How To Use YouTube As An Effective Marketing Tool

Live from New Orleans at WOMMA: How To Use YouTube As An Effective Marketing Tool

by Sarah Browne, Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 6:00 AM ET

THESE DAYS IT'S PRETTY MUCH the Holy Grail. But just what does it take to mount a successful, conversation-worthy campaign for your products on YouTube? Apparently $1,298.68. That was Ice.com Founder Pinny Gniwisch's total budget for a marketing campaign on YouTube which started accidentally with a video called "Bubbe" that generated a half million hits. Fast forward to a now well-integrated plan complete with 1,500 subscribers to his YouTube channel, hundreds of e-mails a day, including a few marriage proposals and a growing database primed to add Ice's new videos to MySpace and Facebook. Gniwisch is now planning for Mother's Day, moving beyond his guerilla interview format and adding a sweepstakes with lots of "ice" as the prize. And then there's a pole-dancing Cupid, a Crazy Bride and Resource Interactive's Mark Hillman's concept of Brandertainment. The action at YouTube is fast and furious. As more experienced marketers jump on board, many are willing to embrace the chaos and lack of control in exchange for a million hits a day when a video lands on YouTube's front page. Here are some tips culled from the Word of Mouth Marketing Association conference in New Orleans: --Put entertainment over brand --Make the effort feel low budget. --Find something that's already accepted and back your brand into it. --Make it feel loose and chaotic. "It's scary to put stuff out there that you're not controlling," Hillman said. But people don't want to go to consumer package goods Web sites. They want to go where they think cool things are happening." Consumers clearly thought that Crazy Bride, in which a bride goes psycho with a sharp pair of scissors, was cool. The video generated some 3.3 million views. It also inadvertently wreaked havoc with Hillman's rules. On one hand, Crazy Bride was so chaotic, so loose, that it looked completely real. On the other hand, when viewers found out it wasn't real, they felt tricked. "It was a train wreck," Hillman said. "Even though we never intended to trick anyone." Dump Cupid turned out to be a successful solution. In three weeks, the video spots generated some 2.5 million views, supported by an integrated offline campaign, including a giant Cupid's arrow in Times Square. Another sign of success is when your viewers create their own videos based on yours or creatively participate in your product's promotion. For example, Resource Interactive discovered an animated version of Dump Cupid posted on YouTube. In fact, Dump Cupid was one of the top five most visited Web sites for Procter & Gamble. Hillman estimated that the cost of the package of videos was in the $60,000 range - all shot in one day. "There's a new breed of director who's hungry and really wants to do it. We're getting things in the $38,000 to $40,000 range." While Gniwisch diligently answers every e-mail and comment he gets, wisely building a solid list, Hillman doesn't suggest jumping into answering. "It would be like the brand getting too involved in the conversations." And more quirkiness: While Clairol's Herbal Essence users sent in hundreds of their own stories, Resource decided not to post them because they sounded fake. Sarah Browne, the Guru of New, is a digital strategist, researcher and writer based in Carmel, California. Write her at theguruofnew@thenextnewthing.net.

Study Finds Viewers Will Engage For Minutes With Online Video

Study Finds Viewers Will Engage For Minutes With Online Video

by Tameka Kee, Thursday, Apr 19, 2007 6:00 AM ET

RESULTS FROM A STUDY released by rich media services provider Accela Communications suggest a new benchmark for online video viewer engagement time. And at 4.6 minutes, it far surpasses the 10.8-second average viewer engagement time reported by other rich media vendors. The nature of the more than 32,000 in-banner programs analyzed is a big factor in the disparity. Ads built with the AccelaCast inBanner rich media platform were developed specifically with long-form communications in mind. Given a typical program's run time of about 15 minutes, viewer engagement time should naturally skew higher. But according to Bill Reinstein, CEO-president, Accela Communications, it's the Flash-based platform's "navigational scheme that delivers longer engagement times." A featured banner ad for Cisco systems, for example, clocks in at almost 10 minutes. With video controls and links to client testimonials served within the same banner, the viewer can choose to investigate further without leaving their original destination. The development of platforms such as the AccelaCast inBanner posits that the online video viewer doesn't have to be held captive to be engaged. In addition to being interactive, "the platform helps our clients reduce costs. They can leverage the media they've captured in one session for both internal and external advertising programs," said Ann Roskey, VP-marketing, Accela Communications. "For our first foray into the rich media landscape, the AccelaCast inBanner campaign presented a readily quantifiable value," said Linda Chadwick, Manager, TSG Marcomm for HP. Though HP's banner ads ran on Web sites like CIO.com and techtarget.com, Chadwick added, "we maximized the investment by running it on our own homepage as well." Indeed, as marketers begin to spend a greater percentage of their ad budgets on digital media, rich media products that can function on more than one channel represent an added value opportunity. Accela Communications is an interactive marketing services firm that specializes in rich media products, services and solutions.

