These days there are a lot of ways to produce and distribute digital content.  As a creative company we find this emerging environment exciting, not just because of the options, but because of the new creative demands.  This is particularly true of one of our favorite mediums: video.  We believe strongly in the emotional impact of video (we hear television is still quite popular), but serving it up over the Internet offers up a different sort of challenge.

When shopping for a place to direct your online promotional attention big aggregators like YouTube and Facebook are always a first look.  Facebook’s US visitors totaled 39 million in September 2008.   MySpace pulled in 60 million. When people think online promotion that kind of volume is tempting.  The problem is that’s not playing to the strength of the medium.  If you want to aggregate eyeballs go with TV or billboards.

The real value in the internet for advertisers and sponsors comes from three qualities.  

First, the Internet is fragmented and targeted.  Even the larger sites I’ve mentioned, bandwidth shattering as they are, have very definable users.  That means messages can be tailored to the people you’re trying to reach, and they can be tied to user behavior.  Combined with measurable objectives, you have a good starting point for serving up content in the right place to the right audience.  The Internet isn’t like broadcast television, it’s like an extreme version of cable.  A million specialty channels.

Second, the Internet is an on demand participatory medium.  It’s almost all pull.  People choose when and where they are going to consume content.  That makes them more engaged.  They can also contribute content, which engages them yet again.  Brand relationships over the internet are particularly reciprocal.  Commit yourself to creating an experience that has value for the user and they’ll pay you back for it.  

Lastly is the long tail.  Long after you’ve ended your campaign your videos will still be floating around out there.  People will email links, or blog about it, or microblog about it.  Even after the money has been spent your viewership could still be increasing.

These three qualities add up to one overarching message: context.  The who, when, where and why of the message. The strength of the internet is in it’s ability to find the people who are most interested in your message when they are most receptive to hearing it.  It’s not numbers that matter as much as engagement level.  The right context for your offer can create a situation where you market begins to seek you out, not the other way around.

 

The powerful thing about video is the emotion it can create in it’s viewers.  People are attracted to it.  Whether you serve up video, or create video communities, you provide valuable experiences for users.  That can give you the environment you need to connect with them.

Successful online campaigns, such as a recent Kmart back-to-school promotion executed through YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/kmart), garner about 600,000 unique visitors over the life of the campaign.  It doesn’t sound like a lot of people, but it was a very targeted group that largely develop a new relationship with the company.  Kmart managed to build a user community around its brand, and that could have a positive effect on sales long after the campaign is over.