There’s perhaps nothing more effective than beautiful imagery in selling people on places to visit. Until recently, glossy spreads in luxury magazines had been the ultimate expression of this tactic, while web video lagged far behind due to its’ limitations in picture quality. For example, here’s a piece of video marketing for the Philipines tourism department from 2008. It’s helpful, but certainly not very compelling:
So when I just came across this Travel Alberta Canada video (posted a few months ago,) I couldn’t help but think of the incredible effect the now commonplace availability of high-definition video has had for the tourism industry.
The prevalence of HD represents a very bright future for tourism-related online video marketing, as it is a perfect tool for featuring jaw-dropping visions of the world’s landscapes, cityscapes and vistas. A talented filmmaker with the right HD equipment can capture footage that can entice even the most lazy couch-potato to want to jump the next flight for their dream vacation.
It’s the dawn of a golden age for marketers in the tourism industry. Their greatest assets–the local resources, both natural and man-made–are now more crisp, more beautiful, and more engaging to viewers.
Iceland really gets it right, using awe-inspiring visuals as the backdrop for an engaging, fun and funny music video:
Humor is the single most popular hook for online video. If you can make the viewer laugh, they’re having a good time… and we humans are social creatures who love to share good times with friends. It is, of course, no different for brands. Humor has proved to be reliable for brands of all shapes and sizes, even some unexpected ones…
…like the President (or rather, his administration). The White House YouTube page is home to all kinds of content. And yes, most of it is political in nature, i.e. serious, but the President has a softer, fun side as well (most human beings do). And the White House is learning to use YouTube as a way to share that sense of humor, which of course helps endear him to the American public. Check out this video from last week, where President Obama interacts with student science fair champions and gets to fire a marshmallow air gun:
The video is already near a million views, with earned media (especially valuable in an election year) on sites like boingboing, and thousands of shares and social media interactions. And it’s all because they decided to let the cameras roll on a lighter White House moment and then tap the power of online video to share that footage.
Cause marketers are getting in on the humor act as well, which isn’t always easy when many of them are nonprofits campaigning about topics that are relatively sad or depressing. But Ecotricity found a way to blend humor with their serious message about green power by simply anthropomorphizing some towers:
How about yogurt? Can you make yogurt funny? You certainly can. Just ask Dannon, whose John Stamos laugher of a Super Bowl ad has over 3 Million views and scored very high with some key advertising demographics (hint: women):
Of course, some subjects just aren’t funny, and there are definitely times when humor isn’t appropriate. But even brands thought of as stodgy and stuffed up are finding that humor can help spread the word and engage audiences across the web.
Just to help make sure we don’t get cultural tunnel vision by focusing too much on American branded video campaigns or American audiences, we like to make a point to talk about some of the best social video successes internationally. As usual, January 2012 was a month that saw international brands grabbing tons of attention and buzz from social video.
Palencia33 is a YouTube channel/brand that has had several successful videos, many in the realm of “explainer videos.” And they also serve as a great example to remind us of the power of international audiences: the English language version of Palencia33′s SOPA video has over 300,000 views… but the Spanish-language version went mega viral, grabbing over 6 million views:
Finnair has a viral hit on their hands with a mid-air dancing flash-mob to celebrate India’s Republic Day (the flight was headed to Delhi):
While the government takedown of Megaupload and the ensuring controversy has made plenty of headlines in the U.S., it’s the international audiences (and Megaupload’s international fans and users) that drove their mid-December music video to over 13 million views:
Coke is one of the savviest American brands in terms of tailoring their online video for multiple audiences. In early January they put out this ad, which is also doubling as the official anthem for the national team of Tunisia:
Every country and every culture in the world is unique. As the global community continues to break down borders, successful brands will begin to tailor their social video campaigns more and more specifically for all possible audiences.
January is regularly stocked with great video ads because of the Super Bowl. This year took Super Bowl advertising to the next level with a huge variety of trailers, extended cuts and other creative content released along with the spots. Since we’ve covered the Super Bowl in great depth of late, we thought we’d do a round-up of non-Super Bowl social video highlights from January.
One of the most successful branded social videos of the entire month actually hit the web just one day before the month was over. It’s a piece of viral marketing for the film Chronicle, and it features some clever contraptions used to trick New Yorkers into thinking real humans were flying in the skies above. The UFO-sighting quality of the stunt propelled the clip to nearly 7 million views in less than a week, and hundreds of thousands of social media shares:
Only one day earlier, HBO launched the latest trailer for their highly-anticipated 2nd season of Game of Thrones. And it’s already sitting near 5 million views, with press mentions on more prominent websites and blogs than you can shake a stick at:
Disgraced former pitchman, Vince Offer, is apparently no longer disgraced by his prior arrest. Instead, he’s started a YouTube Channel… and apparently a pitchman business as well. His first product, which appears to be a real product (despite many notes in the ad that suggest it could be a parody), is something called the Schticky (Update: the copyright police have come a callin’ to Vince, so we are gonna post the Auto-tune remix)
ok fine, we’ll throw in something from the Super Bowl. This video gets the all-time award for gratuitous brilliance, enjoy 5 hours of Adriana Lima in 1080p courtesy of KIA:
Improv Everywhere–the kings of video social experimentation–did their annual no-pants subway ride. And judging by the 12 million views, it’s more popular than ever:
We are excited to join Click 3X in our “The Viral Business: Social Strategies for Brand Video Content” panel at Social Media Week next week. Our panel includes leading creative, media & tech agencies who will be discussing all facets of the social video market today (including brand video creation, promotion & distribution), as well as what is coming up in this exciting space. Additionally, the team will highlight examples of successful social video campaigns, and identify some best practices for getting the most out of your brand video (read: the holy grail of earned media & cultural impact).
Come one, come all! Whether you are a brand, marketer, creative agency, media agency, or someone that just fascinated at how leprechauns go viral, this will surely be an interesting discussion.
A Happy Hour networking session will follow the panel. Hope to see you on February 16 from 5:00-9:00 PM at Click 3X HQ.
Click here for additional event details:
