First released in 1979, the famous
tune went on to top 16 International music charts. Ironically, when MTV was
launched two years later, “Video killed the Radio star” became the first song
to grace television screens in a new format that would change the industry
forever: music video.
Forward thinking brands and
marketers can take advantage of unprecedented access to consumers where it
matters most. We are rapidly entering a new golden age of video, with more
consumers on more devices watching more video content than ever before. The
number of Internet users continues to grow, as does time spent online and
content consumption is shifting toward mobile, which now accounts for nearly 70
percent of digital media time.
Think with Google research reveals
that 56 percent of “Gen C” users took action after viewing ads on YouTube.
While marketers worry that mobile internet content consumption will reduce their
impact, the truth is that mobile digital video is quickly becoming the best way
to reach an audience. Mobile video is not only rapidly becoming the preferred type
of content, it’s also better at holding an audience attention than television.
It is very important for a brand to
build a winning video strategy. This begins with a big idea that cuts to the
heart of a problem that the product solves, or a vision of the brand and its
role in daily life. Once this ‘story kernel’ has been developed, brands can
build on it by articulating how they solve the problem or overcome the
challenge. Where you tell a story can be just as important as how you tell it.
Situating an ad in a context where the product value is clear increases the ad’s
conceptual fluency. Contextually relevant ads are less intrusive, and they
lower the mental strain on the viewer. They can also benefit from the halo
effect.
One of the most obvious constraints
of the new form is length. Instead of compressing content into even smaller
parcels, brands should synthesize a story system that links discrete content vehicles
into a broader narrative. Each piece works independently, encoding specific
brand values, while also speaking to an overarching vision of the brand. Consumers
can then interact with the content that is most relevant to them without losing
sight of the brand’s overarching vision.
Brands need to choose the metrics
that best evaluate the components of their strategy they want to improve and
how they want to improve them. Once selected, these metrics need to be
continuously re-evaluated as part of a perpetual learning system, where new
knowledge informs the path of future research and experimentation. Measuring
views will help a brand increase viewership, but leaves consumer attention
entirely out of the picture.
Viewability, impact and context are
good places to start, as they are fundamental to successful campaigns, but it’s
also important to understand whether the message is clear, whether viewers are
attentive, and if this attention is translating into action: sales or brand
equity increased. Brands must become increasingly responsive to consumers, and
the way they interact with media, by building a strong experimental framework
that allows for an increasingly focused evolution of their video strategy.
