LIVE FROM OMMA SAN FRANCISCO

So how do brands build advocacy through video content? Mr Youth hosted a panel discussion with four San Francisco Bay Area students to get their candid and honest feedback on how they engage with video advertising. Watch the full conversation unfold here (Click to watch OMMA Video Panel Discussion) or continue reading for our observations and highlights from our student panelists.

(Pictured above, seated left to right: Senior Director of Marketing: Nick Fuller, Student Panelists: Daniel, Monika, Monique & Kristen)

While carrying a full course-load, students still manage to squeeze in plenty of video content each day across numerous devices and platforms. They don’t appear to be playing favorites among online sources, so long as the content is free. Pay-walls for exclusive content (Hulu Plus or Netflix) aren’t as big of an issue, given that the alternative is a costly cable package, which is resulting in nearly 86 percent of students preferring to take their viewership online (– Mr Youth “Class of 2015” study, August 2011). According to our panelists, game consoles are replacing cable boxes, with all four panelists either owning or having access to one for the specific purpose of watching video content.

Daniel: “If I share something, I am putting my approval stamp on it, claiming that I approve of this message.”

When brands get the message right with this generation, the opportunities are endless.  Members of this generation admittedly share video advertising and other content daily across their social networks, with 70 percent actively seeking new sources of content via peer recommendations online (Mr Youth nationwide poll, October 2011). Our panelists recognize the power they have over brands through recommendations across their social graph.

YOU HAVE FIVE SECONDS TO HOOK THEM

Daniel: “I know if the ad is something I will continue watching within the first five seconds.”

A generation skeptical of advertising requires a straightforward approach to your marketing pitch. We do mean “pitch,” since our panelists suggest that the direct benefit of watching the advertisement must be communicated within the “first 5 seconds” or they will instantly tune out.

Still, they know video ads are a small price to pay for free content. Our panelists preferred pre-roll ads best, with the option to select between ads from the same brand. Consider this an opportunity to learn more about their preferences, while increasing the likelihood they will watch. And don’t even think about interrupting their viewing experience with a rollover or other non-linear variation–at best, they find these highly annoying and disruptive.

BE ENTERTAINING, UP FRONT & ON BRAND

Monique: “If you are straight forward, clever & humorous, I am more likely to watch.”

The good news for marketers is that this generation is still very receptive to video advertising. Developing successful content requires paying attention to a basic formula that revealed itself through our panel conversations:

Clear Intention + Entertaining + Intelligent + On Brand = Successful Content

Our panelists view a clear distinction between ads that “try too hard” to be funny or entertaining, and ads that entertain while conveying a clear product benefit. They prefer the latter, and ask that video ads begin from a place of honest intentions (be straight forward about what you are selling, and keep the message on brand) while also making it entertaining.

Daniel: “I like it when a brand is able to make fun of itself & not take itself too seriously. It shows me that they get our generation.”

None of our panelists felt it would harm a brand to crack a small joke about itself every once in a while. They expressed that “big brands take themselves too seriously,” and find brands more relatable when they are willing to poke fun at themselves.

Monika: “It is exhausting to watch a commercial that is pulling at your base emotions & over stimulus. We are rational people & would like to make rational decisions.”

For all of the reasons above, they love the recent Allstate “Mayhem” video campaign. The intention of the ad and benefit to the consumer are clear: Allstate Insurance will cover its customers against the inevitable “mayhem” that happens in everyday life. They appreciate the witty humor and candid nature of the pitch. In contrast, our panelists view advertising as misleading and deceptive when using too much “visual stimulus” as a way of pulling on their emotions. They appreciate advertising that treats them as intelligent, rational decision-makers.

THEY APPRECIATE THE UTILITY OF HOW-TO VIDEOS

Monique: “How-to videos make things functional & relevant to our lives. If you could inject a product into a video while showing me how to use it, I would totally watch it.”

