It’s That Time of Year Again… Viral Videos Galore
I’m sure the majority of us recently received a holiday themed video such as the one from Elf Yourself (an advertisement from Office Max). As Fred Wilson pointed out this morning, this is a top 100 web property this month according to Alexa. In Fred’s analysis of viral videos as a marketing vehicle, he says that we should expect more of this in the future.
I hope not for one particular reason: brand recall. Do you remember who provided you the Elf Yourself video? Probably not, but it was Office Max. There’s also a Snowball video circulating (JibJab) that’s sponsored by Diet Pepsi Max. Did you remember that?
Viral videos are great because you can produce them once and benefit from free media distribution. Your video could be showed upwards of tens of millions of times (or more). If I’m going to spend my money as a marketer, I want to make sure that people remember who my brand is. In most viral videos, I’ve got no idea. Brand recall is almost non-existant.
The folks over at MediaPost ran a recent article talking about how brand recall wasn’t high amongst viral videos.
Viral ads may not always end up enhancing the brand image carefully conceived and desired by the marketer. Viewers may find the video entertaining and funny, but may not recall the message or product associated with the video. In some viral video ads, the content may involve a brand or a product with an undesirable message that may negatively impact the brand image. That said, surrendering brand control is, to some degree, an inevitable part of advertising in the future.
My thesis for advertising is that it must be part of a conversation between the brand and consumers. If it’s not part of that conversation, then chances are, it’s disrupting it. Viral videos are a great way to be part of the conversation, but I think we have a lot of work to do before we figure out how to use them for brands. Sponsoring these videos is not enough, we need to go beyond that. Slapping a logo on the video isn’t exactly going to boost brand recall. What is it I’m looking for? I wish I knew.
Some articles about video and recall:
- BusinessWeek – According to a recent survey conducted by Burst Media, an online media and technology company, 56.3% of online video viewers recall seeing advertisements in content they have watched.
- Seven Deadly Sins of Advertising Via Viral Video