Is Video the Marketing Messiah? Why Convergence Is Something to Truly Look Forward To
Our industry has a way of creating messiahs from new models, products or technology. I think it’s a natural extension of a young immature industry finding itself and looking for direction or the big score. We’re small enough for new concepts and successes to really stand out, but big enough to fund even more ideas and development that encourage the next pilgrimage to greatness.
It started way back with the evangelizing of online reporting measurement like impressions, and CTR as the major differentiator from offline, then many new ideas and technologies found legs like contextual marketing, behavioral, incentives or not, rich media, auction marketplaces, and now the latest savior and craze is video.
I started my career working in local television as a marketing promotions director and over time did news documentaries, commercials, and on-air promotions. The TV industry has a way of snowing the average person into thinking that it’s a glamorous business full of stars, excitement and innovation. In many respects, TV is actually a very formulaic industry that has tried-and-true methods on how to create content, advertising and achieve promotion. I won’t bore you with all the details of these formulas, but television started just like online as the wild west and has become a mature successful industry with little innovation because the formula’s work, most of the time. Enter online advertising and content.
There’s been talk over the years by many industry prophets about convergence of all the medias. We’ve heard about how the cable companies are going to become phone companies, now happening, ie, Time Warner. Also, about how the software companies are going to become content creators, now happening, ie, MSN. How television is going to become interactive, now happening with digital cable and integration of web sites.
Even how cell phone companies will become media companies, definitely happening, ie, Verizon mobile is now pushing music phones. The fusion is on its way and one small chapter is about to be written in this story about how television advertising fused with online content to create value. I suspect it’s not going to go the way most are expecting.
The chapter has just started to be written with Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL and popular sites like MySpace and YouTube are jumping on the mount integrating television commercials into existing content structures. In most cases it’s very crude and functional, but since we’re still early in the process the WOW factor is still there. I’m familiar with the commercial television industry and this low level of integration won’t be acceptable too much longer. Nor will high cpms for essentially an unemotional passive experience with no interaction as promised by online advertising. That’s the negative and I’m sorry to rain on the parade so early, however there is a big positive.
The gift of online is interactivity and the value of video is its emotional appeal and impact on our senses. Blending the two is very easy and can in fact be integrated into video clips. Yes, it is perfectly possible to produce unique video commercials, or even repurpose old ones, and layer interactivity on top of them. Maybe as you watch a BMW commercial you could click on the car and a menu of available colors becomes available to choose from to see the car race along that rugged canyon highway in your favorite color instead of the default one.
Maybe those cool Apple commercials where you have the metaphorical Microsoft guy and Apple guy making fun of each other could be completely interactive where you could make up new scripts for them to say as you consider the differences between the brands, type it in and they repeat it and you could virally send it to a friend. Interactive video is very powerful and has the ability to create real engagement.
There’s no limit to the interactive options and commercials will move from being passively watched experiences to fully engaged interactive ones. The most exciting part of this is the full ability to track each move and selection accordingly. The quantity of behavioral information to be learned from an interactive commercial is incredible and far more exciting than what’s happening today with static video commercials. Knowing what someone choose to watch, rewind, click on, or create within a commercial can tell many stories about their interests and also about the strengths of the commercial itself.
There’s no doubt that video will be the next proclaimed messiah of online advertising for some time to come. Video networks will pop up, agencies will become proclaimed experts on video repurposing, and sites will integrate square video players all over. It’s inevitable and a necessary next baby step. The real fun begins when true convergence of interactivity, video and tracking really start to integrate into content. That’s what I’m looking forward to.
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