This generation is resourceful and willing to roll-up its sleeves to solve every day problems. How-to videos provide brands with the perfect opportunity to sell-through education, demonstrating the unique benefits of the product while helping the consumer complete a specific task. All four panelists seemed to enjoy these videos and reinforced the value they provide. They also mentioned that they would be very likely to remember the products demonstrated while watching.

THEY GET BEHIND BRANDS WITH SIMILAR IDEALS

Monika: “Brands needs to communicate a bigger ideal to be remembered, more so than any image or name. When I find a video, I want to understand the POV of the person (or brand) that is producing it.”

Genuine advocacy requires more than just creating funny content and hoping that it goes viral. Brand advocates want to know the purpose behind the brand and its advertisements. They want the “POV” of the content curator, whether it is a famous Indie film director, or Annie’s Mac ‘N’ Cheese. They are likely to share commercials that convey important messages, or are attached to a social movement or cause they care about. Our panelists actively research brands and products (ingredients especially) when considering a purchase. Ensure that they find all the right answers when they look it up online.

FINAL THOUGHTS

While our panel consisted of only four students from the San Francisco Bay Area, they did reflect many of the same views as the college students we spoke with over the summer in a larger, nationwide study on the college freshmen “Class of 2015,” (Read our study on “5 Ways To Friend The Class Of 2015” at: www.Meet2015.com). Our panelists desire straightforward video ads that provide a benefit for watching and a clear product benefit from which they can make rational judgments. Tie your message to a bigger purpose or ideal, and they will reward you–not only with their attention, but also through their online sharing and endorsement.

Over the last year there has been an exponential increase in the number of websites asking users to sign in using Facebook connect. Some tout the ease of joining a community, others want to connect your interests with the interests of your friends, and some just ask you to do it for no apparent reason. Until recently I have yet to see any website give me something in return for taking that action. As a marketer I know that their desire to connect me with other people or make sign-up easier is just so they can make money. It’s about data collection, optimization and ad targeting. I get it, and most other consumers get it, so why not give me something worth my while? Why not show me what my data is worth to you?

Well, my dreams have come true. Hulu, in an effort to beat Netflix (and get their numbers up for a quick sale), is in the midst of a big push for their Hulu Plus offering. The online video provider has seen some success with the paid version of its free service, but not to the extent that Netflix has seen success. Their answer to that problem is free trials, and their ask form consumers is simple: Give us access to your Facebook data and one status update about Hulu Plus.

So, according to Hulu, your Facebook data and one status update is worth $7.99.

We are the Mr Youth interns. In honor of Social Media Day last Thursday we are sharing our POV on the good life of YouthNation, the present and future of social media, and whatever else crosses our young, millennial minds in 140 characters or less:

- Elizabeth C: Social media icon sheets & comforters will replace dinosaurs and rocket ships.

- Kara B: #D0M!N@T!0N

- Jon I: Some people think the internet is ruining are ability to comunikate, but I think we’re just fien. The future is #social.

- Thomas S: I am not witty enough for this, I defer to the Twitterverse.

- Vinny S: Emoticon Media, The future of Social: – A typical day.

- Annie D: Social media helps to engage the brand and the customer through dynamic, interactive, and unique experiences (games, applications and videos).

- Lauren F: I have a feeling Facebook is going to lose its spark soon. The site has lost its simplicity and exclusivity, #unlike.

- Alison W: SM lets me stalk a dog named Boo on Facebook, tweet at Barack Obama and keep in touch with my grandma in Florida #EndlessPossibilities…

- Adam P: In the modern battle of David versus Goliath, social media is the slingshot.

- Alexa D: Rule #76.5: Social Media plays like a champion.

We want to hear your musings on social.  Tell us in the comments!

This Thursday is National Social Media Day! With only two days left to prepare, how will you celebrate? Here are a few ideas to get you started:

- Pick a social media personality and claim it for the day. I recommend being the Fail Whale or the crying Foursquare girl with the crown  Make sure you dress to fit your part like this guy!

