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Video is a uniquely powerful medium when it comes to drawing users towards a brand, but getting it right means understanding context as well as content. We hear from Michael Reeves, Business Development Director at Red Bee, about the lessons brands can take from professional storytellers
Telling the Long Tale: What Brands Can Learn from Broadcasters
y 2018, according to Cisco, video will account for 79 per cent of consumer traffic online. It already dominates Twitter and Facebook, where video’s reach exceeds static content. Kids aged 11 to 15 spend six times longer than adults watching video on YouTube and Vimeo—a stat with significant implications for future content consumption. The message is clear: video is the engine driving consumption and users expect branded content to be just as compelling as anything else they engage with online. So what can brands learn from traditional broadcasters, for whom storytelling is their stock in trade?
ACTIVATE THE ESSENCE First, says Michael Reeves, Business Development Director at Red Bee, establish a clear editorial position. “Have a united theme, opinion or attitude that enables you to bring disparate content initiatives together—something that makes your brand’s content consistent and distinctive.” Effective editorial positioning requires bold, directional statements of intent. But, says Reeves, brands needn’t feel they have to reinvent the wheel. Often a brand’s essence simply needs to be reinterpreted or developed for video so that it takes on a more active aspect. “A couple of years ago we worked with
Waitrose to help them launch Waitrose TV. At the time their brand essence was
FEATURE BY JON FORTGANG 54 issue 25 july 2015
‘a shared love of food’, which seemed perfectly right. But if you’re going to create content that’s just about the love of food, what makes it different from what Sainsbury’s or Marks & Spencer could provide? We needed something that could give Waitrose more editorial drive. We suggested ‘keeping you curious about food’, which is more active and invitational—it helps Waitrose know what to do with their content.” Secondly, says Reeves, tell a story.
Narrative, of course, has always been central to marketing. But video doesn’t serve quite the same purpose as traditional interruptive advertising. Plenty of marketers have been trained to get in and out fast with their messaging in order to capture the attention of
distracted users. Video’s job is to draw users in to a brand. “You want users to choose you above all the other things they could be doing on the internet. The important thing is to bring them in and keep them there. You need a clear narrative structure that hooks them in and takes them on a journey.” That requires brands to rethink their
relationship with users and view them not just as consumers, but as an audience. “If you use the word ‘consumers’, you
tend to start thinking with your particular brand’s message, and how to get people to swallow it,” says Reeves. “If you talk about ‘audiences’, you’re immediately thinking about attracting and entertaining people—giving them
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