During my tenure as
Global Strategy Director at TBWA, I can’t remember how many times I heard the
words…‘C,mon, it’s just a viral video…it’s not going to be seen by a mass
audience’, as I discussed the brand inappropriateness of an online creative
concept with our team in Brazil, France or just about every other region. Admittedly, many of the concepts were
hilarious, and I hated having to be the killjoy.
As I look at the recent online content metrics, I’m feeling vindicated for being so hard. According to Visible Measures, in September, the
average online video got 4.5 times more user initiated views than they did just
3 years ago, with an average video now receiving 1.6 million views. Top
performers are getting over 20,000,000 views!
While part of this is
likely a function of changes in audience behavior and online channel
availability, part is likely due to an accelerated learning curve of what makes
content sharable.
If you Google ‘tips on
sharable content’ you’ll get links to pages of articles that describe how
content needs to entertain, elicit positive emotions (humor being one at the
top of the list), tell a story, be unique, etc.
All good advice. But brand owners
also need to understand that with the increasing impact that branded content
has on shaping the total brand experience, it’s extremely important that in
addition to entertaining storytelling, content needs to amplify and extend
brand experiences that create value.
September’s top 2 viewed
video campaigns were Apple iphone 5s/c, and Motorola Moto X. While both
campaigns are for mobile phones, they illustrate vast contrasts in brand
behavior, and the resulting customer experience.
The iphone videos are
simple, visually engaging and informative, as they romance the phone’s design,
while demonstrating the phone’s features.
Their minimalist approach is unmistakably Apple…consistent with the
simplicity, elegance and seamlessness that Apple brings to every brand
experience, at every touchpoint.
The Moto X video is also
a product demonstration. It features hands
free, voice-activated control. It follows the basic rules for sharable content,
in that it uses humor to tell a story in a unique way. The Story: It begins with a couple in
bed. The man is trying to give his
partner a massage, while setting the mood with romantic music from his
phone. The phone has been personified,
and is portrayed by a somewhat out of shape man, who is lying in bed next to the
couple. ‘The phone’ pulls up his shirt
and tells its owner that he must touch the ‘phone’s’ stomach in order to play
music. While it is arguably
entertaining, unique and funny, there is a creepy vibe to the whole situation, which
probably leaves the majority of the 17.9 million viewers wondering what
Motorola is all about.
Like the two examples
above, more and more brands seem to be creating entertaining online product
demonstrations. Recently, Mercedes
released a video featuring ‘magic body control’, a technology that stabilizes
ride quality. In it, we see the rubber
gloved hands of what appears to be an engineer holding and manipulating a
chicken to dance to the beat of Diana Ross’ ‘Upside Down’. It’s catchy, entertaining, engaging, and it
does demonstrate the benefits of the technology. And it’s clearly sharable. Last week, it was the 9th ranked
viral video, with 1.4 million views.
Released September 23rd, it has already garnered 6 million
views. However, how does this amplify the Mercedes brand experience? Is it consistent with the rest of the
Mercedes experience? While premium
brands need not be stuffy, should they be silly?
As branded content
becomes a large and significant contributor to the entire brand
experience, brand owners have a responsibility to ensure that every piece of
content is aligned with all other brand behaviors to create brand value. And as content sources multiply to include
technology and media companies, it is ever more important these companies are
provided with a clear sense of brand appropriate-ness and out of bound
behaviors. ‘It’s just a viral video’ is no longer an acceptable excuse for entertaining,
off-brand content because it is, indeed, going to reach a mass audience.
