laments the decline of journalism in the cable TV era, particularly sensationalistic stories and the fact that "great legends found themselves replaced by blondes with big fake boobs!"

Do I Creep You Out

JibJab produced a video for the 2006 song Do I Creep You Out by satirist Weird Al Yankovic, a parody of Taylor Hicks' Do I Make You Proud. The video depicts the main character stalking Hicks' character in increasingly disturbing ways (as described in the song), ending with his being beaten and arrested by the police. The final scene is of the lead singing the ending of the song in a prison.

Logo

The logo of JibJab depicts two men from the Victorian era, which was temporarily changed in So Long To Ya, 2010 to puppets and 2011, Buh-Bye to popsicle stick figures.

JibJab Jr./ Storybots

In August 2011, JibJab entered the kids' market with JibJab Jr. - a line of children's apps for the iPad and iPhone. The app allows parents to personalize the stories with a photo and name of their child.[14] This site was later changed to StoryBots.[15] Today, StoryBots includes a line of apps on the iOS platform designed for children ages 2–8 and their parents.

References

  1. ↑ https://www.linkedin.com/vsearch/p?f_CC=59526
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 ABC News (December 31, 2004)
  3. ↑ USA Today (July 24, 2004)
  4. ↑ Wired News (August 8, 2004) CNN Money (July 26, 2004)
  5. ↑ CNET News.com (August 25, 2004)
  6. ↑
  7. ↑ Mashable (August 9, 2007)
  8. ↑ MarketingProfs (December 11, 2007)
  9. ↑ The Washington Post (May 5, 2010)
  10. ↑ The Hollywood Reporter (July 6, 2010)
  11. ↑ "So Long To Ya, 2010". JibJab.com. Retrieved 2010-12-20.
  12. ↑ http://blog.jibjab.com/2011/12/12/year-in-review-vocals-recorded/
  13. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKv6RcXa2UI
  14. ↑ USA Today (August 31, 2011)
  15. ↑ http://www.storybots.com/for-parents

External links