360DigitalInfluence

Nike, Dove, Smirnoff,  Nintendo - what do these brands all have in common? They each are producing video for the expressed purpose of publishing online and sharing via the mass video aggregator, YouTube. Many commercial brands want to get on YouTube without much understanding of what it might get them.

Brands like YouTube for five simple reasons:

1. It offers them a platform most like television wherein they can put to work the expensive creative teams from their advertising agencies. These teams are very good at telling stories and now, they can do so unfettered by the :30 or :60 artificial limits of commercial television.  

2. The reach of You Tube seems like a mass media channel.  100m video streams daily  representing 60% of all video served on the Web. Online audience growth from 5m to 25m+ over the first 6 months of this year. That certainly sounds like a mass media. Yet a runaway hit - Dove Evolution, for example (which Ogilvy in Toronto is responsible for)  - is 620K “views.” (and includes parodies like this pumpkin one) Most don’t climb to that stratosphere. Like the Web, itself, You Tube hosts a vast variety of videos that appeal to different micro-audiences.  

3. Video is canned and therefore reasonably controllable. Brands can report to internal executives that they are involved with ’social media’ without having to actually enter a two-way conversation.  

4. It allows brands to connect with consumers on some emotional level by using the emotive qualities of story and video.

5. “Viral Video” sounds sexy and makes their brands seem desireable
 

What they don’t always realize is:

Planning a blockbuster hit like Dove or the uncommercial “Free Hugs” is next to impossible. Sure, there do seem to be recurring factors in popular videos (in no particular order: crazy real-world stunts, crazy special effects, celebrities, things other users can mimick and put their own spin on, authentic humanity, great comedy, outrageous stuff caught on tape, stupid pet tricks, cute animals, stupid baby tricks, etc…). The time-lapse effect from Dove is not a new stunt. What made it take off? Timing - they had already laid the groundwork of a movement-like ad campaign? Intense cultural attention to “makeover” scenarios? Simplicity? Whatever it was it could not have been planned as a runaway hit.

Creating something people care about is different than creating something that they will “watch” like they watch commercials on TV. It may be hard to get people to actually care about (and “engage with” vs simply view) a funny video about an ice cream brand. Although the brand impression may be very similar to one delivered on TV.

Nobody wants to watch a long TV commercial filled with brand messages. A simply clever :90-1:00 TV spot does not make for compelling video in the YouTube universe. Period.

Users may riff off your idea and you cannot control that. When  Heelys began creating homespun-style videos of skateboard tricks, other users followed suit but modeled off-brand (and dangerous) behavior. Nothing you can do there.

There are many more interesting ways to create and publish video via YouTube than extending your ad campaign. What about how-to videos? Where are all the baby products companies with their videos on giving newborns baths? Where are the brand-driven cooking shows? DIY? If ever there was a great place for brands to create useful content, the lower cost environment of online video is it.

Two levels:

TV-like Level - most brands try to use YouTube as a platform to share entertaining video about their brand or their brand “essence.” This is the traditional advertising approach. YouTube will have a traditional advertising model soon enough - pre roll, post roll, contextual ads - we’ll see. They will measure success in terms of “views.” They will only be happy with 100K-plus views over a short period of time. Many will not hestitate to create some fake set of characters and try to trick viewers into thinking the video is ‘real.’ After all, they are providing entertainment. LonelyGirl15 got away with it…sort of.

Social Media level - this requires more fortitude from a brand. It includes creating useful video like how-to’s and interviews, inviting users in to co-create, supporting some existing phenomena, behavior or even a movement. This approach means using video to really engage users in a way that TV rarely does. It very often means having less control and therefore having the faith that what users and customers create or say will not hurt the brand so much as strengthen a relationship. Success is measured by not just views, but also discussion (blog posts & comments, messageboard postings, etc…), if “influencers” get involved, and longevity, i.e. how long people are riffing, discussing, viewing.  

• useful video - there is some of this happening out on the Web. Truth is that until more powerful search functions from Google are incorporated into YouTube, it is difficult to actually find topical content.
• Co-creation - beyond make-the-commercial contests, there are a myriad of other video contests that brands stage to get users involved. Check some of them out here.
• Supporting a “community”   - this can be something as loose as the community of vegans or single mothers or Science Fiction fans. How can any of these use the Web to strengthen their community experience? Now, how can a brand facilitate that? That’s a powerful place for a brand to play and one that many can’t yet imagine.