This week saw the release of the IAB's Video Marketing Handbook which you can download for free from http://www.iabuk.net/en/1/thebuzzonvideomarketing.html

markettiers4dc provide the centre case study about Brand Funded Video, and exclusive to our blog is my unedited version of our chapter! Enjoy . . .

Advertiser Funded Video

Given I am writing an article for the IAB, if I asked the question 'Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?’ some of our younger members could be forgiven for thinking I'm about to write a feature on 'Second Life'. However, I'd like to think most will recognise the opening lyrics to what has often been described as the video that set the trend for the future of the music industry, recorded by Queen as they were on tour when their single 'Bohemian Rhapsody' reached No.1 for the first time and so couldn't appear at the BBC's Top of the Pops studios that week, which in the days before MySpace and iTunes was the media outlet to be on if you wanted exposure to help record sales. So followed the creation of what are effectively 'Advertiser Funded Videos' (AFV) - content paid for and produced by the record label but aired on a third party media owner with the purpose of promoting their signed band and selling more of their product - singles, albums, concert tickets, and these days, downloads.

It has worked in the music industry yet if, for example, an FMCG brand tried it, Ofcom would have come down on them like a ton of bricks. Under current regulations, AFV on traditional TV would be subject to the strict broadcasting code rules that traditional sponsorship has to follow. However, we all work in an industry where Ofcom restrictions do not currently apply, which means, in the words of the late great Freddie Mercury, we can all 'do the fandango'.

With the continuing improvement in broadband speed there is an ever increasing thirst for video online from consumers and B2B users, and whilst there is a current trend towards websites hosting UGC, there is still, and indeed will be, an increasing demand for broadcast quality video, which is more expensive to produce than that filmed on a handheld camcorder or webcam that fills the majority of UGC sites. This therefore is where the opportunity lies for brands to provide content to lifestyle/business websites and ISPs as it is the brand making the financial investment not the media owner. However, the key to a successful AFV is not to abuse the lack of regulations and produce a 30min advert about your product or service. Successful AFV combine the editorial needs of the media owner with the marketing communications objectives of the brand, whilst ensuring the viewer is entertained, informed or educated etc. Only then will you generate the cut-through to ensure you create brand engagement with your target audience, which is exactly what 'Wickes' achieved when they created a series of videos for their website under a WickesTV banner, as well as maximising their exposure by syndicating them to www.howto.tv at the end of 2006.

Wickes, like a lot of DIY stores, already produces written guides that their customers can pick up from instore or download as pdf files from their website, that instruct on how to do specific DIY tasks such as tiling. Their access to the consumer through broadcast video content in the past has been to sponsor 'makeover' shows on TV. However under Ofcom regulations this left them with little more than a 'top and tail' branding opportunity, with absolutely no mention of the Wickes brand, or placement of any of its products or stores within the content of the programme. In fact they could not officially dictate the programming output in any capacity. However, commissioned by their sponsorship agency, MediaedgeCIA, markettiers4dc produced three videos funded by Wickes that were scripted from the Wickes 'Good Ideas Guides'. These were 10 minutes in length, each split into two segments - the first showing the preparation and tools required, and the second actually showing how to do the job in hand. The three videos were 'How to tile a wall', 'How to replace a kitchen worksurface', and 'How to lay a real wood floor'. With a freelance producer who produces for the BBC, a familiar face of DIY programmes in Martin Roberts presenting, and a friendly and knowledgeable builder, Dave, a successful formula was in place. The main ingredient though, from Wickes point of view, was that these videos were being produced for the web and so filming could take place instore at Wickes and their products were used throughout. In fact, Wickes approved all scripts before the shoot began and were fully involved in the final edit too, and according to Verica Djurdevic, Strategy Director at MediaedgeCIA, "the HowTo.tv application is a great way for us to demonstrate Wickes' expertise to their customers using video techniques combined with new technology for delivery to multiple platforms."

It is this last part of Verica's statement that was key to the project. Whilst viewing on the web is one route for AFV, a major part of Wickes' brief was to take advantage of the converging media, after all, when tiling your bathroom, you are unlikely to be beside a computer. Having the ability to download the video to your mobile device was vital, as this would enable Wickes to extend their relationship with the consumer and engage with them during the actual DIY process. Plus the benefits didn't end there, as anyone who wanted more information could opt-in to receive it. Of course, from a budgetary point of view, the cost savings were also huge as producing your own content can be significantly cheaper than sponsoring someone else’s.

The key to all of this is that as a brand you are only advertising to those consumers who choose to watch and so it becomes an unintrusive route to delivering your message, moving from interruption to attraction and, with new technologies such as those described in the product placement chapter of this document, from engagement to interaction.

So how can we measure the success of such a campaign?

An AFV shouldn't really be produced without some marcoms or PR support around it, or with at least the same thought and planning gone into it that would any part of a marketing strategy. The basic challenge is to isolate the AFV effect as far as possible from other activity that may be running in parallel. However, differences in attitudes towards the brand, as well as awareness and likelihood to purchase among those who have seen it can be carried out against those who haven't, by putting in place pre- and post research using a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods which can take place online too.

Of course the number of people who viewed and opted in for more information, or clicked through to a brand's website is still a strong measurement, as will the ability to then track purchase as a result too.

The biggest endorsement of this approach must surely be a brand happy to repeat the campaign, and so with a second series of video guides in the planning, something must have worked for Wickes!

And as for a concluding statement to this chapter, I should have mentioned that I have written it whilst holidaying in the Maldives and so as I write whilst sat on a beach, I will leave you with those immortal closing words of Freddie's: 'Nothing really matters, to me ...'