- Set some resolutions for the next year of social media. Example: “I will tweet more often because I haven’t in months” or “I will tweet less often because my friends want to slap me.”

- Make a video and upload it on YouTube. Need ideas? Start simple with a demonstrative speech – like how to make a sandwich, how to make a scene at work, or how to make a grown man cry.

- Get your favorite social media infographic and make it your desktop background. Like this one.

- Throw an internet meme party. I will make my friends wear narwhal horn party hats (and bring my pet narwhal), dress as chubby bubbles girl, put Double Dream Hands on repeat, Ice all the bros in attendance, and insert photo bomb seal into all of the party pics (which I will then make into animated gifs). Friday will be boycotted, though, since it will only be Thursday…

Happy Social Media Day to you and yours! Tell us what you’re scheming for the big day.

Of all the new ads, ideas, articles, videos, and trends we sift through every day, these are the fun nuggets that stuck with us last week:

- The Oxford Dictionary is the most generous in adding Internet jargon to the official English language. Check out the list of last month’s new additions, my favorites being: baby bump, bestie, infographic, meep, newb, social graph, and ZOMG.

- Axe Sprayaway lets you remove what you think stinks on the web. Negative YouTube comment? New pic of your arch nemesis on Facebook? Opinion you don’t agree with and want to lash out against in a non-threatening way? Make yourself feel better with this fun tool.

- This conceptual work for UNICEF, done by students at the Miami Ad School, poses a new way to contribute funds to education by donating your misspelled words. A very creative and inspiring concept.

- The launch of the Tweet Button adds an easier way to embed Twitter into your sites with options to show the number of times the item has been tweeted and preload mentions.

- The Intel® Museum of Me is our favorite rendition of the myriad “social history” tools we’ve seen.  Beautiful and well done.

- Improv Everywhere did a great stunt called “Gotta Share” – it gives the flashmob a facelift and has all the social media rhyming words we could ask for

What’s floating your boat this week?

We’ve found a lot that is inspiring and LOL-worthy this week (and it’s only Wednesday!) Here’s a shortlist – our spring gift to you, dear reader.

The @bronxzooscobra: Ok so it may be scary and awful that a 20-inch, pencil-thin, extremely venomous cobra is missing in the Bronx Zoo, but it is hilarious for us that our slithery, parseltongued friend is tweeting about her adventures.  Let’s hope that the zoo will find the amusement in this amidst their dismay, as 120k+ other Twitter users are.

Kraft Mac and Cheese “cnt sleep” Spots: With a speedy production turnaround reminiscent of Old Spice, these new clips (all are featured on the Kraft Facebook page) were inspired by consumer tweets about mac and cheese. One spot aired on Conan and Lopez Monday night, and it was so successful that agency CP&B repeated it again on TBS last night.

Stella Artois – Triple Filtered: From a gritty and sobbing Adrian Brody to this newest shabby and love-struck gentleman, the male cast of Stella ads play on a fun egocentrism that describes the brand itself.  In this London-created TV/Cinema campaign, our leading man finds himself chasing after a girl out of his league.  In three smooth steps he goes from scruffy to sophisticated.

Ashley Boo Facebook App – A take-down from the Hunter Shoots a Bear campaign, this Flash integration to promote Rounds (a video chat service) is intended to show the spirit and capabilities of the brand.  The fake profile of Ashley Boo gives you a taste of what you and your friends can do together using the service.

What’s on your radar this week?  Let us know in the comments!

It’s that time of year again in New York City. The trendy restaurants are booked solid, there are black Escalades everywhere and the white tents are up in Lincoln Center. It’s Fashion Week, and this year for the first time, fashionistas everywhere are given real-time access to the runway thanks to Maybelline New York, the official makeup sponsor of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

Throughout the seven day fashion extravaganza connoisseurs who aren’t lucky enough to have a press pass (or volunteer pass for that matter) can tune into the Maybelline New York YouTube channel where 30 runway shows are being streamed live. The live video is supported by a #liverunway Twitter aggregator that pulls in consumer conversations about the live show, and is wired with Facebook and Twitter Connect for easy content sharing.

