Thursday, May 29. 2008
Capitalising on online video viewing
Jack Flanagan’s fascinating article (Analyst Speak NMA 17.04.08) highlighted the growing popularity of online video viewing, (now the third most popular online activity in the UK behind search and retail and just ahead of social networking); however he omitted to consider the impact of this ‘online video invasion’ upon online marketing.
As he pointed out online video is already attracting impressive levels of engagement compared to other types of online activity; in the UK alone 28.7m people watched over 3 bn videos online, averaging five and a half hours per viewer for the month.
Shouldn’t brands be capitalising on this voracious appetite for online video by providing their own high quality content? Some pioneers are already producing their own TV quality editorial content and placing it on sites where their target audience is likely to be.
That approach is innovative since it is not intrusive, and does not seem like advertising to the consumer, which means that they are more receptive to the presented content which entertains, informs and instructs.
Wednesday, May 7. 2008
Power of the personal touch
What is the defining image of the Northern Rock crisis? Is it of a chief executive in calm control, clearly articulating a recovery strategy to camera? Or is it rather one of long queues of twitchy customers, snaking out of branch doors and down high streets, united in fear and concern about their savings and investments?
Without question it is the latter. The clarity of these pictures in our collective memory speaks volumes for the power of television coverage. The broadcast media went to town on the story and in the absence of a compelling response from Northern Rock, confidence in the bank was undoubtedly eroded far faster and further than would otherwise have been the case as news broke of its emergency loan from the Bank of England and criticism swelled relating to its high-risk expansion.
In Northern Rock’s case, a more focused broadcast PR strategy would not have averted the crisis but it may well have limited the damage. Of course corporations still need to communicate business stories to traditional outlets such as the Financial Times but in our age of 24/7 rolling broadcast news coverage and online video, other channels are equally effective at reaching investors and other key stakeholders.
Yet despite the capacity to deliver succinct messages backed up by strong visuals, all too often a broadcast media strategy is overlooked. Some research commissioned by markettiers4dc in 2007 found that just 3.4 per cent of companies use television to publicise their interim and annual results.
That’s a shocking finding when you consider that TV and the web – with its capability for streaming video – play such a significant part in a typical person’s daily media consumption. Investor Relations is no longer just about a few key individuals. Organisations must now be aware of how broadcast material can impact upon public confidence.
While Northern Rock foundered, US toy giant Mattel last year provided an object lesson in how to handle a crisis adroitly. Confidence in the corporation might have plummeted following a series of product recalls after safety concerns were raised about toys from Chinese suppliers.
However, Mattel tackled the adverse publicity head-on and a key part of its response was a video message from chairman and CEO Bob Eckert, carried on its website. Eckert apologised for the recalls, set out lucidly how Mattel had immediately tightened up its safety procedures and empathised with worried parents by pointing out that he was himself the father of four children. Clips from the video appeared on mainstream TV news bulletins and were spread virally across the internet.
The crisis hit profits but Mattel’s approach allowed it to see out the year in reasonably good shape. Despite being saddled with charges of approximately US $110 million related to the product recalls, Mattel achieved a minor lift in operating income for its 2007 financial year and a worldwide 6 per cent rise in net sales against 2006.
Using video messages and TV interviews can contribute strongly to bolstering corporate reputation and propping up a company’s share price. But clearly live TV interviews are more perilous than pre-recorded statements and many corporate comms teams will advise their CEOs against participating in them for fear that they will make a mistake or appear flustered, thereby undermining confidence in a brand or organisation.
Yet it is those chief executives able to perform well in front of the camera and who understand the TV medium that will prosper. For example, Sir Richard Branson is known to one and all, thanks in part to his willingness to appear before the cameras – in both good times and crises. Few CEOs can match Branson’s appetite for self-promotion but those that are prepared to engage with the broadcast media will enhance the profile of their company and arguably their own personal job security.
One current example of a company adopting such a positive approach is National Grid. Chief Executive, Steve Holliday announced National Grid is to adopt carbon budgets and reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 80%. Working alongside their retained corporate agency to drive awareness of National Grid’s pioneering stance on energy saving, markettiers4dc produced and released controlled audio and video news features of the Chief Executive to targeted broadcast media.
Of course, for the viewing public ‘live’ interviews are not necessarily watched in real time. As exemplified by technologies such as the BBC’s iPlayer, on demand viewing and listening is becoming more significant in media consumption. Rajar research earlier this year found that 4.3m people in the UK have downloaded a podcast, with 1.87m people listening to podcast once a week; while Motoral research last year found that 43 per cent of UK broadband users watch webTV.
Consequently, producing engaging video content that will work well on the web is assuming increasing importance. Video content can draw stakeholders onto corporate websites, allowing corporations to tell their side of the story eloquently. Moreover, it can provide influential input into wider debates raging across the blogosphere and social networking sites.
