Although social media remains the driving force for marketing, not everything is what it once was. As we discussed in our “wins and fails” blog, there’s been a move from text heavy social media, to imagery. As Google were quick to point out recently, “people chose to spend nearly 1 billion minutes watching the top 10 ads on YouTube this year”. 1 billion minutes might seem the key fact there, but we think it’s that people “chose” to watch. Shifting are the days of making a brew during 30 second TV adverts, it’s now all about online. Here are some of our favourites from this year.
First up, it’s P&G brand Always. When they set out to challenge the status quo behind the phrase #LikeAGirl, they asked men and women across all ages to act out their thoughts. The responses speak loudly, that is until the young girls come out and put that phrase to rights. Challenging Dove’s “Real Beauty” ads from last year, this was one of this years most watched YouTube videos worldwide.
Views: 53 million
Wren Studio was a relatively small clothing operation from LA. That was until they launched this short, racking up 41 million YouTube views in the first 3 days and almost 96 million to date. If you compare this to the twitter reach it got, with only 500 retweets and 100,000 views off the back of the tweet, it proves just how powerful YouTube is in its own right.
Views: 96 million
And as with all impressive viral videos these days, it picked up further pace as the parodies started to appear. Here’s one of James’ favourites, “The Slap”.
Views: 10 million
Nike – Winner Stays On:
As the World Cup kicked off, so must some of the big brands accountants. Nike definitely didn’t hold back with this one. Swapping jumpers as goalposts for the worlds top players, the likes of Rooney, Ronaldo and co are called up. Celebrity endorsement any one?
Views: 101 million
Beats – The Game Before The Game:
Just when we thought Nike had walked away with the best online ad for the World Cup, along came Beats. Taking a whole different approach, and focusing on the ‘game before the game’. With an immensely powerful soundtrack backing up some striking visuals this one had the office torn.
Views: 26 million
CardStore.com – Worlds Toughest Job Interview:
To celebrate Mother’s Day this year, American company cardstore.com posted a job interview online under the name “Rehtom Inc”. After 2.7 million impressions, 24 people applied. Working 135-unlimited hours a week, no holiday, 24-7 standing and $0 an hour, sound good? Didn’t think so, but that’s reality, and it definitely got the message across, as well as raising cardstore.com’s profile.
Views: 22 million
ALS – Ice Bucket Challenge:
Now this you couldn’t have escaped, it’s the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. A simple idea cleverly executed to the point of world wide participation. We joined in the cause, as did Sir Patrick Stewart with this rather sophisticated approach. Proof that you don’t need a massive budget to get massive participation.
Views: 3.5 million
Apple – Your Verse:
Ok, so Apple used online and TV for these ads, but each still accumulated over 2 million views on YouTube alone. Like we said in our live blog from Apple’s October Event, Apple know the power of video and are well versed (pun intended) with how it’s done. With a voice over reminiscent of the original “Here’s to the crazy ones”, voiced by a late Robin Williams, the emotion in these ads is very powerful indeed.
Views: 2.5 million
So what’s the take away? Big brands are using their budgets in new ways, steering away from the TV screen and into online video. Reasons for this? The unrestricted length of a video is being used as a creative tool, just take a look at our ‘Who?‘ videos. It gives far more story telling power which viewers crave. It creates more room for emotion, provides a better message really relating to a subject, and all of this is then translated to your brand. Best of all, it won’t cost a fortune to get your content recognised.