The Importance of Video Content Ecosystems for Marketers

When over 90% of buying decisions are sub-conscious, what can we do as marketers to ensure our brands are selected at the point of purchase? According to neuroscience marketing, brands must first be in the consumer’s consideration subsets to be recalled at the point of purchase. But how do we get our brands there? The answer is through Video Content Ecosystems.

It comes down to three rules working in unison to increase brand saliency, so your brand is chosen at the moment of the buying decision.

Relevance
Coherence
Engagement

Relevance | Rule 1 – “the higher the distinctive relevance of branding efforts, the more likely the brand will be chosen”

Relevance specifically refers to how much you understand your target audience, what’s their personas, exact needs, likes and dislikes? Using your understanding will help you create an ad that’s distinctively relevant to your brand, establishing cues or triggers for the consumer. This is where the power of storytelling can really play a part. Neurobiological studies show that relevant or emotionally charged phenomena are better remembered. This is because when a story triggers relevancy or emotion in the consumer, their brain releases dopamine, cortisol, and oxytocin.

This increases recall, attention and feelings of empathy, compassion, and trust. Their minds automatically associate those feelings with your brand and the story you’ve communicated. The most effective medium for powerful storytelling is video, triggering more senses. In fact, video is 95% more likely to be remembered compared to text or image alone (Buffer, 2018).

Of course, it may be difficult for one video advert to speak to all target audiences. This is why you’ll often hear about the importance of creating different versions and selecting channels specific to your audience. Some creative can do an amazing job speaking to a shared relevance, such as humour. But even with this, you won’t always get 100% of your audience. After all, not everyone has the same sense of humour. Here are some of our favourite classic ads that managed to hit the mark, showcasing the brand essence and appealing to a wide target audience.

This example below from Carlton Draught uses humour to appeal to a mass audience. Tide also uses humour in this example at the Super Bowl 2018. While others like Honda in the ‘Power of Dreams’ uses emotion, music, nostalgia to get the cut-through.

Coherence | Rule 2 – “The higher the coherence of branding efforts across time and space, the more likely the brand will be chosen”

Coherence refers to the frequency of your ad, and the specificity and consistency of your brand message across all your assets. The likelihood that your brand will win the battle for awareness is highly dependent on the number of times the consumer has seen the advert when they’ve been in the buying process or in active engagement. In other words, were they actually paying attention to your ad.?

Repetition creates a stronger association with choice cues and increases the chances of moving a transient memory into long-term memory, and in this way, in the consumer’s consideration subsets. Repeated activation of one memory, weakens competing memories. For example, if a consumer is regularly seeing Brand B, over Brand A. Brand B will in turn replace Brand A in that category and become the salient choice when the time of purchase comes into play (provided of course that it also has high relevance and engagement).

And the most efficient way to trigger these cues is by repeating a message over time that is specific to your brand and appeals to the consumer. However, where some brands go wrong is when they create the one ad that they run for several months; this is one sure-fire way to achieve ad fatigue. A better approach is to create a content series that highlights different parts to a story, or different personas where you’re able to reinforce the brand, the message, and keep your consumer’s interest.

Our client Meals on Wheels achieved this seamlessly by creating a short series of TV Commercials emphasising the various situations their audience can relate with. The first video below appeals to the daughter or son that wants to look after their elderly parents. While the second one is focused on independent seniors that are active and want to maintain healthy living.

The Apple iPod ad campaign from 2004 and 2008 was released as a series over a period. It retained the interest of its viewers as each clip and frame were different, yet all spoke to the same message.

Engagement | Rule 3- “the more engaging the advert and branding environment, the more likely the brand will be chosen”

Engagement (or Richness thesis) refers to the format of your ad and content. How engaging and immersive is it? The more interaction and engagement we get from the consumer, then the more associations it creates in the mind, and the more likely the brand will win the battle for awareness. This is why video works so well, because you can use music, visual and text to truly immerse the viewer. You can also try different types of video content to showcase different aspects of your brand and address the questions the buyer may have at each stage of their buyer decision process. For example, a demonstration video, an animated explainer, a product video giving consumers a 360 view of the item, a 3D interactive video game and so on. It’s also important to consider where the video will be used. Consider both digital and offline channels to get the most engagement; will you place it on YouTube, BVOD, social media, or perhaps on the packaging as a QR code, an in-store shelf display, or an activation booth next to the distributor.

Smart marketers know that content shouldn’t exist on its own, but part of a holistic, content ecosystem, because establishing brand saliency takes consistency across time and space. It’s even more critical if your brand offers a variety of products or services. You want to ensure the messages are cohesive across the different categories, all while still addressing the nuances in each category. Of course, it’s sometimes difficult to plan ahead. But where possible, prepare an annual calendar that includes a sustainable long-term content strategy. Consider a video partner where you plan out your content for half a year or even on an annual basis. A great partner will coordinate the shooting to ensure you get the most of your budget. In fact, using a video content partner can save you up to 33% on video production costs.