Businesses ignore such voices at their peril. HSBC, you may recall, was forced into a U-turn on its decision to scrap an interest free overdraft for graduates after nearly 5,000 graduates signed up to Facebook group Stop the Great HSBC Graduate Rip-Off. In this era of consumer power and investor activism, corporations cannot hope to flourish if they ignore effective communications channels and techniques.
Tuesday, April 22. 2008
It's produced by the FT and the series is called 'Digital Business' which looks at the use and management of technology in business.
In the latest show - from April 16th - about nine and a half minutes in, FT Columnist Ade Mccormack talks about a 'new' concept called Hypermedia - where he describes the 'potential' to embed links into video for consumers to click through and purchase products.
Very interesting interview, but just to let you know Ade - markettiers4dc already offer this and you can see an example of how it works on HowTo.tv where their client, Screwfix, uses our Interactive Direct Sales Tool technology to drive sales by enabling viewers to click on products featured in their How To Choose and Fit a Shower show - roll your mouse over the video and try it out!
Thursday, March 27. 2008
Many apologies for the silence on our blog recently, but we thought we'd kick start things with an extract from our most recent issue of Onward - dont forget, the digital version of Onward is now online at www.Onward.tv with new video content.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE - Onward front page story
As our media has become more segmented and likewise our consumption of it, the task in reaching our end audience has become even more challenging. One of the key reasons for this is that the power of advocacy and influencer groups is shifting away from perhaps the traditional media owner and journalist to the new wave of ‘citizen journalist’ within new media environments.
In a recent survey*, we looked into how important online influencer groups have become when it comes to trust before making a purchasing decision and 70% of respondents said that a positive feature on an independent review website would be the biggest influence on them, compared to just 14% who said that reading a positive feature in a newspaper article would be.
With the phenomenal rise in the popularity of social networking, gaining advocacy from key influencers within these groups has become one of the biggest challenges for the communications industry. After all, it appears that users certainly don’t want to be blatantly advertised to in these environments. Just consider the backlash that Facebook received after the launch of their advertising platform at the back end of last year when more than 50,000 of their own users came together online to complain about it, forcing an apology from the company.
The issue of commercialising and generating revenue from social networks is something that is an ongoing challenge for their owners. However, what is clear from the perspective of the PR and Communications industry is that we cannot ignore the fact that many of our audiences are spending a large percentage of their time interacting with each other within them.
Thankfully for those who have invested in these environments, the producers of some sites are starting to find ways to deliver a better experience for the user whilst monetising their content. Just look at the success of Bebo’s online video series ‘Kate Modern’ that stars Ralf Little from TV’s Royal Family. As reported on Guardian.co.uk, the first series drew an audience that watched an average of 1.5m videos per week, with Bebo successfully bringing on brand sponsors. The sponsors products appeared in the show proving a better way for brands to reach their audience through targeted broadcast quality content. However, if the evidence suggests audience engagement through video content is successful, why stop at sponsoring someone else’s show?
The lack of Ofcom regulations online allows brands to produce their own broadcast content, which can then be seeded into social networks encouraging users to join branded groups, interacting with them, as well as opting-in for more information. Being able to deliver engaging broadcast content that a brand has total control over, to an audience that has chosen to view, is a very powerful tool to possess. If you then give viewers the opportunity to click on the products featured in the video itself to either gain more information, or even be one click from adding them into an e-commerce shopping basket, then you will very quickly deliver a highly effective direct marketing campaign.
Controlling your brand’s assets using broadcast has historically relied on the media owners hosting your content. Now brands can become the media owner themselves. Add to this the huge appetite for watching video online and the fact that, according to Dynamic Logic, video increases the propensity to purchase by nearly 50% - and then consider that you have the ability to tap into the online networks in a controlled manner through content, and it’s very clear that there are huge opportunities opening up.
These same tactics are also proving to be very effective in other parts of the communications mix. Brands can use networks to build panels of very vocal customers, happy to share their opinions on all manner of topics. For example, in our survey, we discovered that 50% of people would like to provide their opinions for food & drink products as part of an online panel. Imagine being able to communicate with these panel members using video and audio when researching them, turning a potentially dull and tedious task, into an entertaining one.
It's for these reasons that we’ve expanded our own Digital and Technical Services division, helping support the work we are now producing for these environments.
If you would like to find out more, please do get in touch with me, whether by phone, fax, letter, email, or even finding my profile on Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook…!
*survey carried out overnight 22/1/07 by Opinion Matters on Tickbox.net, 227 respondents
Sunday, November 4. 2007
As Official Podcasters to the IAB for their upcoming Engage 2007 conference this week, we were asked to submit a Digital Essay for the conference brochure. For those not going to the conference and therefore not taking away your own copy of the essay - here's a markettiers4dc blog exclusive. Enjoy!
With a large focus of this year’s conference centred on video, I wanted to use this opportunity to encourage brand owners to look inside their own organisations and question how well they have prepared for the onslaught of media convergence.
