The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

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By Ishbel Macleod | PR and social media consultant

July 30, 2014 | 4 min read

Marketers must approach Vine strategies in an entirely different way to YouTube if they are to reap its full benefits, according to Richard Barley, creative technologist at Twitter UK.

He told delegates at The Drum Live - an event which saw The Drum put together an edition of the magazine live in front of an audience - that marketers must resist the urge to upload everything to Vine, as they might do with YouTube.

"Vine is very much targeted at those with a bit more of an artistic angle, It's less about sharing everything you've got [compared to YouTube].

"We want Vine to be the place you go to find interesting, cool, quirky content."

Dismissing the idea that Vines are only six seconds long to match the short, sharp 140 character approach of Twitter, Barley stated that Vine was an acquisition, and that it was the original creators that decided the length of the looping video.

Despite some of the most well-known Vines being comedy moments – the man saying ‘monkey tennis’ as he goes shopping, for instance, Barley believes that there is more to the platform than just fooling around.

Pointing out that there is a section of the Tribeca Film Festival dedicated to Vine, Barley insists that “real stories” can be shot in six seconds. “It started as – and still really is – a consumer focussed app, it’s all about sharing fun, cool, quirky videos. Brands really got on board – brands really loved it. They became quite a major part of the marketing arsenal. “It allows brands to really step outside their normal boundaries, their normal brand guidelines for how they communicate and try something a little bit different. It’s great to see how brands have taken it up,” he enthused.

Praising "the power of the [Vine] platform to reach people across the globe", he provided his top tips for brands and agencies creating Vines, with examples of who does it well.

Adidas

Invest in a tripod for stop motion. It’s what turns an ok Vine into an incredible Vine.

Burberry

Vines can be high quality. Vines largely look quite home-made, that’s the vibe, but don’t be afraid to create high quality footage.

Argos

Be playful. You can use anything at your disposal. Burberry has beautiful bags…Argos has toys.

Samsung Mobile

Embrace the loop: it is the looping quality that makes Vine different to other platforms. That’s the real magic, it’s hypnotic.

Ford Europe

Don’t focus too much on branding, and feel free to bring ‘professional Viners’ in. That’s what Ford Europe has done with Jeh Reh, who has over 75,000 followers on Vine.

Watch Barley's full talk in the video above.

Richard Barley Burberry Ford

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