IMV46: CGM Videos

The following is a transcript for IMV44 : Technology in HR. The original podcast is located here.

Announcer:

Welcome to the Internet Marketing Voodoo podcast, brought to you by MindComet. And now, here’s your host, Paul Lewis.

Paul Lewis:

Welcome to Internet Marketing Voodoo. I’m your host, Paul Lewis, and today’s topic is consumer-generated video. Our guest speaker today is Micki Krimmel. Micki is formerly the director of community at Revver, a video-sharing platform, and she also worked at Participant Productions where she led the company in building an online activist community.

Micki, welcome to the show.

Micki Krimmel:

Thank you.

Paul Lewis:

I think where I wanted to head when we learned we were going to be able to have you as a guest on the show was: obviously lots of marketers are trying to create viral videos and get things up on these video sharing sites. What are some good ways from an advertiser’s standpoint to get involved producing or having produced video to be displayed on sites like YouTube and Revver and others?

Micki Krimmel:

I think there’s a few ways for advertisers to get into this space. Obviously we’re seeing a lot of companies running contests for the users to create the videos themselves. YouTube has a whole page devoted to contests like this. We’ve seen some of these be successful and some not so successful. Everybody know about the GM Chevy Tahoe ad where they put out footage and music and things for people to mash up and create their own advertising, and in most of the press that came out of that campaign, instead of being really effective advertisements for the Tahoe, I mean, most of the press around that was people using that footage to create spoof ads portraying Gm as creating these gas guzzling vehicles and environment killers, and I’m pretty sure that wasn’t their initial intent.

But there are other ways to do it. We’re seeing companies do the same sort of program but, perhaps, not making the submissions available immediately. There are some issues in running contests in that some of the more professional online video creators have recently expressed the sentiment that the contesting is a little played out.

But I still think there’s a lot of room for improvement. I think there’s a huge opportunity for brands to engage the creator community effectively. The key is to remember that we all know it’s hard work and use a lot of talent to create effective advertising. They need to remember that the creators are really doing you a service by participating in your campaign. The incentive needs to be compelling. It can’t seem impossible to win. You’re not going to get 2,000 people to submit a video if there’s only one prize.

Paul Lewis:

Right.

Micki Krimmel:

So if you can sort of offer smaller prizes along the way and also some sense of, “Hey, even if you don’t win your video is going to get some traffic,” that sort of thing. I mean, there are a lot of reasons why people make these things. So if you think about those reasons and offer incentives along the way, people are going to be more inclined to participate.

Paul Lewis:

So you’re saying that if they offer some things where there’s a chance for publicity or attention for the producers as well as maybe daily winners or selections as well as this grand prize group of winners with hopefully a higher incentive value that that seems to work more effectively?

Micki Krimmel:

I would think so, yeah. You should think about, again, the reasons why people are making these videos, and it’s not always to make money. The process is fun, if you give them access to content that they may not have had access to before.

If you’re a Star Wars movie and you want people to create a commercial for that, people are going to want to interact with that content. There are a lot of different incentives to get people to participate, and I think your suggestion for daily winners is a really smart one because you’re going to get people to come back every day and engage with the programming instead of just a one-off, “I’m going to make this video and forget about it.”

I’m actually doing some consulting right now with a company called XLNT Ads. It’s X L N T ads. And they’re about to launch a site where they’re partnering with brands and also creating their own community of creators that will interact with those brands, and each brand has it’s own contest and things you could win.

By building a community from the ground up, within the video creator community, they’re building a relationship of trust with them so the creators don’t feel they’re being taken advantage of by a brand that’s entering a space that they’re not familiar with.
I think by approaching it in that way, you’re encouraging the community to, not only trust you and participate, but to share the winning videos with their friends. That’s the Holy Grail, right, is to get people to share the video for you.

Paul Lewis:

Right.

Micki Krimmel:

The other way to get involved is obviously to produce ads professionally and then try to feed them on the video sharing sites yourself.

The worst thing that could happen in that scenario is you spend a lot of money, you create this great video and no one sees it. There’s millions of videos on YouTube. It’s really easy for your contest to get lost there, but I think there’s a lot of opportunity for brands to partner directly with those video sharing sites to promote the contests.

And, again, that gives you that level of trust because the community, the creators, already trust you. They trust Revver. They trust that site that they’re using. So by partnering with them, you’re giving your program a little bit more credibility as well as driving traffic to the videos.

Paul Lewis:

Right. And I think it’s so important that at the outset of one of these things is considering partnering with the platform where you’re hosting it to try to get some additional promotion or attention or create promotion or attention in another media stream so that you reach critical mass with that viral. It has to kind of build to a level that it gets hot and people start to see it and talk about it and pass it on.

So that initial patient zero, if you will, of the viral has to be large enough to get momentum.

Micki Krimmel:

Right. I mean, not only that, but the creators, they’re interacting on these sites for a reason. People want people to watch their videos on YouTube. They want to engage with the other creators on YouTube and become more popular. Right? It’s sort of a popularity contest.

If you can engage with that community in an authentic way and use their loyalty to that site, instead of it being just about the brand itself, I think you increase your odds of getting more people to participate.

Paul Lewis:

What about on the other side? Obviously with all these videos up there, people are talking about the opportunities for pre-roll or other interruptive commercial messages within the videos, but that’s kind of challenging if you’ve got a 60-second consumer generated clip that is going to be pre-rolled with a 60-second spot.

What are some of the challenges that you see in opportunities for pre-roll and other interruptive technologies?

