This case study features 4 examples of long form branded video content that drove millions of additional dollars and tens of millions of views using long-form copy in place of the typical 30-90 second spots.
What these videos prove is that people will make the time for well crafted stories that intersect with the narrative of their personal story. It is true that consumers are getting more savvy about the “noise” online by deleting, skipping, or unsubscribing from your site faster than ever but for valid reasons.
Most of the content online is not worth their time. Studies show that if you can capture their imagination and interest within the first 15 seconds of a video they will stay as long as you keep enriching them throughout the video.
Three of the four videos (HBO, Nike, KONY) in this case study are long. The forth, featured below, Chipotle, is just over two minutes but considered long because it’s a TV commercial. It was originally to air at the 2012 Super Bowl. Risking it would have to be shortened to 30 seconds due to budget concerns, Chipotle opted to preserve the full story and air it during the 2012 Grammy Awards. It ended up being so impactful it upstaged some of the Grammy performances that night.
In Wisconsin, cheese has been a big part of their economy for 160 years. Recently, the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board got together to create a massive new media campaign to strengthen the brand position of Wisconsin cheese.
At the core of this campaign was a mandate they put forth to their story tellers involved, that whatever content was created, it must add true value to people’s lives who visit the sites or receive content generated from this campaign. Yes, we are talking about cheese.
The campaign is composed of 5 interactive websites, liquid content, a number of social channels and social sharing tactics. Each site has a different purpose but all have subtle messaging to help you feel good about how Wisconsin cheese may just be better than some of the finest cheeses from other parts of the world. They are on a similar journey the California wine industry took a few years back and succeeded in, to help people understand and feel that many California wines are as good or better than wines from around the world.
To see the list of the 5 great websites and to read the entire case study, go here.
ShipServ, a B2B e-commerce marketplace for the maritime shipping industry, sells to an industry that is not social media savvy and highly skeptical of, in their minds, an unproven way of doing business. ShipServ’s customer is a shipping supplier. To make money, those suppliers must pay ShipServ to list their offerings on the site.
The Video Campaign
They created a low tech animated video, “ShipServ Pages: The Movie” using Lego characters and even had a hero/star of the movie, Rex, depicting a typical owner operator of a shipping supply shop. Then posted it on their social channels, website and had their sales people send out emails to their leads with a link to the video. The goal was a low pressure approach to educate and entertain prospects and move them to try their online marketplace. Their CMO, John Watton reported that is was, “Highly successful. The innovation is really in how we’ve integrated it with our other social media and content marketing efforts.”
Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) is betting the kitchen on their biggest product launch in years, the Chunky Chicken Pot Pie. In support of the multi-million dollar TV, billboard, and print ad campaign, they started a lower cost social campaign with interactive mobile ads inside the popular Pandora iPhone app. Their target – 16-28 yr olds.
The Campaign
KFC is running mobile banner and audio ads within Pandora’s iPhone app. While you’re listening to your custom Pandora radio station, you are bound to get hungry and as a KFC ad pops up you’ll see the Pot Pie, get a discount coupon, check nutritional facts if you’d like, and then find a location so you can buy some pies.
Read rest of case study here. It includes links to other KFC social media campaigns.
A singular focus proves successful. By holding true to their philosophy to only provide content that helps their visitors find more ways to look better and feel better after using their products, Burt’s Bees found the formula for success in converting visitors to paying customers. They are practicing the “dynamic liquid content” methodology Coke has been preaching since late 2011.
Burt’s Bees was founded in 1984. They started by selling beeswax candles and have grown into a global brand making over 150 natural personal care products. Their mission is to “try to make people’s lives better every day–naturally.”
In 2010, Nokia sought to introduce their free interactive map application to residents in Europe, Latin America, and Asia that owned smartphones. Their campaign targeted all Facebook users within those regions that were age 13 and older to inform them that their free GPS service could be used while walking or driving, without any restrictions. A secondary goal was also to show that Nokia was one of the innovative leaders in the world of smartphones.
Nokia used Facebook to introduce their free GPS application
Everyone 13 and older was targeted on 3 continents
Additional goal of increased brand awareness for innovation
Campaign focused primarily on two 24 hour periods
Over 408 million visitors were recorded with 104,330 connections within the two separate 24 hour trials. This represents about 10% of Nokia’s overall fans on Facebook. Over one million people downloaded Ovi Maps during the first week of the promotion alone. You can view the actual case study here.
Tod Maffin, President of engageQ digital, is a digital communications strategist, specializing in social media, mobile marketing, and viral marketing. [keynote speeches | bio]
In Wisconsin, cheese has been a big part of their economy for 160 years. Recently, the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board got together to create a massive new media campaign to strengthen the brand position of Wisconsin cheese.
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Tod Maffin, President of