Today, a big, classic media house bet on YouTube. Quad/Graphics, arguably a major player in traditional print and direct media, is making a bold and major push into YouTube. So what’s going on with the company that prints some of the most famous magazines and nearly all the top catalogs? For some time now, they’ve been quietly experimenting with online video, proving that it not only integrates well with legacy media, but that it also delivers very impressive commerce results. Consequently, Quad is about to make a full-scale, online video push by:
Leveraging its footprint and changing the economic equation around video production
Investing with and partnering with us, Pixability, a YouTube-certified marketing and advertising software company in Cambridge, MA
Joel Quadracci, CEO of Quad/Graphics and Bettina Hein, Founder and CEO of Pixability provide some insight on the partnership.
Why does this matter? Because too many companies just don’t get it when it comes to video and YouTube and are squandering a tremendous digital marketing channel for both brand awareness and commerce. Instead, these organizations are spending way too much money while producing way too little content, hoping that if they put some mediocre video on YouTube, then some viral video magic will suddenly happen. Sorry, but that approach is just not going to work. Ever. As we’ve all heard: hope is not a strategy. Quad/Graphics knows that and has decided to team up with Pixability to shake up the video market. So how did this come about? You may find the journey insightful.
Quad engaged us first as a customer; not just a typical customer, but also one with the most intense desire for video marketing we’d seen. It was evident they had bigger plans – and they were doing their homework. As time progressed, additional Quad personnel got involved and more details of their video strategy emerged. They weren’t merely a printer; they were a content machine. I was surprised to learn that Quad was involved in all aspects of production including content for the catalogues, copy, photography, layout – the full product management spectrum. I toured one of their many worldwide facilities where they ushered customer along the content lifecycle. They were weaving video into the mix because they had the facilities, the financing, the desire, and the customers to pull it off.
But something was still missing: video marketing. It wasn’t about Quad being able to produce great videos for their customers. They wanted to determine:
What does audience of their brands watch on YouTube?
What types of videos should their brands produce?
What should the content composition be?
How should the content be organized and structured?
Is there an audience or community for their content?
Which videos will drive sales?
Quad found out what major brands, e-commerce companies, and many of the world’s leading agencies know: Pixability had the technical horsepower and expertise to answer these questions with both data and precision. Quad also knew that its integration of video production and marketing was already yielding a 30-40% increases in sales. Now that’s a big deal. Imagine what will happen when there’s one video per SKU, which they can now pull off. I think Quad just came to Cambridge and got its Ph.D. in YouTube.
Everyone wants a viral video, right? Why not? Becoming a YouTube sensation can lead to stardom. Just ask Karmin or Justin Bieber. But it's a double-edged sword and it cuts both ways, as Miss Teen Delaware recently found out. Many businesses however, are in search of the elusive viral video. It may have helped BlendTech, but chances are (1) you're about as likely to get a viral video as you are to win $1 million on a lottery scratch ticket and (2) you'll likely not receive a business windfall from a viral video.
If that's the case, why do so many good marketers try less-than-scrupulous approaches in search of virality? Good question. Last week, I moderated a panel at SXSW called "Mythbusting: Engineering a Viral Video." I was joined by Bettina Hein, founder and CEO of Pixability, Eduardo Tobon, President of Diner's Club, and Kevin Doohan, EVP of Marketing at Machinima. Judging by the enormous size of the room at the Austin Convention Center, the planners at SXSW knew we had a hot topic. That fact that we overflowed to standing room only confirmed it. You'll see some highlights here:
Later that day, I ran into Bob Garfield, co-host of National Public Radio's On the Media. Bob quipped, "I went to the session fully expecting to beat you folks up, but you gave us a realistic and thoughtful presentation." Thanks Bob. That was our intent: to stop the gambling approach to online video and YouTube and turn it into a sound investment strategy for brand awareness and performance marketing. Viral video is a myth, but getting great results from online video and YouTube is not.
And one more thing: though the investment approach was sound, it wasn't going to leave as powerful a lasting impression with the audience. We needed a better metaphor, so we went "whole hog." Check it out below. The result? Many considered it the best presentation at SXSW. For us? It was time to slaughter the viral video pig.
"Good afternoon, this is Pixability, how may we help you?"
"I'd like to make my video go viral."
Stop. I wish I were making this conversation up, except that I hear it with my sales team all the time. I've even heard it from reputable agencies. Occasionally (but definitely not here at Pixability), I've heard it from CEOs. I recall one incident fondly.
"Rob, we need a viral video."
"Happy to boss, I've been wanting to create some marketing content with scantily-clad people, explosions, and a good serving of liability. Shall we see if the CFO would like to take the leading role?"
So, let's come down to earth. You may not be able to create a viral video, but you can still maximize the impact of a video, no matter if you're a brand marketer, performance marketer, agency, artist, or just someone who wants to deliver a message.
We've covered poorly optimized YouTube ad campaigns before, but while many ad campaigns fail due to a lack of planning or management, sometimes even the most basic, well-intentioned SEO efforts can result in ad placements that are not ideal for reaching your target audience. Take the following example:
How does a search for "bob the builder games" result in a risqué ad placement for boots? A likely scenario is that the purchaser bought the keywords "body builder" and "body building" but neglected to specify that queries should be matched against the full keyword phrase. As a result, the ad will show up in queries for "body", "building", or "builder". This type of oversight is easy to make, but can be a costly handicap to your YouTube advertising efforts. Fortunately, Google's AdWords has systems in place to mitigate this kind of ad mismatch (including classifications for family-safe content), and spot low-conversion campaigns early on.
If you find yourself in need of advanced YouTube Ad expertise, you should take a look at our YouTube Advertising offering. It's an all-in-one hyper-targeting solution that generates a strategic analysis of your target space and helps track your campaign's effectiveness for maximum ROI.
Have you seen any mismatched YouTube placements recently? Share them in the comments!
Advertising on YouTube isn't always simple science. If you're not thoughtfully targeting your audience, you could actually end up inspiring a negative reaction to your brand. Take this recent example we discovered:
You obviously wouldn't advertise an adult-only product during children's programming, and YouTube hasn't changed this. Unfortunately, we see these kind of mistakes on a regular basis. The fact is, many advertisers and agencies still take the "throw money at the wall and see what sticks" approach to YouTube, assuming an all-encompassing, multi-million dollar advertising campaign across the entire YouTube landscape will achieve the best results they can manage. What we know at Pixability is that a carefully-planned, hyper-targeted strategy is not only cheaper than a standard YouTube Ad campaign, but will outperform a non-targeted campaign every time. And even though we use our Caffeine software to algorithmically identify promotional opportunities within millions of YouTube channels, even some low-level targeting is better than none at all. So next time you're setting up a YouTube ad campaign for your organization or clients, be sure you get seen by the right audience, and if you really want to maximize your performance, check out our Latte offering.
