Welcome to the second edition of our newsletter covering trends and developments in video. Before we move on to the cutting edge stuff, did you know that later this year the world – no, make that the universe – will have the opportunity to celebrate the centenary of Gene Roddenberry’s birth?
As the creator of Star Trek, Roddenberry became the first TV writer to be honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Where he boldly went with his imagination and inventiveness inspired others to follow, opening many young minds to the limitless storytelling potential of the moving image.
Today, when technology has caught up with some of what Roddenberry envisaged, you can make enterprising use of video without needing to battle the Klingons.
VIDEO IN THE NEWS
TikTok ramps up e-commerce offer by linking videos to products
Social media platform TikTok has told advertisers it plans to allow video-makers to link to products of their choice and earn commission on any resulting sales, even if they aren’t formally sponsored by the brand. Several other new TikTok features are also in the offing for later this year, including a live stream mobile shopping channel and the ability for brands to showcase their catalogues. [Source: DecisionMarketing]
The future of creative, according to Google
People don’t hate ads — just bad ones. And we all have different preferences. Fortunately, personalisation doesn’t require producing a million ads for a million different people. It only requires a slight adjustment to better address needs. So what if, instead of interrupting the viewing experience, ads tailored to each viewer actually complimented it? Some brands have already started down this path. Instead of running one-size-fits-all hero creative, Samsung took a more personalized approach in its US campaign for the new Galaxy Note10. The marketing team identified three key audience segments: gamers, creators, and entrepreneurs. Then they found each segment’s most searched how to’ videos — for example, ‘game tips’ for gamers — and created ads with Director Mix that had a similar look and feel to the content people were about to watch. Based on what the viewer needed, each ad showed how the new device could help. This personalised approach led to a 557% boost in viewer consideration, 27% lift among non-Samsung owners, and nearly 900,000 Samsung carrier store visits, winning the YouTube Works Award for Media Innovation. [Source: ThinkwithGoogle]
A billion years condensed into 40 seconds
Ever doubted the ability of video to tell a complicated story with brevity and clarity? Then be amazed at how scientists have condensed a billion years of tectonic plate movements on earth into this 40-second video clip, which is an easy to watch way that conveys one of the most complete models of tectonic shifts ever developed. [Source: Forbes]
TACTICAL TRENDS AND INSIGHT
Consumers value content that helps them navigate challenges
People placing more value on media that enables them to navigate the challenges they face is among the interesting insights contained in YouTube’s Culture and Trends Report. The report draws on a mixture of user data analysed by YouTube’s inhouse trends experts and consumer research by Ipsos. In 2020, 66% of people in Germany turned to YouTube to develop a new hobby; 94% in India used it to learn to do things themselves, and 83% in Brazil watched replacements of live events. From a marketing standpoint, it’s fascinating to note that the number of channels on the hunt for eyeballs is rocketing. In the 11 months to 30 November 2020, the amount of new YouTube channels trying to build an audience was 95% up on the corresponding period in 2019.
Get animated…to animate your audience
Disney, Scooby-Doo, Japanese anime. What’s not to love about animation? Often it takes us to a happy place, which is a great advantage when used in areas such as product marketing. The unsalesy associations of the format can be very disarming when applied to explainer videos and of course, animation allows you to do and show things that simply aren’t possible with live-action. Your product on Mars, at the bottom of the ocean, or with its insides strikingly turned out? Why not if that grabs attention, cuts through and tells your story. Now give that bear a marmalade sandwich!
Cornitos mixes 40 celebrity Indian chefs into recipe for success
Indian food company Cornitos, which sells taco shells, tortilla wraps, jalapeno peppers and a range of other foods inspired by the flavours of Mexico, has cooked up a campaign based on videos of 40 celebrity Indian chefspreparing unique recipes featuring its products. Videos for the Cornitos by my Side campaign were posted to the Cornitos Facebook page. It figures that a brand hungry to stand out in a huge and highly competitive market would sink its teeth into a video led strategy.
Bringing the world to consumers
Mintel’s 2021 Global Consumer Trends report looks at the now, next and future consumer. One of its recommendations for brands targeting consumers is to “bring the world to them”. Offering digital re-creations of real-world events and natural spaces as safer and more accessible alternatives is a key way to provide collective experiences as well as spaces for relaxing and unwinding, says the report. Good video content could be an important aspect of this.
CAMPAIGN IN FOCUS
Thermo Fisher Scientific: The Power of Quiet Heroes
Thermo Fisher Scientific’s benchtop instruments are designed by researchers for researchers, yet the safety and reliability they bring to laboratory tasks can be overlooked. Wooshii developed a creative campaign that connected at an emotional level to show Thermo Fisher technology overcoming everyday frustrations in the lab. We came up with the theme “The power of quiet heroes” for a series of videos showcasing benchtop instruments within an engaging narrative and made a point with deep-seated appeal to researchers: with the right equipment, even the most ‘menial’ scientific tasks have the potential to change the world. Check out some of the work here.
WOOSHII SAYS
Tl;dr? Aim for gv;dw instead
No doubt you’re familiar with the scathing online putdown ‘too long; didn’t read’, which fittingly is often used in its abbreviated form. Hey, a wall of text is off-putting and we’re all pushed for time! So why not turn unread blogs into enticing, memorable vlogs. That way you can swap tl;dr for gv;dw: great video, did watch.