The Fashion Week access that Maybelline is providing consumers through social media is unprecedented. Never before has a regular gal like me been able to see the latest looks and designs of Monique Lhuillier and Christian Siriano at the same time as Anna Wintour and Nina Garcia. Thanks to social media, a coveted seat under that white tent, which by nature is so exclusive, is suddenly so attainable. An excellent case study of how brands can use social technology to provide consumers with exclusive access to the content they crave, thus further establishing and strengthening the consumer/brand connection/relationship.

Maybelline’s decision to provide consumers with exclusive Fashion Week access is no accident. Over the past year Maybelline has taken an extremely editorial position in the marketplace, providing consumers with trend reports, make-up lessons and more through their digital and social properties. The Fashion Week initiatives are an extension of this stance, deeply engaging consumers with fashion and New York, two pillars of the Maybelline brand, up close and personal.

I started by tapping in to a crowd of 450 teens just to see how many of them had heard of the show (78%) had heard of it) and built my line of questioning from that subsequent group. The results, as you’ll see below, brought some interesting new insights into play while also reaffirming some existing ones.

#1) They didn’t judge brands by where they advertise. The majority of respondents did not respond negatively to brands that advertised during the show, because they only saw it as the brands trying to reach them as an audience during a teen-targeted show.

#2) What seems controversial to older audiences is not as controversial to them. One-third of teens who had seen the show agreed that MTV’s “Jersey Shore,” which has now grown into a four-season show, is more controversial than “Skins.”

#3) They weren’t as impressionable as we tend to think. The majority of respondents who’d seen the show did not think it was an accurate depiction of teens, and 93% said that watching “Skins” did not make them want to act that way.

#4) They weren’t hearing about it through social media. MTV’s in social and traditional channels, but used more traditional channels to drive reach. Only 9% of respondents had heard about “Skins” through social channels (Facebook, Twitter or YouTube), with most citing TV as their source.

I wasn’t completely surprised to see that the majority of teens did not find the show as controversial as everyone else does, which at the end of the day makes it seem like teens aren’t as quick to react or engage, and as a result are harder to access.

Looks like the premiere of the new MTV show, ‘Skins’, is stirring up a lot of controversy, both from the Parents Television Council and advertisers alike. With allegations sparking that the show is breaking child porn statutes, brands like Taco Bell state the commercial time is not “fit for their brand”. Now other advertisers are following suit, with brands like Schick, Subway, General Motors, H&R Block, and Wrigley no longer purchasing ads during ‘Skins’ programming. The Parents Television Council is trying, and effectively so, to get other brands to opt out of that commercial time, as well.

It’s apparent that although corporate brands will not want to be associated with the show, the bulk of the series’ commercials will come primarily from movie studios and TV networks. The irony lies in the success of the show in the U.K., where it originates. Some of the U.K.’s largest brands still air their commercials during ‘Skins’, and it is a very successful show overall. Abroad, the show initially stirred up some controversy, but has just confirmed its 6th season. In the U.S., everyone is talking about it, everyone knows about it, but brands don’t want to be involved. Even with millions of viewers watching the show and talking about it both online and offline, it’s still a dangerous investment for a corporate brand to make when teen sex, underage drinking and drug use are the rampant themes of the series.

Is buying a car what’s going to come to mind when watching a show about teenage drinking and drugs? Not so much. I can understand why companies like GM or H&R block would not want to affiliate their brands through a graphic show such as ‘Skins’, it clearly doesn’t talk to the brands message and doesn’t make sense. At the same time, the target audience of Taco Bell and Subway, for example, are watching and they are passing up the opportunity to talk to that consumer. Is it worth abandoning that air time?

MTV is clearly pushing the envelope here, but people are watching; about 3.3 million viewers watched the premiere this week, and 1.2 million were underage, according to Nielsen stats, even though the program is rated for those 17 and older.