Top 20 Video Ads of 2012, Ford Braces for Disruptions, Good and Bad Content

The Strategist picks the day’s most relevant and interesting stories about the world of content from around the web. Here’s what you should be reading today:

2012’s Most Popular Ads on YouTube

On YouTube’s list of 20 most popular ads of the year on its website, Old Spice ranked four times, The New York Times reports.

The list was compiled with statistics from the number of views to the rate row and how much of the commercials the viewers actually watched. Old Spice had the most ads on the list, while Volkswagen and Nike had two each.

The top spot was given to “My Time Is Now,” a Nike ad for the 2012 European Football Championship.

Ford Predicts Major Industry Disruptions in Report

According to AdWeek, Ford has released an internal consumer trends report for next year that predicts major disruptions in several industries, including its own.

Joan Voight writes, “Car-sharing services like Zipcar, carpooling by Gen Yers, bike sharing and ‘multi-mix forms of mobility’ are all explored as signs of how consumers are changing their car habits.”

This is part of the company’s plan to be proactive about the changes and show that it isn’t ignoring the “green” trend. For instance, in 2012, Ford models began appearing as Zipcars on college campuses and the company put out driving technology that reduces gridlock and conserves energy.

There’s Good Content, and Then There’s Bad Content

The content backlash is in full effect. Keith Blanchard of Engage: Men rants about how he’s not interesting in sharing content, especially since most content is not shareable.

He says that marketers need to “Commit to creating content that propels itself — content so good people will want to share it.”

There are three levels of content, and marketers should strive to get to the “shareable good” level where content is so great that people have to pass it on. He writes, “Your content also has to be genuinely new, and unique, and super relevant to whatever’s going on right now. People share because they see themselves as nodes in a massive digital collective, and are looking for opportunities to contribute to the national conversation—to see and be seen, social media style.”

NFL’s Ratings Have Dropped

According to the Wall Street Journal, the number of viewers watching NFL games has dropped two percent since last year and three percent since 2010.

This season, in general, audiences for broadcast television have decreased substantially, which is in part due to the popularity of watching shows on demand via Netflix and Hulu.

During the next 10 years, the NFL’s partners in television have pledged more than $40 billion to broadcast the games.

Avoiding Content Marketing Burnout

In order to avoid burning out on content creation, marketers need to have back up blogs ready to go, says Geoff Livingston. While frequency matters, quality matters more. Instead of writing mediocre posts daily, it’s more important to post great posts less often.

“What matters is delivering consistently valuable content for your stakeholder. If your content is less frequent yet consistent — say two or three times a week — and hits home, your stakeholders will reward you with loyalty, consistent repeat visits, and most importantly grassroots word of mouth in the form of social shares, email, and plain old conversations.”

The Marketing Traditions of Companies

Tessa Wegert of ClickZ outlines what companies are doing in terms of holiday marketing this year. 

OfficeMax’s ElfYourself has gone from a simple microsite to a Facebook and mobile app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod over the past six years. J. Crew sends out emails that contain content-rich editorial pieces, while Saks Fifth Avenue is running a Pinterest contest that involves pinning gifts on boards.

Digital Marketing in 2013

Jonathan Gardner of Mashable writes about the digital marketing trends that will occur in 2013. He says that mobile will have its day next year, and brands will be leveraging location technology and social-media data in their marketing campaigns. Consumers, as always, will come first, and social media marketing will grow past the infant stages.

“The challenge will be for these sites to act smartly and display sensitivity, to manage users’ comfort level with data security and third-party relationships,” he writes. “As long as they keep taking baby steps, they’ll find the revenue they need to grow, as they explore new ways to work with brands and develop integrated social media experiences.”