YouTube hosts an epic game trailer battle, Call of Duty promotes its newest game with the help of the YouTube community, and Batman and the NBA inspire gamers with emotionally compelling game trailers. It’s all in the latest YouTube Brand Videos of the Week blog post by Pixability.
1. YouTube’s E3 Coverage and Trailer Battle
Why it works: YouTube dedicated an entire page to E3 coverage this year, which included live streams of all press conferences, interviews, behind-the-scenes clips, and new game trailers. The page hosted a “Channel Battle,” pitting game trailers against one another and ranking each based on total audience views. Fallout 4’s trailer, shown above, won the 2015 competition with over 15 million new total views.
Areas for improvement: Although YouTube’s E3 page was well-organized, the broad scope of game categories was so vast that it became difficult for gamers to find content related to their specific interests.
2. Official Call of Duty®: Black Ops III – Multiplayer Community Reactions
Why it works: The Call of Duty franchise invited popular YouTube gaming creators to test their newest game, Black Ops III, at E3 before its official release in November. Call of Duty subsequently posted the above video documenting famous gamers’ reactions. The franchise also let these YouTubers upload several minutes of preview gameplay to their own channels, thereby generating buzz around the game from large and enthusiastic gaming communities in advance of the release date.
Areas for improvement: This video should have utilized annotations to link each creator’s channel to their respective Black Ops III preview gameplay video, or to other Black Ops III content to increase audience follow-on views.
3. Minecraft Songs: “Gold Digger” | PICKAXE TRACKS
Why it works: DreamworksTV has started creating animated Minecraft music videos and tutorials. This is an excellent way to engage with YouTube’s passionate Minecraft fan community outside of pure gameplay videos.
Areas for improvement: Clever idea, terrible lyrics. Just terrible. Enough said.
4. Official Batman: Arkham Knight – Be the Batman Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn-twZm_wEY
Why it works: The video engages viewers on an emotional one-to-one level, inspiring them to “be the Batman.”
Areas for improvement: There are no end cards, annotations, links, or calls to action in the description. Although the video is well-produced and has a very clear marketing message, it lacks the proper SEO to connect the brand with its potential audience on YouTube.
5. NBA 2K16 – Story is Everything
https://youtu.be/fFuhzRx2bOU?list=PLkwIeqsPeOG8Z_N4UJc7meiDZk5LK4J38
Why it works: Like the Arkham Knight trailer, this NBA 2K16 trailer is beautifully produced and connects with its audience on an emotional level. The celebrity cameo from Spike Lee also helps attract additional views.
Areas for improvement: Similar to the Arkham Knight trailer, this NBA video needs a new SEO strategy. The description lacks links to relevant websites and social media profiles, and weak metadata means that the video is difficult for YouTube users to discover.