AlarmKey to release viral video

BELLMORE, N.Y.--AlarmKey, a Reliable Group company manufacturing business software for the security alarm industry, is trying something new in February. The company has produced 30-second video spots that it will release to the most popular online video-sharing sites, such as Google, YouTube and Yahoo, hoping to create a buzz in the industry and see just how Web-savvy the typical alarm company owner is. "It's just something we're doing to test the waters," said Veeral Lakhani, vice president of AlarmKey. "We feel the security industry is late coming online with the web and web resources ... We're in the information age and whichever companies have access to information the quickest are the companies that win, and, as of today, the security industry has limited resources to be able to do that." "We're hoping that this thing catches on, that this does create a buzz in the industry, but a bigger plan is in the works," he said. "Our idea is not to make [the ads] very spokesperson-like," said Dhaval Mehta, part of the business development team responsible for creating the spots. "We want it to be creative ... we want it to be very low-key, like The Office, and subtle. Nothing too heavy." The hope is that a spot will be passed around via email the way the latest funny Saturday Night Live clip was, that the industry will enjoy the experience, and maybe be more open to the kinds of information-sharing sites that have modeled YouTube or MySpace in other industries. "We just hope to create that exchange," said Lakhani. While blogs exist in the industry (industry analyst Steve Hunt has one, for example, as does Panasonic president Frank DeFina), and there are a number of industry web sites, Lakhani doesn't feel there is yet the online community that would benefit the security industry. "There are bulletin boards," he said, where people post questions that are answered via colleagues sending emails, "but that doesn't allow for the searchability, the history that the web can offer." Look for the videos to hit the web around Feb. 15.