It started as a video blog, not a Doobie Brothers channel.
Thirteen years, 594 videos, and one simple idea: be there with a camera, and take people with you.
One hundred days, one concert, one blessing.
- 2013
Video Blog Sensation
Viktor's book Video Blog Sensation had a simple idea. Instead of blogging straight to YouTube, you blog on WordPress and embed the YouTube video in your post. That was the whole idea, and it worked.
He was part of a WordPress blogging club, and the club set a challenge: a hundred posts in a hundred days, never miss a day. Miss one and you start counting from one again. Blog daily. He did it, all hundred days.
- Day of the concert
The Doobie Brothers at BR Cohn Winery
One of those hundred days happened to be a Doobie Brothers concert. Viktor filmed it as a participant, but everybody assumed he was with the media. He got to meet the band and the promoter, and they gave their blessing to put the Listen to the Music video up.
That video has now passed four million views. Every penny of its revenue goes to the Doobie Brothers and the publisher. The channel does not take any of it. What the channel gets is subscribers, and an end screen that people actually watch.
- The camera
From a Nikon to 4K on a phone
Mr Hat Man is really just a camera guy. Viktor started filming with a Nikon when digital cameras first came out. Now he shoots in 4K on his phone and can get right in there.
What he wants to do is tell stories about the places he goes. It is real. He is there, and you are there with him in the front row, whether it is a live concert, a lecture, or a video game.
- Now
Cheech and Chong, and Boots on the Ground
The latest shoot was the grand opening of Cheech and Chong's dispensary. Viktor met Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong in person. A live band played Grateful Dead music and thousands of people came. That video is being made now.
At the same event he met a music producer and multi-instrumentalist who has played with some of the biggest names in music, including Carlos Santana and Billy Idol. He wrote a song called Boots on the Ground, and Viktor is turning it into a music video with footage from the brand new Call of Duty, to celebrate the launch of the game. That is the kind of thing Mr Hat Man does: videos that are real, and in the moment.
Rock roots, marketing roots, and games through an AI prism.
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Front row concerts
The Doobie Brothers, Robert Plant, Peter Gabriel, Jethro Tull, Sarah McLachlan, Blue Oyster Cult, Deep Purple, Y&T, and the covers and tributes in between.
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Gaming
Walkthroughs, builds and guides from Diablo IV to Game of Thrones: Kingsroad. The channel is charging back to marketing and SEO, supercharged by AI, while gaming through an AI prism.
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Marketing and SEO
The channel began in marketing: keyword tools, SEO, email, social media, and the interviews. Tube Relevance is the course that came out of it.
Come along for the next one.
Subscribe on YouTube, or send Viktor a message.