Study Reveals that Kids Multitask

Study Reveals that Kids Multitask

A recent NPD Group report yields yet another justification for pairing Rugrats and SUVs across multiple media platforms. Children between the ages of two and 12 spend over a quarter of their free time participating in two or more activities at once.

The report also demonstrates evidence of multitasking beginning as early as two years old, reports eMarketer (via MarketingVox).

Senior analyst Debra Aho Williamson of eMarketer noted, "One of the critical skills children learn as they grow from tweens to teens is how to manage and work with the multiple media inputs that are part of their everyday lives." She added that the variety of media children encounter has implications for the future of marketing.

The findings of the report, "Kids' Leisure Time II," coincides with a larger study on child and teen media behavior conducted by Kaiser in 2004.

A similar survey on tween media consumption by Youth Trends finds that 40 percent of tweens feel internet is better than TV, with more girls than boys sharing the sentiment. Boys, however, are more likely than their female counterparts to forego TV for video games.

Related topics: Television, Interactive, Demographics, Entertainment, Planning, Research, Signs of What's to Come, Youth...   

Sprint, Suave Join Forces for Branded Video Series

Sprint, Suave Join Forces for Branded Video Series

WPP Group's MindShare is pairing its biggest clients, Sprint and Unilever, in a multiplatform branded-content project designed to give women a forum to discuss various issues relating to motherhood while simultaneously promoting client products, reports AdWeek. Agencies have traditionally avoided projects involving more than one client - despite potential efficiencies - because of highly probable inter-client conflicts.

The project is a Web-based series called "In the Motherhood," starring The King of Queens actress Leah Remini. The new show will be directed by Peter Lauer, whose credits include Malcolm in the Middle and Arrested Development. It debuts this week on MSN and runs through June. Initial plans call for the production of five five-minute episodes, with the possibility of "second season" to follow, said Lang.

There's also a user-generated component. A website invites real-life moms to submit their own stories, which garner votes, with the winners' tales used as the basis for future episodes of the series. The inthemotherhood.com site is hosted by MSN and offers blogging, chat forums, games and other activities.

The site is one part of an integrated marketing program jointly sponsored by the two clients, who are 50-50 partners on the project, said Lang. The Webisodes also can be viewed on www.suave.com and the Sprint TV mobile platform. The series will also be promoted on The Ellen Degeneres Show.

 

 

YouTube 'Killer' Jalipo to Offer Pay-Per-View Content

YouTube 'Killer' Jalipo to Offer Pay-Per-View Content
 
Click to enlarge Jalipo, a new online distribution network for high-quality TV and video content, launched today in London, with the aim of becoming an alternative to YouTube, writes Vecosys (via PSFK).

For consumers wanting to watch live events and video-on-demand online, Jalipo offers a pay-per-minute credit service called J:Credits. For example, 10 British Pounds buys 1550 J:Credits.

 

The key differentiator with Jalipo's online service is that it will allow rights owners more control over their footage by letting them set their own pay-per-minute price while at the same time determining where or when it is available, in order to avoid jeopardizing any other distribution deals.

 

Jalipo's chairman, the former president of Sony Europe Chris Deering said, "This is absolutely not for user-generated content. If you were looking to put us into the marketplace, I would put us at the other end of the market to YouTube. This is rights protected, territory restricted and monetized every minute."

 

The online network's launch partners include France24, BBC World, GP Masters and Al Jazeera English among others. It is looking to sign deals to show live sports, concerts and more independent films.
 

