The Beneficial Gains of Video Marketing

I'm sure you have been victim to the constant barrage of ads that cut through your never-ending joy of YouTube surfing. They pop up when you least expect it, and at times you can skip through the ad if you wait for the prompt to hit that magical five-second mark. However, the majority of the time you become victimized to having to sit through a whole 30-60 second spot with no option of skipping what so ever. The times that we do get lucky enough to skip the ad and the five seconds is up, for some reason I end up getting sucked into the advertisement at it's 6 second mark, still holding my mouse ready to skip but continue to watch the whole ad. I hate when that happens. This is what we call Online Video Marketing.

According to a YouTube Audience Analysis of Q3 2012, 95% of gamers turn to YouTube for gaming information and entertainment. Not only that, but in 2012, the amount of time people spent watching gaming videos on YouTube more than doubled over the year before. Much of this growth was due to increased viewership via mobile devices, as one in three views of gaming-related videos occurred on a tablet or smartphone.

Grand Theft Auto V was released on September 17, 2013. Rockstar uploaded the game’s first trailer on November 2, 2011. The trailer earned almost 40 million YouTube views and 1.2 million social shares. A year later, Rockstar released another trailer that racked up 21.9 million YouTube views. Rockstar uploaded the first official gameplay video in July 2013, two months before Grand Theft Auto V hit stores. It generated 31.2 million YouTube views and 878,000 social shares. In this case, Grand Theft Auto V saw more engagement with its first teaser trailer, which still indicates significant excitement and anticipation around the game’s release.

Google found an extremely strong correlation between pre-launch video views and game sales within the first four months after the release. Research also revealed that as a game accumulates additional views in the months leading to launch, the correlation between views and sales not only remains intact, but grows stronger.

The millions of video views Grand Theft Auto V racked up before its release translated into $1 billion in sales within its first three days. 

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Have your cake and eat it too! Well... not really in this case

I came across this interesting article that you would probably find unusual for the format of this assignment. However after reading this article I realized this has everything to do with a brand and it’s reputation, identity and trust. 

I am an individual that respects anyone and everyone’s beliefs. The question is how far do you go as a business owner to commit to your beliefs with the probability that you my lose clientele and consumer trust. According to this article a cake making company by the name of Cake Pro’s recently refused to make a cake for a same-sex couples wedding all because of their sexual orientation. "They had called and said to her that they were a Christian bakery and the owner had talked to Jesus for two weeks and that because it was two females getting married she couldn't make our cake." 

Although Cake Pro's is a privately owned business and they have every right to run business the way they choose. How far should you really go, as a business owner? I have the understanding that you believe in what you believe in but from my stand point when companies chose to do these things it damages your brand, reputation, identity and trust. I think companies should be mindful of other peoples lives and have a better understanding that business is business a consumer is a consumer no matter what their color, sexual orientation or ethnicity. 

After reviewing this article I noticed the slew of negative comments that followed the article. One guy said “I just went on Yelp and gave her 1 star hopefully Jesus will help her regain the 3 she just lost from me”. The many comments were all but similar to that. So in conclusion, from a public relations standpoint, Cake Pros has created a bad reputation for themselves based on the discrimination they choose to hold all because of their religious beliefs. Good luck to them! As of August 14, 2014 I am sure its going to be nothing but downhill for this company/brand.  

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Email Subscriptions: It's a Love Hate Relationship

Every time I log on to my email, at times it may seem like such a daunting task. I open it up and my inbox is flooded with mail from Groupon, TED, Amazon, AIGA, Linkedin, etc. I obviously have interest in most of them. If I didn't I could easily unsubscribe myself from the all day, everyday, harassment.

One of my favorite email subscriptions is Linkedin. When Linkedin sends you emails they send you updates on your connections as well as potential job listings that you may be interested in. The job listings that are sent to me are based off the data collected from my profile which makes everything so much easier because it's all just sent to you in a little personalized package. Linkedin has made the term "job hunt" more into the "job walk". Their is not very much effort that has to be done on your part because they do all the hunting for you.

Another great subscription is TED. As I was ranting and raving in my previous post about TED, well it's just that. TED is TED. They have an amazing site that reaches out to a very wide audience. When I receive emails from TED I am usually sent potential TED Talks I may be interested in based off my viewing history. To me this is amazing. I honestly would rather get an email with list of catchy headlines vs. taking the time to manually search and find.

So all an all are email subscriptions effective? Absolutely! If the company, product or service has interested you why not come back for more? And the perfect way to keep me coming back for more is sending me personalized suggestions based on me. At times it gives me a sort of uneasy feeling knowing that somebody or thing out there, I have never met, knows me. Maybe just a little to much about me. But that's just what's happening in today's age.

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Eat. Pray. Love Learning: TED Talks

For this particular assignment we were to visit one or more websites that we have been following. Think about the nature of their brand, whether it is tangible product, a service product or a nonprofit organization, in which case the brand is likely the organization itself. How are they going about brand-building on the site itself?

The brand that I follow often is TED. I was first introduced to TED a few years back and what enticed me to look further into the site was the headline that read: Your elusive creative genius by Elizabeth Gilbert. I clicked on the video and from that point changed my life forever. It wasn't just the content and information that I received from the video that changed my life it was the TED website as whole changed my life.

TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world.

TED has built a brand that is clearly identifiable to many. Starting with the obvious red TED logo. The image of the brand in my opinion is a positive one. TED has been able to build a brand that many walks of life can identify with. The talks that are posted cover almost every and any topic which creates a larger scale of viewers with many different interest. TED has  built a site that is solely based on content marketing. When there is a talk that some user finds valuable and relevant the user will more than likely share the content. Which in result will drive more visitors to the TED website to explore and continue the content marketing process. Within the site you are able to read, watch, attend and even participate. If you are have a log in TED will send you links to the newest post based on your interest. 

Going back to the first TED talks I ever experienced, Your elusive creative genius. Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses — and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of us "have" a genius. It's a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk. It was a talk that changed my life.

TED is a platform of genius, ingenious, motivation, knowledge, drive, inspiration, reality and experience. As a student I am at a pinnacle point in my life where learning is key. Embracing knowledge and being motivated by people with real integral life experiences should just be part of ones everyday. Eat. Pray. Love Learning.

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