V is for Video

Melissa — Mon, 12 Oct 2015 12:53:44 +0000

Videos are rapidly becoming a major part of our online lives, as people and companies are generating more video-content everyday. Think about all the videos you see whilst scrolling through your Facebook homepage, or the amount of time you waste watching clips of babies laughing.
YouTube is the first and perfect example that comes to mind, with a billion users and over 300 hours of video uploads every minute.The era of video has come a long way ever since the first video was uploaded to YouTube, over ten years ago (feel old yet?).
On the web you can find informative videos such as do it yourself tips, lessons, tutorials; or random ones like people proposing to strangers, pranking friends, tickling camels or adorable cat videos (because, for some strange and unclear reason people LOVE cat videos).
There was a time where we needed to have a video camera to record clips, download them on the computer, and then upload them. Today, thanks to smartphones and tablets, we can record everything on the go and upload them directly to the Internet. There are also many applications that allow us to edit the videos directly from our mobile devices, arrange length, colour and luminosity so as to make the videos look better.
It’s clear to see that videos are playing an important role in the world of social media. Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Vine are some of the platforms that allow and encourage users to produce videos.

Vine

Through Vine, people create entertaining and most of the time funny seven-second-videos. Samsung uses Vine to promote their products with simple yet entertaining clips.

Snapchat

Thanks to Snapchat people are now allowed to share experiences almost immediately, and they can choose to do so publicly or privately. For a brand, Snapchat is the perfect tool to remind the audience about a service or product. For instance, if a company is about to launch something new, using Snapchat is the perfect way to remind the people about it.
Communicating and sharing has become easier thanks to videos, as we can now share things with friends and family in real-time. Distance is no longer seen as a boundary, and people are feeling more connected than before.
Growth in video-content and social media means that brands now have a new way to approach and interact with their audience.
Through the use of videos, brands can show the ‘behind the scenes’ of the company, along as sharing some humor and also informational content.
Red Bull uses video content on all their social media platforms. The idea behind their content is to produce ‘active’ video content to represent the energy you can get with their drink. As their motto is ‘it gives you wing’, they back this up with content that makes the user want to do things, such as extreme sports. With 44 million likes on Facebook, 4 million YouTube subscribers and over 110 thousands followers on Vine, Red Bull knows the importance of using video-content to engage more with fans, reach new targets, and build a connection with the audience.

We’re operating in a world where one good video can lead to a massive social following. – Mike Henry

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Brasil 2014: Advertising around the beautiful game

Richard — Wed, 11 Jun 2014 13:33:49 +0000

With the World Cup coming up tomorrow, everyone seems to be coming out of the woodwork to advertise their product using the world’s favourite stars. No matter how deep your pocket is, there are people with deeper ones, so brands have had to go beyond famous faces to try making a ripple.
It is also interesting to see how advertisers in the US are trying to adapt to the increased popularity of this sport which has far fewer breaks than the sports that have traditionally dominated US screens. Mashable reports that hashtags are the new currency since they can be inserted on screen during matches with minimal interruption.
Back to video, though, below I’ve made a roundup of some of the bigger ads that I’ve seen popping up on our walls over the past few days – and some comments about each one.
The advent of social media also means that brands are no longer limited by the time slots needed to please TV stations. This means that most of the ads we’ve been seeing recently have been much longer than the usual 30 or 60 second clips.

Adidas

Probably my favourite World Cup ad yet – simple, combines the new and old superstars of the sport but puts them in a situation that 99% of football fans can relate to. Adidas also created an advert for the Brazuca, the World Cup’s official ball. I love that they used a Kinks song and the shots from the point of view of the ball. Still, I found it rather uninspiring in comparison to some of the other ads around at the moment.

Beats

Beats went all out with their campaign, with a mini-movie that tries to tie in the top people from the sport with fans in Brazil. While I must admit that they did a marvellous job with the video, their attempt is trying too hard to be a Nike ad from a few years ago. And I dislike the whole thing of players arriving at a match with those massive headphones, it just highlights the individualism that seems to be ruining the sport nowadays.

Nike

And Nike, well, Nike are out there making the adverts that Nike should be making. I challenge you to watch this ad and not feel as if you want the World Cup to start tomorrow (oh, wait). It also wins bonus points for being reminiscent of the greatest football ad ever made (as judged by me). And because Nike can’t just have one advertising concept, there is an ad with the players themselves, not CG versions of them, even though it plays on them being someone else anyway.

Kia

Kia seem to have finally understood that having an athlete on top of a mountain is not the best way to sell cars. You need someone who looks good (check), a good concept (check) and great execution (check). This series of adverts might actually make inroads in the US, which is becoming more football(soccer)-savvy in recent years.

DirecTV

We might not be familiar with the brand over here, but DirecTV produced a brilliant TV Ad to promote its coverage of Brasil 2014. It was directed by Oliver Stone and features Oliver Stone himself, David Luiz, Sergio Aguero and Radamel Falcao.

Pepsi

Pepsi’s ad is probably what Beats’ commercial should have tried to be. It integrated music, football and the sugary drink perfectly. It included stars without them feeling as if they were out of place (with the exception of Messi, I think he always looks super uncomfortable in ads). The music builds up beautifully and the location feels super-authentic.

And some others…

Google is preparing for the World Cup by building a minisite that shows some of the greatest street art in Brazil. Sony advertised their Xperia with an ad that feels about as authentic as a remake of Casablanca featuring Tom Cruise would be.

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