Google Fiddles with AdWords' Macro-Economics; Allows Bid Averaging

Google Fiddles with AdWords' Macro-Economics; Allows Bid Averaging

Google added a new feature to its AdWords platform that lets advertisers set an average budget, reports ClickZ.

The new tool will free advertisers up from, it's hoped, having to login repeatedly to adjust their campaigns in order to maintain an average spending amount. This allows users to define preferred CPM and CPC amounts, which Google's system will then automatically target.

 

Since the primary strategy to keep spending to an average rate is currently under-bidding on keywords, this may actually prove a macro-economic play by Google to increase the average bids for those campaigns with the most positive returns.

 

The utility might not be a good fit for all advertisers, especially those who deem it worth their while to pay more for specific keywords
 

MTV New Strategy: User-Generated Web Content

MTV New Strategy: User-Generated Web Content

In an attempt to reconnect with young audiences that have drifted from the channel recently, MTV will begin to roll out series that showcase the best of the Web, require heavy viewer participation and feature the lives of real teens, reports The Los Angeles Times.

 

The key for MTV will be developing shows that will drive viewers to spend time on series-related online games, in Web communities or on cellphones coughing up jokes of the day.

 

All shows will have a heavy digital component working in conjunction with the show. Casting for "The Real World," for example, will take place entirely online; "My Super Sweet 16," which chronicles extravagant birthday bashes, will soon feature home videos from MTV viewers that will account for a significant portion of the on-air episodes."

 

MTV isn't the only outlet having trouble keeping the young demographic satisfied these days. Over the last year and a half, once-powerful teen magazines, including Teen People, YM, Teen and Elle Girl, have folded.
 

Mattel Launches Barbie-Themed Virtual World

Mattel Launches Barbie-Themed Virtual World
 
The host of BarbieGirls.com To reclaim marketshare lost to MGA's Bratz, Mattel Inc. reached into the digital frontier. Reuters reported that on Tuesday Mattel launched a beta version of www.BarbieGirls.com, a virtual community for the shoppers, spa-guests and pet-adopters of tomorrow.

BarbieGirls.com is an online community hosted by an animated Barbie in an all-pink environment. New users can build an avatar, then interact with the community at virtual malls, parlors and pet stores.

 

Recent years have seen a waning interest in the traditional Barbie doll. Last Monday U.S. sales declined 21 percent, abruptly ending a four-quarter streak of nationwide increases.

 

Meanwhile shelf space for Bratz, a multi-ethnic series of dolls with come-hither expressions, improbable proportions and trendy accessories, has only expanded.

 

But Mattel is optimistic about BarbieGirl's success on the market. Reyne Rice, a toy trends expert at the Toy Industry Association, said the site is "right on target with what girls are looking for." She expressed confidence in that it will "definitely be a catalyst in winning girls back."

 

Barbie.com, an older website Mattel launched in 2000, currently receives 65 million visitors per month.

 

YouTube Expands Demographic Data Reporting

YouTube Expands Demographic Data Reporting

YouTube will significantly expand the amount of demographic data it collects on those viewing videos on the site later this year, reports AdAge.

The plans were laid out by YouTube CMO Suzie Reider at the Advertising Research Foundation's Rethink conference in New York. Reider says by the third quarter of this year YouTube will be able to report on video views and other metrics, numbers sure to be of interest to marketers.

YouTube does not yet have a chief of research but will be running a user survey in the near future.
 

Genentech-sponsored site aims to organize psoriasis volunteers

Genentech-sponsored site aims to organize psoriasis volunteers  
 
Genentech is sponsoring an online volunteer center for Psoriasis Cure Now, a nonprofit patient advocacy group. The site aims to mobilize psoriasis patients and their loved ones to volunteer on behalf of research and advocacy for the disease. Users complete an online questionnaire to determine the amount of time they can devote to the effort and the kinds of volunteer projects in which they want to be involved. Volunteers can choose activities such as speaking to the media about the disease, attending or starting patient support meetings, writing to lawmakers advocating for research, participating in a clinical trial, or helping with Psoriasis Cure Now fundraising efforts. Volunteers will be contacted by the organization only when a project meets their specifications. Genentech makes the psoriasis treatment Raptiva, and a link on the Psoriasis Cure Now Web site links to the Raptiva brand site.
 
