7 Tips For Super Strategic Video Content

You’ve heard it before: attention spans are getting shorter and video content is the easiest way for people to digest information.

However, with more than 3 billion videos viewed each day on YouTube, making your brand’s video content stand out is even more of a challenge. In addition to capturing consumers’ attention, videos should make your content and brand memorable.  The following brands used video not just for great content, but also to serve as a medium to create a unique experience.

Some brands see how amateur video content can become a viral sensation (see: Double Rainbow, JK Wedding Dance, every OK Go music video) and try to figure how to emulate or work with them.

T-Mobile

T-Mobile is infamous for its viral video campaigns that serve as homages to the most memorable online videos.  Creating such videos such as the very timely T-Mobile Royal Wedding Video helps build buzz, awareness, and an edgy perception for a brand competing with the likes of AT&T and Verizon.

Jose Cuervo Gold

Jose Cuervo Gold’s new campaign #shotcast involves a partnership with the band OK Go, whose videos have created a viral sensation throughout the years.  Together, they have created an online experience where footage of the band’s videos have been pixelated with Facebook and Twitter avatars from fans. Go to the Jose Cuervo Gold site for the full experience.

Lanvin

While some brands are perceived a certain way to mainstream audiences, the Internet can allow experimentation and the ability to reach younger audiences. Some brands want to appear more contemporary, and that often means creating video content referencing other cultural touchstones.

The Fall 2011 campaign for Lanvin shows how fashion doesn’t have to be so stuffy. Warning: you might find yourself replaying this video over and over again.

FiberOne

FiberOne surprised many with this faux trailer for Cheech & Chong’s Magic Brownie Adventure, which is designed to reach alternative audiences who may need a different sort of magic now that they are older.

Burn Notice

Making a video is easier than ever, but utilizing tools such as annotations can create an interactive game experience.

USA’s Burn Notice has cultivated a large following, but when you are a show on a cable network, you are always looking to find new audiences to tune in.  The Burn Notice Think Like A Spy game uses annotations not only as a great way to engage current fans, but to introduce the show to possible new fans.

Bergdorf Goodman

When you’re a retailer, your number one objective is sales. Creating an interactive video experience can lend itself to a selling opportunity. Once you have a viewer’s attention, why not drive them to buy?

Bergdorf Goodman leverages the holiday season and the fact everyone loves puppies to its advantage and created Unleashed: Shop the Video, where you can hover and click to buy items as you help puppies find the perfect present.

StyleMint

Every month StyleMint hosts a contest called T Moment, where Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen create a video sharing how to enter the contest. While each video is engaging, the October T Moment video was an annotated game where a discount code was revealed.

While the keys to success for video content appear to be puppies, dancing, and shock value, brands need to make sure their content creates a unique experience, catches attention, and has an overall purpose.  Once you grasp someone’s attention, how are you going to leverage it for your brand? These videos are great, but they also drove sales, increased awareness, and changed perceptions. Start with your objective, then order the puppies.