Finding your fit with video marketing

Video is most powerful tool brand marketers have. Full stop.

YouTube now has 1.8 billion users worldwide. Collectively, they watch more than 500 million hours of video every day. That puts the platform right on the heels of Facebook, with its 2 billion active users and 258 percent growth in branded content views since 2016. The social media giants do not own a monopoly on video, though. In Asia Pacific, over 1.1 billion people watch videos online, content that comes from over-the-top (OTT) services such as Netflix and online TV subscriptions, as well as free videos that fill feeds on social platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and WeChat.

The question for brands is no longer whether to incorporate video—it’s how to bring video into the fold and get results. Long or short, interactive or informational, available on social or traditional media: in a consumer culture with constantly shifting needs, brand-content fit is more important than ever. That explains why, in a study conducted by Campaign Asia, 63 percent of brand marketers say they consider brand-content fit first and foremost in video marketing campaigns.

Find your format

Short-form video fits snugly into our busy, mobile-centric lives—flexible, quick-hitting, immediately gratifying content optimized for sharing on social media. That makes it the bread and butter of video marketing. But there are benefits to long-form video content, too. From 10-minute educational videos to documentary-style features, long-form video can strengthen relationships with audiences and build communities around brands. And digital audiences are more and more receptive to this kind of content. That is, as long it communicates a unique and compelling story.  

The hang-up for brand marketers is knowing how to balance brand-relevance, entertainment and authenticity in a style that typically requires more content and adheres to more rigid structures. To find that sweet spot, many marketers have taken a page from TV, producing episodic videos that blur the line between long and short and cater to social media’s scroll-and-consume culture.

Consider SK-II’s Face the Wild campaign. The cosmetics giant partnered with National Geographic, partly owned by Fox Networks Group, to create four two-minute vignettes starring women celebrities, including global fashion icon Chiara Ferragni and Chinese actress Nini. Presented across SK-II’s digital channels, the videos aired like mini-episodes, optimized to play one after the other. They were also shared on the influencers’ social accounts, amplifying their reach the world over.

High production quality and great stories that tapped into National Geographic’s expertise in adventure programming, built an emotional connection with audiences, and were short and shareable: this approach helped SK-II notch over 70 million views, 13.27 billion digital impressions and 4.46 million social actions in five weeks, according to Sandeep Seth, CEO of SK-II Global.

Tell great stories to the right audiences

Whether it’s a 60-second TV ad or a 10-minute video for YouTube, one thing matters above all: engaging the right audience with the kind of content they enjoy.

When New Balance made its foray into football, well-crafted video content helped the brand hit the ground running. New Balance turned to FOX Content Labs to develop videos that would reach and resonate with football fans. Content Labs recruited Marouane Fellaini, Aaron Ramsey and Tim Cahill to represent New Balance in a series of vignettes filmed around the world, from Tokyo to London to Shanghai, that highlighted the athletes’ skills and leveraged their standing in the sport.

Fast-paced, aspirational, innovative: the videos were broadcast across the Fox Sports network, which reaches 40 million households in 20 countries, and matched the kind of high-octane action that Fox Sports fans expect. In other words, New Balance spoke to them in their language.

Broadcast across media

Audiences are becoming increasingly device-agnostic, not to mention hyperconnected. In this evolving landscape, it’s important to use the tools we have to effectively broadcast video content.

Emirates’ #BeThere campaign with FOX Content Labs is a perfect example of how to amplify the impact of video. Content Labs leveraged the destination experience of Emirates employees, getting everyone from air crew to IT staff to create authentic, user-generated videos highlighting their favoirite travel destinations. This content could be broadcast across media, too. The videos aired across the Fox family on channels like Nat Geo People, Nat Geo Wild and Star World, reaching 381 million households in 95 countries. They were also shared via in-flight entertainment and social platforms—to the tune of 120 million reached on Facebook, over 60 million views on Facebook and YouTube, and tens of thousands of images shared with the #BeThere hashtag.

These campaigns are shining examples of the golden age of video marketing, and it all boils down to having the tools to create content that fits with your brand, and broadcasting it on channels that reach the right audience.