Sometimes people say to me “video makes sense for entertainment, but not for lots of other things.” Well Zappos and Overlay.tv seem to think those people are wrong. As much as I love shoes (and anyone that knows me knows how much fun I have there) they aren’t a category that automatically conjures up the notion of video. But here is their joint announcement on combining the two. From their press release:

Zappos.com is rolling out its Overlay.TV for Retail deployment in two phases, initially enabling “Engagement Pages” with specific brands like Nike, before implementing the technology on all product pages. As part of this phase, users will be able to access premium content provided by Zappos.com and its partner brands and record video testimonials and product reviews to enhance the site’s community recommendations.

“User reviews are extremely powerful, and putting a face to those reviews makes them even more valuable to the consumer,” says Lane. “It’s the difference in credibility between a recommendation given to you by a friend and one scrawled on the bathroom wall.”

So, I tried it out. They are right, it does make it more believable and interesting. All those times I wanted to see the other side of the piece of clothing or shoe… voila…it’s there. Wondering who that person was that did that review…I can see them and it’s seems more real.

So, congratulations to Overlay.tv. And … what new unexpected areas do you think video is going to next?