Brands are 'very slow to be relevant and timely' and must act like YouTubers if they want to win on the platform says Google's Andrew Bent
Brands have a lot to learn from 'YouTubers' if they want to find success on the platform, according to Google creative lead Andrew Bent. If they want to win over an audience their approach has to be targeted, relevant and consistent.
Speaking at the APA event on The Future of Advertising in an Afternoon, the conclusion he drew was that brands must use YouTube in the future, but they must know the type of user they are targeting; those in either browse mode or search mode.
“When people are in browse mode they are looking to be entertained and are ready to be distracted. And that’s the real opportunity for brands. It’s the opportunity to reach them through content that’s inspirational and entertaining. Hero content,” he said.
“You might say that’s the job of my TV advertising but how many TV ads have genuinely been made with the idea that someone has to choose to watch it and share it? [Hero content] is everything that’s great about traditional advertising allied to everything that’s great about digital.”
However, what it is not is a viral. Bent went on to demonstrate the impact Megawhoosh – a 2009 viral from Microsoft – had on consumers, asking the room at the conference to raise a hand if they could remember the brand behind it. No one could.
“It has absolutely no effect whatsoever on interest in Microsoft Project. Now, compare that to our poster boy for brand success on YouTube, Dove. The point is that it’s not a viral.”
The other mode he discussed was search mode where the opportunity for brands lies in reaching people with a compelling answer when they are asking questions. This is called hygiene content and should educate, inform and capture intent.
"“The way to win the audience when they are in that search mode is to look at what they are searching for, look at what your brand has to say and find where it meets. Brands spend a lot of time thinking about how they are going to talk about themselves, they never take the effort to look at what people really want to know.”
He went on to say that YouTubers – the individuals who, in most cases, are filming videos about their lives and hobbies from a bedroom somewhere – are the people brands should be learning from.
“It’s about being regular and reliable. It’s not about cut through, it’s not about disruption. They don’t do three campaigns a year, they do three videos a week. And that gives people a reason to return,” Brent urged.
He added that with Pancake Day on the horizon, YouTube brands such as Sorted, a channel set up by three friends to show people how to cook which now has over 675,000 subscribers, would be uploading videos about pancakes four days before.
“Knorr won’t be. Schwartz won’t be. Waitrose won’t be. Brands are very slow to be relevant and timely,” he said.
Bent ended by saying that we will continue to see the big Dove-style YouTube videos, but moving forward that shouldn’t be the focus.