Micki Krimmel:

I think it really depends on the content. The fact that the 60-second spot is longer than the video is a huge complication. Advertising online I think needs to be viewed a little differently than television. It’s 100 times easier online for someone to change the channel.

I don't necessarily think shoving an advertising an advertisement in front of an online video is going to work, unless the viewer really, really wants to get to the content. Sites like Comedy Central, a more mainstream media site, people use those sites a little differently. You’re going on to check in on something you may have missed on TV. It’s more of a television experience, so you’re going to be more willing to sit through an advertisement to get to the content that you really like.

I don't know that pre-roll or interruptive advertising will work in the same way on a site like YouTube where part of the experience is being able to quickly browse from one video to another. The advertising, I think, needs to match the content and the environment where it’s watched.

You need to think about how users are going to interact with the video on this site. Again, Comedy Central is more of a television experience. YouTube is not television. People are jumping from video to video. It’s more about interacting with the video, leaving comments, sharing it with your friends. I don't know that they’re going to sit through a pre-roll advertisement to get to that experience.

But if you have a brand that’s already really established, I mean, Ask a Ninja is one of the most popular video blogs out there, and they do interruptive advertising. Halfway through the video they’ll have a little ad, but it’s the ninja himself doing it, right. So it’s part of the content itself. Itself is entertaining and fun to watch, and the viewers know at the end of that comes the punch line. You don’t want to miss the end of the video because that’s the kicker. So they’re going to stick around because they know that that’s coming.

Paul Lewis:

Right.

Micki Krimmel:

I think interruptive and pre-roll advertising works, but it needs to be built into the content and into the experience. On the internet, you can always find content somewhere else where there isn’t advertising and people will do that.

Paul Lewis:

Clearly there’s so much new content and information. What’s the best way for marketers to stay on top of the buzz and what’s hot on these sites? How should they stay plugged in?

Micki Krimmel:

Well, there’s no shortage of people writing about online video. It’s the hottest topic on the web. There’s a couple blogs that I read all the time that I would say would be the best place to start.

I would think that the key would be for advertisers to look at this sphere from outside of the advertising perspective. Newteevee.com is a blog on the GigaOM network, and it’s devoted entirely to online video.

They write a lot about the online video business, advertising, the community aspect, and they also post all of the hottest videos, so advertisers can be aware of up and coming creators that they can reach out to directly, which is obviously another way to get into it.

A really great site I would recommend is one by Kevin Nalty. It’s called Will Video For Food. The address is nalts.wordpress.com. He’s one of the most popular creators on YouTube. He’s super prolific, hundreds and hundreds of videos, but he’s also a marketer. A lot of his videos are about advertising and online video and marketing, and, to my knowledge, he’s sort of the expert in that space.

Paul Lewis:

Clearly the viral reach of some of these videos can be pretty staggering. From your experience, what are some of the factors that contribute to a video going nuclear viral?

Micki Krimmel:

I think if you set out to create a viral video, you may be setting yourself up for failure. Just like a filmmaker when you’re making a movie. If your concern is the audience or the popularity of the movie you’re doing yourself a disservice.

First, you need to make a good film, and then people are going to watch it, and I feel the same way about advertising. There’s certain things we’ve learned that help people share videos. The shorter the better. The funnier the better.

You can’t just put up a funny ad on YouTube and expect a million people to watch it. Something new needs to be offered. We’ve seen all this stuff before. It doesn’t take long for audiences to become really sophisticated. They’re not going to share your ad because they want to advertise your product for you. They’re going to share your video primarily because it says something about them, right.

When I share a video with my friends, it’s because it says something about my personality or because it’s providing some way for me to connect with my friends through that video. I think you’ll most need to think more about what does this video say about the people that are connecting with my brands than what does it say about the brand itself.

Again, it’s just short, funny, something new, explosions are good. Then again, I just think it’s about creating something compelling.

Paul Lewis:

Yeah. I think it’s so important for marketers to realize. When we talked to our clients about this we explained that the things that worked last year you can’t just make a clone of that and expect it. People become so jaded. There are so many variations.

Every time there is a hit or a very successful viral video, there are parodies of it, clones of it. It is completely worn out. You have to come up with fresh, new creative content if you want people to tune in and pass it along.

Micki Krimmel:

I think a great way to do that is to engage the community to do it on your behalf. You get a different angle there. For that reason, I think the contest thing still has a long way to go.

Paul Lewis:

I agree. Well, Micki, we’ve reached the section of the interview where we move to Truth or Marketing. Are you ready?

Micki Krimmel:

I think so.

Paul Lewis:

Alright. Our first one is a prediction question. What year does the time-shifted world of DVRs, iTunes, BitTorrent and online video in general render network television’s time scheduling irrelevant?

Micki Krimmel:

I say like 2009.

Paul Lewis:

2009. Great. Great. Let’s go out a little further. When do you think online video viewership surpasses broadcast television viewership?

Micki Krimmel:

If I had to say a year again, I’d probably say like 2010.

Paul Lewis:

Great. Alright. Truth or marketing. Al Gore runs for president again?

Micki Krimmel:

Crossing my fingers, truth.

Paul Lewis:

Truth. Alright. Good for you. Well, listen, Micki, it was a pleasure having you on the show today. If people wanted to find out more they could check out your website and blog at mickipedia.com, is that correct?

Micki Krimmel:

That’s correct. It’s M I C K I pedia dot com.

Paul Lewis:

Great. Well, thanks again for being on the show with us.

Micki Krimmel:

Thanks so much for having me.

Announcer:

For more information on this week’s topic, visit internetmarketingvoodoo.com. This podcast has been brought to you by MindComet, the Relationship Agency.

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