Video Killed The Marketing Star

It’s amazing to think that YouTube has been in existence for 5 years – it feels like forever, but in Internet terms, I guess it is. To highlight this anniversary, YouTube announced on their official blog that they’d passed the 2 billion views a day mark, an astounding figure which goes to highlight the demand for video content online.

This fact hasn’t escaped the Marketing community, who are readily jumping on the bandwagon of the latest phenomenon in online promotion. Not that online video content is a new thing of course, yet advances in streaming and serving technologies have enabled greater access, quality and manipulation of content to finally meet the needs of Marketers and demands of the audience. 2010 is set to be the tipping point in the evolution of online video for Marketing, and yet many companies, brands and Marketers lack the appropriate strategic consideration of their online video presence. Online video neither fits the historic model of TV advertising, nor is it merely an extension of online display. In effect it is a combination of the two, a blend of TV audience planning with the analytics, targeting, optimisation and interactivity of online.

As with all digital marketing components, video must be considered in the context of the wider online and offline marketing mix. Although hugely powerful tactically in it’s own right, online video compliments and integrates with other elements of the mix to amplify and extend brand messaging and attributes. As such, it is important to develop a strategic approach to online video which underpins the brand objectives and overall marketing strategy.

Content

Merely putting an existing TV ad online doesn’t really cut it – unless you’re Nike of course! Online video content has to be compelling for the intended audience and appropriate to the contextual environment. There is a vast array of creative forms that online video content can take, many of which have been used by brands in the past and many, I’m sure, are still to be conceived by Marketers and Creatives in the future. Variety is also king…using a number of creative approaches enhances standout, engagement and resonance. As Marketers we need to ask:
– Who is the audience that the piece is talking to?
– What is the response that we’re looking for? What actions do we want the audience to take?
– What are the messages and emotions that need to be conveyed?
– How does the piece generate impact with the target audience?
– What do they consider entertaining / informative?
– What is the ‘value’ transaction being delivered in exchange for the audience viewing the piece?

A fantastic recent example of a piece of online video creative which ticks all the boxes is the ‘Walk On Water – Liquid Mountaineering‘ video, purportedly from Hi-Tec. This has a clear audience in mind, engages that audience with a compelling subject and dilemma – is it real or are they faking it?, delivers a succinct product message, yet does so without ‘marketing’ to the viewer.

The delivery quality of the online video should also be carefully considered. Different sites, units and serving solutions have different quality thresholds. Depending on the values of the product or brand, the nature of the video content itself, and the needs / expectations of the target audience, the Marketer must decide what their requirements are in terms of the final quality of the video being presented to the viewer. For example, in the context of a high-end video game, where graphical quality is a primary driver of overall product quality and demand, it is imperative to use the highest quality video presentation possible to present the game, often excluding advertising and distribution formats or outlets that would otherwise be included within the media plan. However, the home-video documentary style of the Liquid Mountaineering example above dictates that production quality is less relevant.

Distribution

The raison d’être for online video content is to be viewed – simple. As much emphasis should therefore be paid to the distribution of video content as to it’s creation. The are 2 approaches to the distribution of online video content: push and pull, or to put it another way: video dissemination or video attraction. Both can and should work in tandem to build a swell of demand and anticipation for a brand’s content.

Dissemination entails the more traditional practice of push marketing – proactively displaying video content in an outbound fashion to the target audience. It is disruptive marketing, where the objective is to interrupt and create impact. It’s fair to say that push / outbound marketing has received a bad press with the onset of Web 2.0, but this shouldn’t be the case. It still has a role to play in a Marketer’s arsenal, and the unison of ‘push’ and Web 2.0 ‘pull’ offers an effective and efficient strategy for engaging with the consumer in a 360° manner. In the context of online video, there are a number of tools available for the dissemination of content: video display units, pre- / mid- / post-roll, online TV, on-demand players, email, etc. These can either be viewed as the sole source of generating direct views, or as a means of ‘seeding’ views to build a snowball effect fwith users disseminating the content to other users in a viral fashion. Ultimately, dissemination is about getting your video content onto users’ personal online ‘hubs’ – be that their Facebook or MySpace homepages, YouTube channels, blogs, etc. – so that user is marketing the content on your behalf.

According to online video advertising delivery provider Telemetry, 30% of intended video ad impressions called into banner positions may never be seen by the user due to planning / delivery irregularities or issues with reporting. This makes us question a) the level of service being provided by media agencies and ad servers, and b) the relevance of metrics currently being used by Marketers to track and optimise their campaigns. Standard online measures such as impressions, clicks or rollovers aren’t sufficient to accommodate the growing volume and complexity of online video advertising. A further level of tracking is required covering delivery, positioning and viewership (number of eyeballs, length of viewing, frequency, etc.) to be able to maximise the distribution and effectiveness of online video advertising.

Attraction involves the seeding and social engagement to bring users to your ‘brand outposts’ to view online video content. Gone are the days when having a single central product / brand website is suffient to sustain a presence with the online audience. Now brands require a portfolio of interlinked ‘outposts’, including a product / brand website, where users can access, discuss and share content. ‘Brand outposts’ must be consistent in iconography and messaging such that their sum is greater than the individual parts to generate an overarching brand experience on the web. Marketers must then use social engagement tools to draw users into their content through search, blogs, tweets, content aggregation and bookmarking tools such as Digg, Reddit, Delicious etc., and PR 2.0 outreach. As with video dissemination, ultimately attraction can turn viral as users start adding outposts to their follow / subscribe lists and promoting these across their social graphs. For example, a recent YouTube Masthead campaign by Cadbury allowed the user to click in the banner to ‘like it’ on Facebook, thus extending the reach of the video to their network.

Promotion

As outlined above, a combination of push and pull tactics will maximise the distribution potential for online video content. It is also important to promote it across wider offline and online marketing and PR activities. For example, directing users online to view an extended version or behind-the-scenes of a TV ad (example Mars John Barnes World Cup ad), or making branded programming available via on-demand players, for example Family Food Fight with Flora on Demand Five.

Online video content is an immensely impactful and engaging tool for the Marketer in the context of a wider online and offline marketing mix, however, unless strategic consideration is given to the factors outlined above, it can also potentially damage a brands equity and product success potential. We are at the vanguard of what Marketing can do in the online space to enhance the engagement, interactivity and impact of video content.  It’s the responsibility of this generation of Marketers to work with content creators, ad agencies, media agencies and ad serving providers to realise this promise and potential.

Feel free to add a comment and let me know how you’re using online video content to promote your product, service or brand.