That’s tough to do for many reasons, and even when you can do it, it’s pretty hard to scale. But here’s what it’s supposed to look like: Starbucks sponsoring a 25-song video series put on by The Onion.

Simon Dumenco has details on the campaign, but at its core it’s the most basic kind of video advertising, and the kind we saw at the beginning of video advertising. It’s a back-to-the-future version of TV’s early days, when brands like Texaco and Ford (F) sponsored shows called “Texaco Star Theater” and “The Ford Show.”

Back to the present: Look at how much plugging Starbucks (SBUX) has plugged in here! A preroll, plus what amounts to a preroll at the beginning of the video, plus more Starbucks references as the clip goes on. Don’t know what the coffee chain is paying for sponsoring this stuff, but the company seems determined to get its money’s worth.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists cover the Tears for Fears song, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”:

Top line for Google’s Q2 earnings: Net revenue of $4.07 billion and earnings of $5.36. The Street was looking for net revenue of $4.05 billion and earnings of $5.05.

CEO Eric Schmidt isn’t overly effusive: “Google had a very good quarter, especially given the continued macro-economic downturn. While most of the world’s largest economies shrank, Google’s year-over-year revenues were up 3%. These results highlight the enduring strength of our business model and our responsible efforts to manage expenses in a way that puts us in a good position for the economic upturn, when it occurs.”

Meanwhile paid-click growth was up 15 percent, and the company continues to clamp down on expenses: Google’s headcount actually shrank in the last three months, from 20,164 to 19,786 full-time employees.

I’ll be listening in on the call and occasionally updating here.

• Schmidt: “Youtube is now on a trajectory we’re very pleased with.”
• “Too early to tell when the recovery will materialize.”
• CFO Patrick Pichette: Still hiring, but decrease in headcount came from previously announced layoffs.
• Product SVP Jonathan Rosenberg: We’re focusing more than ever on power users.
• Mobile monetization picked up, driven by smart phones. YouTube’s monetized views have tripled in the last year.
• Sales boss Nikesh Arora: Small advertisers have stayed consistent during downturn, and larger advertisers who have been on sidelines are coming back.
• Schmidt on Chrome OS: We’re talking to manufacturers about designing “products that are very, very exciting.” Will Chrome run on existing hardware? Available for download? Still to be worked out.
• Was June soft? Schmidt: We generally don’t parse interquarter trends. On YouTube: Monetizing “billions of views” per months. [Nothing approaching real numbers or real context].
• Arora: “Significant sellthrough” in markets where Google has YouTube homepage for sale. Next phase of YouTube sales emphasis will be preroll ads on short-form videos.
• Arora on YouTube “trajectory” comment: We’re excited about getting pieces in place to drive this forward [i.e., not talking about numbers]. Customers accepting YouTube ads: “It’s becoming accepted user behavior where they’re going to watch premium content that people have invested in, they’re going to watch pre-roll ads.”
• Is YouTube profitable? Pichette: We don’t give out economics. But in the not-too-distant future, we see it being very profitable.

Here again, per Citigroup’s Mark Mahaney, is a crib sheet for interpreting the results (click to enlarge):

And here are the slides from Google’s investor presentation:

2009Q2_google_earnings_slides –

And just to be clear: The video is a joke. But the preroll ads that run before it–the two I’ve seen before are for Amway and some kind of fast food chain called Red Robin–are real. I think. Also not a joke: The New York Times (NYT)  is surveying readers to see what they’d think of paying $5 a month for Web access to the paper.

In related news, tomorrow is the first annual “Freelancers put on your pants day,” according to ASSME, which is a sort-of-serious blog/support group formed in the wake of last fall’s mass layoffs.