The NextStage CRO talks about the questions you need to ask in order to make sure that consumers remember your brand videos.
I started a discussion of online video in "2 Strategies for the Future of Online TV," where I mentioned that several threads have worked themselves together in the information I presented. I'm continuing that discussion in this column because it is rich and the findings might be useful.
Online video versus TV
I should start by explaining what I call "TV."
TV is an information device which stimulates a passive observer. This passive participation is known as "exafference." You may change the channels, you may get up and make a sandwich during commercials, but that's about it.
In comparison, online video is (if you'll forgive the pun) an eye opener. First, online video is a "reafferent" event, meaning the stimulation changes based on what the viewer wants to view. Here things start getting fuzzy. DVR users have some reafference with what they're viewing, but it's limited. Even then, you can only record what's on right now.
True online video is completely reafferent. When something is on is an irrelevant question that makes no sense. Viewers can cut and paste video clips, change the background images, incorporate alternative soundtracks… and these are just the obvious reafferent elements to online video. You can still get up and make a sandwich, but now you do it by pausing the video rather than waiting for a commercial. You can switch the channel, but you won't be missing one show by going to another because the first show will always be available via the infinite online repository of the internet. This makes online video true video-on-demand (VOD).
But VOD has big problems.
Stork legs, escalators, lunch trucks and time-on-site
Almost a year ago I wrote about directing attention and determining what someone will see and won't see.
The examples I used were the stork legs in "Return of the Jedi," the hand-cranked escalator in "Ella Enchanted" and the lunch truck in "Jabberwocky." These things were clearly on the screen, but few people noticed them. Those examples were very much on my mind at the time I was writing that column because NextStage was conducting research in branding in online video.
Elements that play a role in such branding include an often-ignored metric in traditional web analytics-- time on site. This is fast becoming a critical metric in all web analytics, and especially in online video, because time on your site means your brand is in front of your visitors and not your competitors' brands. (I cover this in more detail in Home Page as Bookcover and Pavlov's Eyes: Get Users to Respond)
Time-on-site is especially critical now because 'tis the season, the political season, that is.
Branding in online video is subject to VOD, but there's a catch. Political branding can't be entertaining because a candidate won't be taken seriously. Also, political branding is much more about reinforcing an image than it is about winning converts to a new product or service. Politicians attempting to rebrand themselves face a tougher road than Coke attempting to use its brand recognition to sell tires.
Reinforcing an image is different than winning converts. Reinforcing an image intersects with time-on-site by removing the desire to switch channels (in the TV paradigm) or use VOD (in the web world). The longer I keep you watching my video, reinforcing my image, the less likely you are to watch a competitor's video because the most expensive thing in people's lives is still time.
Entertainment VOD doesn't have this constraint because people seek out entertainment and, even when VOD based, entertainment still has exafferent elements. Not so political VOD. Here the whole point is to get the visitor reafferent: highly involved! Vote! Contribute! Tell your friends how good I am!