 

Depression, insomnia tools added to health behavior Web offering

Depression, insomnia tools added to health behavior Web offering

Source: ePharm5(tm)
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Spring boarded by its acquisition of www.MySelfHelp.com last year (ePharm5, 11/2/06), health behavior change firm HealthMedia has added two new online intervention tools to its repertoire. The programs, Overcoming Depression and Overcoming Insomnia, are designed to complement other disease management programs by making them available to employers and health plans along with other HealthMedia tools. Overcoming Depression helps patients learn coping strategies and measure their progress, and Overcoming Insomnia helps participants identify unique sleep patterns and the causes of their insomnia. According to the company, health behavior interventions like these help to increase treatment compliance and boost productivity. HealthMedia clients include Johnson & Johnson and GlaxoSmithKline. 

Independent patient education content moves to Yahoo! Health

Independent patient education content moves to Yahoo! Health 

Digital health education network HealthiNation, (the "i" stands for independent, the CEO tells ePharm5) has partnered with Yahoo to bring its easy-to-understand health content to the 7 million users of Yahoo! Health. In a conversation earlier this month, Raj Amin, HealthiNation CEO told ePharm5 that the videos are produced independently, developed by experienced healthcare professionals, and reviewed by the company's medical advisory team of physicians from various fields of medicine. HealthiNation's content is interactive, using video-on-demand and streaming video, 3-D animations, on-camera doctors and documentary-style videos from real people who share their personal experiences about their specific health conditions and the steps they've taken to improve their quality of life.
 
 

U.K. advertising behemoth invests in video ad company.

WPP Takes Stake in VideoEgg

U.K. advertising behemoth invests in video ad company.
April 13, 2007

By Leah Messinger

 

Global advertising and marketing giant WPP said Monday it had invested $3.5 million for an undisclosed stake in VideoEgg, the online video platform and advertising network company.

 

VideoEgg, which provides video services and technology to incorporate advertising within videos, claims it is used by approximately 60 social networking sites, such as Bebo and Dogster. And that’s one reason WPP says it’s interested.

 

“Our clients want to understand how to use online communities to build brands and communicate with consumers, particularly younger consumers, who are spending time in these communities,” said WPP Digital CEO Mark Read in a press release.

 

According to London-based WPP, VideoEgg is an attractive investment option since it combines video, social networking, and user-generated content, three rapidly growing areas of digital media.

 

“This deal really seems to be at the intersection of two important topics in the space of social media and video,” said associate analyst Meggan Friedman at William Blair & Company. She added that investment makes sense considering the incredible amount of inventory available to advertisers on video sites.

 

Ms. Friedman said the investment also seemed in line with the culture of WPP. “I think about them as being pretty forward-thinking in terms of media investments, and I think they make a lot more of these investments [than their competitors],” she said.

 

In addition to VideoEgg, WPP has also recently put money into LiveWorld and Visible Technologies. The former offers social networking platforms, the latter on online branding.

 

WPP works with many Fortune Global 500 companies and employs nearly 100,000 people in 106 countries. San Francisco-based VideoEgg, which was formed in 2005, employs 53 people. Other VideoEgg investors include Maveron, August Capital, and First Round Capital.

 

Social networking cancer sites for young adults gain ground

Social networking cancer sites for young adults gain ground    

Since ePharm5 reported in December 2006 about Steps For Living's launch of the Web sites ImTooYoungForThis.org and MySpace.com/ImTooYoungForThis, nearly 500 visitors have signed on, reports the nonprofit. The program, founded by concert pianist and 11-year brain cancer survivor Matthew Zachary, has an affiliate network of more than 110 cancer treatment centers, including Dana Farber, MD Anderson, Mayo Clinic, Sloan Kettering, and St. Jude, along with chapters of The American Cancer Society and The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The site contains credentialed, peer-developed directories of young adult support organizations, forums, blogs, chat rooms, advocacy tools, camp retreats, and more designed for the young adult living with cancer. The site also functions as a patient education aid to pediatric oncology social workers.

GlaxoSmithKline and ScheringPlough are among the supporters for the program.   

