08 Video Advertising
From picking a placement to creating a video ad, find tips, tricks and inspiration to ensure your next campaign performs as expected.
What is Video
Advertising?
Video advertising refers to ads that use videos and run before and/or after an internet video stream. The beauty of video advertising is that videos can be relatively inexpensive to make and, once posted, can stay online attracting views indefinitely, even when you’ve stopped promoting the content with ads.
Pick a Placement
Using Video in Campaigns
If you’ve been hesitant about taking the plunge into using video in advertising, here are a few reasons why you should go for it.
With its winning combination of images, sound and sometimes text, video stimulates the senses, engages the emotions, and communicates complex ideas quickly and easily.
72% of people say they’d prefer to learn about a new product or service by watching a video rather than by reading text, and 79% say a brand’s video has convinced them to buy a piece of software or an app.
48% of people said they’d be most likely to share video content with their friends, ahead of any other type of content.
83% of marketers say video gives them a good ROI. In addition, the Aberdeen Group found that marketers who use video grow company revenue 49% faster each year than companies who aren’t using video for marketing.
87% of businesses use video as a marketing tool and this is up from 63% over the last year.
How to Create Effective Video Ad Campaigns
As a solopreneur or small business owner, you probably have a limited budget for advertising. This makes it critical that you use your money wisely to create the most effective ad campaign possible, that you can distribute through several channels. Here are the five most important keys to creating an effective video ad campaign:
Start With a Plan
You can’t create an effective ad campaign without a solid plan. Before you set about creating any content, you need to identify your goals and objectives for the campaign, and how you intend to achieve them. Determine factors like location, actors, equipment and wardrobe required, as well as schedule and budget, and keep these details front and center throughout the process.
Write a Script
Think of your script as your guide to keeping you on track and hitting all the points you want to cover in your ad.
Get to the Point
As with most social media content, your advertising video should be designed to have maximum impact in the shortest amount of time. If you take too long to get to the point, your audience will just bypass your ad and move on to something more compelling. So keep your video under 30 seconds and make it attention-grabbing.
Use Tools
You really don’t have to break the bank to create a successful ad campaign, you just need smart thinking and smart tools, like Placeit´s Video Maker or these excellent video templates from Envato Elements, which can take the headache out of the post-production process.
Include a CTA
Your customers need a reason to click through to your point of sale or special landing page from your ad, so lure them in with an offer they can’t refuse.
Top 10
Video Ad Campaigns
10. Inner Thoughts - Nike Women
Nike once again establishes itself as a champion of women by creating a relatable video about some of the thoughts that go through our minds when we’re facing a new form of exercise. Of course it all ends in triumph, which is consistent with the brand’s message.
9. Ultrasound Ad - Doritos
Another ad that uses humor effectively is this Doritos commercial about a man enjoying Doritos while his wife is getting an ultrasound. It turns out that though the wife is annoyed with him, the Doritos are so good that the baby can’t wait to get their hands on them too.
8. #LoveAtFirstTaste - Knorr
Targeting millennials, half of whom describe themselves as foodies, Knorr, a brand famous for sauces and stocks, created a matchmaker ad that hilariously brings people together around their love of flavors.
7. Unsung Hero - Thai Life Insurance
Thai Life Insurance uses the Unsung Hero ad to inspire its audience to remember that kindness is its own reward, and in this way it reinforces its core ethos of valuing all life.
6. Artifact Uprising: On Legacy
This touching Artifact Uprising ad is a classic example of how brands can use customer experiences to show how their products can change lives for the better.
5. Trio Crispy Layers - Häagen-Dazs
Häagen-Dazs uses this Instagram ad to announce a new product, and entices its audience to look out for it and buy it, by showing off the composite elements of the product and appealing to their senses.
4. Puppyhood - Purina
What’s great about the Purina: Puppyhood ad is that the product placement is so subtly woven into the ad that it seems like just another detail in a tender story about a man bonding with his puppy.
3. Michael Kors Spring 2019
This Michael Kors Spring 2019 Instagram in-feed ad is designed to boost product awareness and increase sales of its trendy clothing.
2. First Date – Hyundai
This Hyundai commercial (featuring Kevin Hart) uses humor in the scenario of a father dealing with his daughter going on her first date in order to be relatable and lower the barrier between the company and its audience.
1. Hungry Dog - Geico
In the Geico Ad With A Hungry Dog, the insurance provider packed the important info into the first 5 seconds of the ad because they knew that the majority of pre-roll ads on YouTube are skipped. However, the ad continues awkwardly and amusingly for another minute, and most of us can’t help but keep watching in anticipation.
What Next?
Next up, in Chapter 9: Video Tools, we cover the best and most indispensable video marketing tools available today.