It’s no secret the media landscape has changed. This past year alone we’ve seen a rise in short-form video and a breakout in AI-powered solutions. People are exposed to a wider variety of content and new ways to consume it, and one-size-fits-all campaigns are no longer enough.
This year’s YouTube Works Awards winners are blazing new trails by ditching the “matching luggage” approach and accounting for people’s unique needs. From tapping into YouTube trends to designing bespoke creative across formats, these advertisers expertly created unforgettable YouTube campaigns that resonated with audiences and drove results. Here are four lessons gleaned from the winners.
Make ads unskippable with bespoke YouTube campaigns
Life insurance company MassMutual wanted to drive awareness around a bold topic: money. The brand recognized that conversations about finances are important but aren’t always easy to have. It needed a creative way to grab attention and inspire people to tune into the topic. So it created a lighthearted campaign featuring diverse families having conversations about their financial futures amid unexpected events. The result was an intimate, fly-on-the-wall experience.
MassMutual sought to make its ads unskippable by breaking the fourth wall, ingeniously utilizing the first six seconds to deliver different variations of the statement, “This is going to be extremely uncomfortable; you might want to skip this.” This small-but-clever detail showed viewers that MassMutual was directly addressing them, creating a powerful connection.
The innovative strategy was wildly successful. In a head-to-head test, its 100% watch rate was 14 percentage points higher and costs per view (CPV) were 2X more cost efficient for creative featuring the made-for-YouTube 6-second add-on.
Embrace timeless trends across formats
Popular blender brand BlendJet needed a campaign that could drive awareness with new customers and transform existing ones into enthusiastic brand advocates. Its strategy? Create compelling content and engage both audiences. BlendJet tapped into big YouTube trends that have stood the test of time. Assets included YouTube fan favorites such as cake or fakes, bewildering viewers with a blender disguised as a cake, and ASMR videos, soothing them with 10 hours of BlendJet assembly.
Satisfy the audience’s desire to go deep with long-form video
On a mission to rev up consideration, eBay Motors sought a platform that would inspire and excite audiences. That’s why it raced toward YouTube, a go-to destination for inspiration. The brand teamed up with Google’s Creative Works to identify trends and insights, landing on one key insight: People come to YouTube to go deep with the creators and content they love. With that in mind, eBay handed YouTube creators the keys and cocreated a masterfully produced five-part series that pitted modded cars against stock cars, with parts all purchased on eBay. Popular YouTube creator and race-car driver Collete Davis hosted each eight to 12 minute episode, featuring a special guest builder representing a subculture and product category.
To maximize viewership, eBay paired episode drops with paid YouTube advertising, and the results were remarkable. The brand grew its YouTube channel subscriber count from 700 to over 37,000 subscribers — 606% above its goal — while generating more than 9 million views across episodes.
Full note: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-strategies/video/2022-youtube-works-award/