Contributed by Anthony Composto | ProductionHUB
The top industry professionals assembled in Times Square last week for the 12th annual Advertising Week, and ProductionHUB was there!
Larry Wilmore, star of Comedy Central's Nightly Show rings in the start of Advertising Week with a discussion on humor in advertising.
Here are some major takeaways that you need to know for creating your promotional videos.
Truth
*Podcast popularity is booming. *Documentaries are growing exponentially as a genre. Why? Today’s consumer wants two things in advertising. We’ll get to one a little later, but the other is “truth.”
Consumers want to feel that they’re not being duped by the media they’re consuming. That’s why podcasts are such a popular medium. Sure, there’s the mobility aspect, and the ability to multitask while listening. But more so, there’s something about a celebrity recording from a studio in their garage that feels like listening to a friend. And that applies to the advertising as well.
Comedian Adam Carolla said at Advertising Week that he received no pushback from his audience when his podcast became sponsored; he expected tons of tweets calling him a sellout. But his audience understood that if they wanted to keep hearing the truth, someone needed to be funding it. And, because they trust their “friend,” they trust the ads he chose to run.
Perez Hilton and Adam Carolla take part in a discussion about truth in "The Golden Art of Podcasting."
Apply this to video. Viewers don’t want to feel like they’re being sold something; they want to be entertained. At their panel, YP and YouTube showed great examples of promo videos that felt like celebrities just talking to the viewer, and taking them on a tour of their favorite cities. They were branded YP, but they didn’t shout “go to YP.com!” Instead, they build that relationship with their viewer that said, “hey, we want to make sure you have a good experience, and if you choose to continue to use our service, that’s great too.”
Today’s consumer is seeking truth in an age of lies; it’s why more and more of them are getting their news from comedy shows instead of normal pundits. The digital era has forced corporations into total transparency, and corporate video should reflect that. It’s better to be proactive than reactive, especially in terms of trust.
The bottom line: Make your promo video feel more like content than an advertising pre-roll. Treat viewers like people and not like a potential sale, and they’ll respond positively.
Relevancy/Engagement
Last week I clicked on a YouTube video that had a pre-roll ad over four minutes long. I bypassed the skip button, watched the entire ad, and never actually watched the video itself.
“Truth” is the first thing consumers look for in advertisements; the second is “relevancy.” And for good measure, I’m going to handcuff “engagement” with this topic, another frequent theme at Advertising Week.
I watched an entire pre-roll ad and skipped the actual video, all because it was relevant to what I like and it engaged my interest (it was a preview for a show I wanted to watch). Since some of the big fears in advertising right now are regarding AdBlock and the skip button, there’s a definite lesson to be learned here.
**People hate pointless advertising. **But, going back to my rant on truth, they’ll put up with it when it doesn’t feel like an ad. And, while honest content is good on its own, it’s even better when it feels directly targeted at you. It’s the difference between aimlessly browsing Wikipedia, not absorbing anything, and actually focusing on pages that interest you, taking in and storing the relevant information.
YP presented The Local Summit, a multi part discussion on putting your video in front of the right people.
Engage viewers in your promo video. Ask them questions, relate to them, give them a hashtag so they can talk about it on social media. More than giving them something to watch, give them something to be a part of. Not only will this (hopefully) make viewers enjoy the video and the brand more, but it will hopefully give the video a life of its own. Geri Wang, President of ABC Sales, made her point that good content is the key, trumping how or where people watch it. Everyone wants virality in their promo video, and engagement is the first step down that road.
Relevancy is the harder aspect to catch, because it’s so unique to individual viewers. Luckily, technology has made it much easier to put your promo video in front of the right people. What were the odds that I was shown a preview ad for a show that I actually wanted to watch? Pretty good actually, since I follow the show on social media and search for clips on YouTube. It’s scary how much data can say about our personal interests, and how easily accessible it is for corporations. But it’s a dream come true for those in advertising and commercial video.
**The bottom line: **With the right data, you can ensure that your promo is being put in front of relevant viewers. However, that point is moot if your content doesn’t engage that viewer in some way. Make sure these two concepts go hand in hand when creating your video.
That’s a Wrap!
There’s a fear that commercial video is dying with the rise of ad blocking. That’s a defeatist attitude. If you work in video, “persistence” and “adaptability” entered your lexicon quick. The key takeaways from Advertising Week show that commercial isn’t dying, just changing faster than ever before. If you stay ahead of the curve, keep transparent, and engage your viewers, you can thrive while your competitors fall behind.
