YouTube has an interesting video doing the rounds – it’s called the 100 Greatest Hits of YouTube in 4 Minutes. What you may notice is the lion share of clips are unrehearsed, unplanned and are UGC – I counted under 20 that I thought were actually staged.
‘Will it Blend’ stands out as the only direct brand penetrating this top 100 (discounting Rick Ashley) and is also noticeable for its linear production values. Traditional preoccupations about quality and detail are almost without exception turned on its head here (this is down to many factors which I will address in a future blog post) but ultimately its obvious brands have to think differently on digital on video.
Replicating the magic of mishaps is just one of the challenges for online video producers – and then you have to make sure your brand is in the background when it happens! The way we film for TV clearly has to be different when we film for a fraction of the screen real estate.
For the time being, don’t be paralysed by the need to get content going viral – by its definition very few videos push through to this hallowed ground – be rational in your projections and scope and most importantly understand who you are targeting. By all means use the online tools available, seed the clip wherever relevant and link whenever possible but don’t be unrealistic – KPI’s that don’t hit disappoint – which is no good for anybody.
Video sharing is ultimately a democratic process – if it’s good it will grab attention, be passed on and gain in popularity. If its crap it will be lost – the next candidate is only one email away.
Posted: November 5, 2009 @ 2:13 pm