Video and digital advertising: Seeing is believing

Ulrico Grech-Cumbo, CEO of DEEP VR, a 360 degree virtual reality content company, says one reason there has been an increasing use of video within the digital marketing space is because Facebook is prioritising the medium in its algorithms.

“Video keeps people engaged longer than a photo and baits people in to discussions about its content. It is encouraging advertisers to create compelling content for maximum fan engagement,” he suggests.

Video in Grech-Cumbo’s view was all about storytelling, and with out of home, print, radio and even traditional TV advertising suffering the effects of market place entropy.

“People are just not willing to put up with advertising begging for attention in these spaces and distracting people from what they want from radio (songs), TV (their favourite show) etc. However, people are receptive online. It's more of an invitation than being forced in your face and brands are starting to figure out how to add value to people's experience rather than disrupt it.”

Christine Delport, multimedia designer at Newsclip Media Monitoring, says companies have been forced to evolve their marketing strategies so their video content is viewable on social media.

“The reason for this is that the majority of your target market is walking around glued to their phone, tablet or laptop. Odds are these people no longer just want to read about what you or your company has to offer, but they want to see it, and hear you talk about it,” Delport says.

“By engaging more of the viewer’s senses, they are more likely to remember your advert, and if it is meaningful or entertaining enough, your viewers will assist in your marketing campaign by sharing your video on their social media feeds.”

Producing video content in Delport’s opinion comes down to the three S’s: short, sweet and simple, especially when working with social media.

“We are creating content aimed mainly at Generation Y, the tech savvy, distracted generation, who have an abbreviation when something is too long to read. Example: “TLTR”. When seeing a video is 10 minutes long, generally the first thought would either be ‘I don’t have enough time’, or ‘I don’t have enough data’. Thus a short video that either tugs on the heart strings or tickles the funny bone is always a winner,” she says.

Grech-Cumbo says DEEP VR moved into the 360 degree video space because they believe it is the “holy grail” as they are able to put people inside a scene, opening up the opportunity to tell a story in a personal, engaging way which allowed a richer viewing experience compared to standard video.

“It can be used online and in face-to-face activations, which is the only other form of marketing that is showing double digit year-on-year growth,” Grech-Cumbo says, who feels filming techniques and storytelling ability will progress hugely over the next three years.

“3D audio - relative surround sound - will play a big part in 360° video into the future and I think we are going to see a lot of live streaming in virtual reality which is an awesome opportunity for brands,” he says. 

Underlining how important video is becoming in the marketplace, Hisham Isa, vice president for marketing and chief marketing officer for mobile advertising firm Buzz City, noted in a September 2014 article that a survey of 5000 mobile users in 25 countries revealed 27% of respondents watch videos on their mobile devices every day. 

 

Today, according to premium video specialists Ooyala, smart phones and tablets now account for 46% of all video consumption globally, led by the Asia Pacific region. As Africa catches up with the rest of the world, expect it to make up a larger share of that pie in the years to come.

How do you think video has changed digital advertising? Let us know in the comments below.