How many of the online plans of those brands represented in today’s audience include video? How many have thought about producing a podcast, or funding their own TV show for the web? When it comes to the communications teams’ delivery to the media, how many think to offer something more than a press release, realising they can talk directly to their audience themselves?
With almost everyone who accesses the web in the UK doing so via a broadband connection, the expectation of what we see online has been raised further than text and images, or a bit of Flash animation. Video is what we want now, and high production values with it.
An example of where this expectation to be able to see and hear from a brand direct is never more prevalent than in the area of crisis management. Take the two very different examples where online broadcast opportunities have been used well or handled poorly via the contrasting media positioning of Mattel and Northern Rock respectively.
In August, Mattel were forced to recall over 20m products globally due to safety concerns. As part of their communication strategy to avoid mass panic amongst their consumers they produced a video of their Chairman and CEO making an impassioned statement on behalf of the company. The video was available via their website to all territories globally and was picked up by news desks internationally. Their personalised approach was a success in reassuring people that all was in control and being handled with the customer’s best interests.
In comparison during the perceived collapse of Northern Rock there appeared to be little communication emanating from them aside from an interview on Radio 4 and a limited message posted on their website. Consequently their lack of information fuelled speculation and fears, leading to media hype and scenes of investors queuing to withdraw their money. There was no wide spread communication telling people not to panic, no human face, Northern Rock lost control of the situation, allowing the media to dictate the agenda. Questions pertaining to protecting investments and savings could have been pre-empted and the responses made accessible and available in various formats via their website, satisfying the requirements from the media and their customers. This is the age where people demand to have information when they want it, where they want it and through multiple devices.
Both these instances are examples of where consumers have gone to the Internet for assurances from the brands involved, and therefore it is those involved in the digital media space that have the opportunity to influence.
The IAB continue to show how budgets for online media increase year on year, but the key question is whether they are spent wisely? For example, do those teams who design pop-ups really think that by putting the close button far away on the other side of the webpage that we won’t go looking for it, cursing them as we do? Recent research by HowTo.tv revealed that not only are such online ads seen as intrusive, but they are also having a negative impact on brand perception.*
In the year since the last Engage conference, online advertising, whilst increasing in spend, has also come under fire due to some arguably lazy planning and buying strategies. The BBC’s Panorama programme earlier in the summer exposed a few guilty parties who didn’t stop to think where their run-of-site activity might appear on the likes of YouTube or Facebook, some of whom were allegedly made to pay the price by their clients by losing their accounts.
The findings of the research are quite concerning with 94% of web users saying they have experienced online advertising that is totally unrelated to the site they are visiting. Furthermore, 95% said they had had ads served on them that were not relevant to them or their interests and that 94% of people experience pop-up ads online that are of no interest to them. The research also pointed out the need for media owners to also be weary when chasing the increased online budgets as 50% of respondents said they had left a favourite website because of intrusive/annoying online ads and pop-ups.
Most important of all, however, is that online advertising that is involuntarily served on the viewer through pop-ups, moving screens, or non-existent segmentation through run-of-site purchasing irrelevant to content, has a negative impact on the brand. An incredible 95.2% of people said annoying and intrusive ads make them less likely to buy the brand and most significantly, 95% of people said that this type of online advertising makes them think unfavourably about a brand.
Online advertising has long been seen as the media to deliver highly-targeted results due to the ability to segment the audience and deliver less wastage. However, based on this research, planners and buyers need to take a long hard look at their digital strategies and remind themselves that ultimately; content is king in an online environment, and not the advert that appears over it. The marketing industry needs to change the way it approaches online and find better and more effective ways to engage with users, to their benefit, as opposed to taking a counter-productive shotgun approach by serving ads upon them.
This is where video driven content comes in to play, but not video content for the sake of it. For example, I am not suggesting we all simply move our adverting budgets into the pre-roll video advertising market. Goodness knows just how frustrating it is to see the same advert appear over and over before each news story on a video player on a national newspaper website, for example.
Those individuals at Engage 2007 who work in the digital media have the opportunity to help communicate brand character and contribute to enhancing and protecting brand reputation. As it is conclusively affecting the profit and loss of the brand it subsequently delivers a massive opportunity for them to have a higher presence in the Board Room and a greater slice of the budget for brand communications and online advertising.
The avalanche of new media, including user-generated content and convergence, with their exponential rate of growth, present constant opportunities to add value and enhance existing and new media communications techniques. Targeted messages are fully achievable as access to potential communities and audiences continue to grow.
With the fact that Ofcom regulations do not extend to the Internet, brands have the opportunity to relinquish editorial constraints enforced on them previously in other broadcast mediums, and the web is, after all, now a truly bona fide broadcast media. In this environment brands have a greater influence, with less reliance on the media owner, as long as they protect the editorial integrity of the medium. Furthermore as content, in the form of video, can now be repurposed and made available across multi platforms it can help to satisfy consumer’s on-demand culture - information and content when it is convenient to them, rather than forced on them.
* Opinion Matters, June 2007, sample 1,444 respondents
