Marketing Success via Video Social Nets - Press Release

HOW CAN MARKETING CAMPAIGNS ENGAGE YOUTUBE USERS?

Video social networking services such as YouTube, with its 133m global visitors per month, represent a huge opportunity to reconnect with people who are deserting television in favour of entertaining each other online. Yet this is also an environment where even a Mike Figgis film of Kate Moss in Agent Provocateur lingerie struggles to gain 86,000 views in seven months, while the top-rated videos attract millions of views.

A new report from Futurescape – Marketing Success via Video Social Nets – tackles the challenge head on with a comprehensive guide that includes:

• How to align campaigns with the motivations of social networking service members
• Best practice examples via case studies of Bazooka Joe bubble gum, Campari, Chevrolet, Dove, HBO, Pringles, McDonald’s, Stride chewing gum and Sunsilk
• A detailed explanation of setting up and managing a campaign on YouTube
• An in-depth listing of more than 80 video social networking services to show how the marketplace is already segmenting and the marketing opportunities on offer

The key to success is understanding the motivations of people who join video social networking services and building campaigns that align with those motivations. The motivations include forming and reinforcing personal relationships, self-expression in a social setting, playfulness and creativity and gaining status from participation.

The report’s case studies reveal techniques that work well in video SNS, such as supporting existing talent, amplifying people’s creativity and matching the product with the most appropriate social networking service.

Futurescape director Colin Donald said, “For an advertiser or agency just to upload their latest television commercial to YouTube and do no more is to risk it being ignored. Marketers, brands and agencies have a wealth of experience in producing entertaining and engaging video. What they now have to do is make the leap from broadcasting commercials to entering into a conversation, from the controlled world of television ads to YouTube anarchy.”

Notes to editors

Futurescape is the London-based independent new media research and development company which focuses on emerging opportunities and innovation in the online video and social media markets.

Marketing Success via Video Social Nets is a 90-page report that costs $499 and provides a comprehensive guide to marketing via video social networking sites in six sections.

Section 1: Marketing via video social networking systems (video SNS)

This section defines video SNS and corrects common misconceptions: video SNS are not the same as television on the Internet, nor do they rely on professional content. It describes the marketing opportunity, that television viewing is declining for key demographics while they increasingly look to the Web as an entertainment medium.

It proposes an approach in which campaigns align themselves with SNS members’ motivations, such as playfulness and creativity. This section also includes methods for increasing and limiting participation by SNS members and covers the video genres that the members produce.

Section 2: Campaign case studies

The companies and brands covered are Bazooka Joe (bubble gum), Campari, Chevrolet, Dove, HBO, Incubus, Pringles, McDonald’s, Stride (chewing gum) and Sunsilk. The campaigns ran across a variety of video SNS, including YouTube, vSocial, AOL UnCut and Blastro.

Section 3: Practical campaign management

This comprehensive guide to the hands-on aspects of running a campaign begins by comparing the pros and cons of paid-for vs guerrilla marketing. It then analyses how content is organised in a video SNS and shows how to set up a profile, avoid being taken for a spammer, relate to other SNS members, moderate commenting and upload video effectively. It concludes with techniques for measuring effectiveness and managing the lifespan of a campaign.

Section 4: Detailed profiles of more than 80 video social networking services

Each profile typically comprises links to the video SNS Web site and demographics for it from Quantcast.com, followed by a description of the service’s niche, important technical features, ownership, deals with content providers, specific advertising and marketing opportunities and companies that have run or plan to run campaigns.

The section covers the major operators, such as AOL UnCut, Bebo TV, Metacafe, MSN Soapbox, MySpace Videos, Yahoo! Video and YouTube, plus a host of significant niche or specialist operators, such as CurrentTV, GoFish, Jumpcut, Kyte, SkyCast and Veho.

It also refers to media companies and media moguls involved in the SNS, such as Al Gore, BSkyB, Comcast, Mike Eisner, News Corp, NBC, Niklas Zennstrom, Peter Guber, Sony, Turner Broadcasting and Viacom.

Section 5 provides a range of statistics on unique users, demographics, videos uploaded, market share of visits and time spent on video SNS.

Section 6 gives sources and links to further reading.

Marketing Success
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