Med Ad News Honors Health-Care Advertisers at 18th Annual Manny Awards

Med Ad News Honors Health-Care Advertisers at 18th Annual Manny Awards

Source: pharmalive/med ad news

NEWTOWN, Pa., April 18, 2007 — Engel Publishing Partners has announced the winners of the 18th annual Med Ad News Manny Awards 2007. The gala event held at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers culminated with the naming of GSW Worldwide as Agency of the Year: Category I. The award honors the most outstanding health-care advertising agency with revenue of more than $50 million. Twelve additional awards were bestowed throughout the evening to agencies achieving excellence in a variety of categories.

"The staff of Med Ad News was pleased to honor the creativity and hard work of the health-care advertising agencies," says Christiane Truelove, editor, Med Ad News and R&D Directions. "This year's ad agencies special issue was our biggest and best, and the Manny Awards reflected this. From beginning to end, everyone was in high spirits. Even if they did not receive an award, everyone was a winner last night."

GSW Worldwide was honored in recognition of the agency's remarkable growth in 2006. The agency grew its direct-to-consumer marketing practice, developed innovative new approaches for clients, won 22 new accounts, added new clients and talent, and continued to expand on the global front.
Fellow Agency of the Year: Category I nominee, Cline Davis & Mann Inc., took home three Manny awards, including Most Admired Agency, Most Feared Agency, and Best Disease-Awareness Advertisement for work done for Janssen LP to raise awareness of schizophrenia. In addition, Cline Davis & Man Chairman and CEO Ed Wise was named Med Ad News Advertising Person of the Year. The award honors Mr. Wise's career of more than two decades in the health-care advertising industry. He has helped build Cline Davis & Mann from a small boutique to a global industry powerhouse.

Torre Lazur McCann won the Manny for Agency of the Year: Category II. This category honors agencies with revenue between $10 million and $50 million. Torre Lazur McCann creates extraordinary brands throughout a product's life cycle by pursuing every project, initiative, and assignment with the same intensity as a launch.

Agency of the Year: Category III honors agencies recording less than $10 million in revenue. The award was taken home by Carbon, one of the fastest growing agencies within the CommonHealth network. This is an impressive win for an agency just more than three years old.

After briefly relinquishing the title in 2006, AbelsonTaylor Inc. has once again been named Most Creative Agency, a category voted upon by industry peers. The agency had previously been named Most Creative for 10 consecutive years. This past year, AbelsonTaylor won 23 creative awards and launched the agency's first three direct-to-consumer campaigns. The agency was also awarded the Manny for Best Professional Advertisement for an ad for Astellas Pharma US Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline promoting the urinary disorder drug Vesicare.
The award for Best Self Promotion went to Dudnyk. Building on the agency's reputation for bold branding solutions, the agency's new self-promotion campaign uses a series of uncluttered visuals that demonstrate powerful dominance of the color red while projecting a message about how Dudnyk can boost any brand.

Recognizing the increasing importance of digital mediums in health-care advertising, Med Ad News created two new awards honoring the best professional and patient digital campaigns. Williams-Labadie LLC took home the Manny for Best Professional Digital Campaign for quinsudoku.com. The interactive site promotes Oscient Pharmaceuticals Corp.'s anti-infective Factive by engaging professional with a customized version of the popular, addictive game sudoku.

Ignite Health was awarded the Manny for Best Patient Digital Campaign for LiveWithIt.com. This animated Web series features reality-based storylines that follow the lives of fictional characters learning to deal with the fact they are HIV-positive.

About Med Ad News

The pharmaceutical industry's publication of record for 25 years, Med Ad News provides broad coverage and incisive analysis of the issues, events, trends, and strategies shaping pharmaceutical business, marketing, and sales. More than 16,000 readers — comprising corporate executives, marketing, sales, and product managers — receive Med Ad News 12 times per year. For more information, contact Fran Mehesz at 215-867-0044, ext. 211, or fmehesz@engelpub.com.

About Engel Publishing Partners

For 25 years, Engel Publishing Partners has been the source that pharmaceutical executives turn to for the information they need to create competitive business strategies. Engel Publishing Partners carries a full product line, offering industry-leading publications, informative newsletters, and data-rich interactive products. Through these channels, Engel Publishing Partners disseminates original and un-biased content that provides insight into industry trends and events, as well as extensive analysis of companies, products, and pipelines.