...and skip
I think we can all relate to this and we would agree that YouTube has reached that annoying stage and is moving in steady steps - backwards - to revive the forced TV commercial breaks that originally was one of the reasons people opted for it. You might be less irritated if you don't use YouTube frequently or even use it to view long videos where those 5 seconds aren't significant, but for those of us who use YouTube as their magical Jukebox, and end up sometimes watching the same ad 5 times in a session, those breaks are rather pesky.Brands+Agencies+YouTube and The Audience
(The following part is just based on general observation with no ill/bad intentions towards any brand, agency or industry, No Beef!)Well it all starts with brands' (especially their MENA presence) obsession with the godforsaken V word "Viral", the smart YouTube marketing team on the ground and of course the geniuses in different agencies. Let me take you through the first scenario:
The result? Often (In our region), just shoving a brand's TVC down the throats of the real critics that brands haven't been used to get feedback from - their target audience and... well this image explains it better!
Well, the reality is despite the fact that YouTube is an amazing tool to communicate your message, brands, their partners and agencies should first keep those common sense rules in mind:
- ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL! What works for TV doesn't necessarily work for YouTube. If you as a marketer don't use YouTube to view the same stuff you watch on TV, why do you expect others to! Ask yourself first "why should this be on YouTube? If this was targeting me, would I want to watch it?"
- Treat your YouTube communication strategy with the same level of sophistication and attention other channels (ATL, BTL, PR..etc) get. Saving up time and money on the strategic approach towards such a dynamic platform doesn't only result in issues that go neutrally unnoticed, it actually might harm the brand and sometimes push people from positive association to indifference and unfortunately in some cases to negative association.
- Do your homework and gain the proper insights. With all the information on trends, most searched for terms, most discussed topics, best practice case studies, online/social listening analysis and intelligence...etc that are available to brands and their partners today, you have to be really lazy not to be able to find the right insights and build your strategy on their basis.
- Review, Review and Review. If YouTube gives you immediate insights on how your channel/video is performing to a level of details that even gives you second by second retention analysis, why not use this to your advantage?! A video is getting negative feedback or huge bounce rate, stop, analyze the issue and make a quick decision, be it better optimized targeting, less rotation, maybe a pause on media plan or even removing it completely!
- Finally and most importantly... VIRAL MY A**! Any campaign that went viral started as a well thought through strategy (based on unique insights) that was executed with excellence and had the right circumstances (including luck) to reach that level with no intention but to deliver quality! So if anyone working in this industry say that they can come up with a guaranteed viral campaign idea or concept be it on YouTube or anywhere, ask them a simple question. Why on earth are you working for someone? Why don't you just wake up everyday and come up with a viral campaign idea and make millions? To be honest the only other word aside from "entrepreneur" that pisses me off is this V word when used in a plan or a brief, but will leave that to another detailed blog post ;)
Will follow this up with part II... thoughts?
