By definition, viral videos are videos that become popular through sharing on the internet through social media sites, video sharing sites and e-mail.  The appeal of creating a viral video is the possibility of having thousands of people talking about and sharing a video about your brand.

By the end of 2011, the Visible Measures 2011 Social Advertising report stated consumers had chosen to watch video ads over 5.6 billion times.  The same report stats 1 in 12 campaigns drove over one million views in 2011, 40 campaigns totaled over 10 million views and the average campaign generated 765,000 views. In 2009, the average view for a video ad campaign was approximately 460,000.  

So what does it take to make a viral video?   A few good places to start include:

1. Start with the objective for the video. Is there a message you want viewers to walk away with?  What would you like viewers to say after viewing the ad?  Is there a creative way to achieve your objective by tapping into emotions that are consistent with the characteristics your brand is known for?  An ad that does a nice job of telling the brand story while tapping into emotion is the Dove Evolution ad.
2. Find a way to grab attention.  What elements appeal to the audience you’re trying to reach?  Humor and spoofs are both effective approaches at grabbing attention.  In 2011, humor ads were the most watched video ad according to the Visible Measures.
3. Encourage consumers to create their own brand videos.  Doritos anyone?  The Doritos Crash the Superbowl campaign went viral and made Doritos one of the top video campaigns of 2011.  Invite customers to use their creativity to share your brand story.  Authentic, creative campaigns like the Doritos campaign encourage viewers to vote and get involved which enhances sharing.
4. Don’t be too strong on the brand.  When creating a video, remember the brand is a part of the story but not the story.  You want viewers to feel like they are being entertained, not being sold a product.
5. Create several videos.  Don’t create just one video and forget it. Consider creating an entire series. Invite audiences to view and share their favorites.  See what ads have a strong following and try to build additional videos that build on that story line.
6. Be Relevant. A marketing professor at the University of Melbourne, Professor Coker, developed an algorithm to explain why some videos go viral and others don’t. One of the requirements of a viral video is the video needs to be relevant to large group of people.  He states the size of a network and relevant connection points are essential for a video to go viral. Appeal to a group of individuals who share a passion for your topic and you’ll be more likely to succeed.  For instance, the Volkswagen: The Force commercial does a nice job appealing to Star Wars enthusiasts with their mini Darth Vader.
7. Use creative cinematic techniques. In order to be successful, videos need to grab attention instantly. Creative cinematic techniques can do this. Try filmmaking techniques such as time lapse, fades and stop motion or to add an element of surprise or to make your video visually compelling.

Let Posner Advertising’s award winning creative team create the next break through video for your brand.  To see more of the most popular viral ads from 2006 through 2011, click here.

Once the star of online advertising, banner ads are losing their allure to more entertaining and engaging video ads.  Early on, static banners gave advertisers the chance to reach new customers and provided the ability to easily track web visits back to the ad source.  Banner ads were the staple and trusted choice for online advertising.   Things have changed.

Banner ads are no longer as effective as they once were. The challenge with traditional banner ads is web users have become good at ignoring them.  According to research by DoubleClick, video ads offer an average click-through-rate of 4 to 7 times higher than traditional banner ads.  This increase isn’t going unnoticed.  A recent Break Media Study revealed two-thirds of advertisers plan to advertise with video banners in 2012. To allow for video ads in their budgets, advertisers are shifting much of their advertising budget from standard display ads to video ads.

The reasons why advertisers are turning to video ads are clearly outlined in the objectives indicated below:

Quality Creative Matters

Video tells your brand’s story in a way that a static banner ad can’t.  An entertaining video advertisement is more likely to be shared.  An advertisement shared by a friend offers a stronger brand endorsement than an advertisement that appears on TV or randomly pops up on a website.

By the end of 2011, the Visible Measures 2011 Social Advertising report stated consumers had chosen to watch ads over 5.6 billion times.  Views were user-initiated. Consumers had to press play to actually view the ad. Another bonus of online video ads is they never die. The ads can still be viewed and shared even years after their initial launch giving brands extended exposure without additional investment.

Another factor of little surprise is the better the creative the stronger an ad performs.  Nielsen reports that 26 percent of mobile connected device owners are more likely to look at ads if they have an interesting video and 20 percent of respondents reported enjoying ads that have interactive features.  Video ads also provide better balanced branding results with viewers reporting higher purchase intent, brand favorability and online brand awareness.

Video ads kept site visitors engaged more than five seconds longer than rich media according to a global study by MegaMind.  One particular video ad format, video extender ads had a 103% dwell rate over a traditional static banner.

Whether you want to enhance brand awareness or boost customer engagement now is the time to incorporate video ads into your online advertising mix.

The survey also revealed aggravations marketers have with their ad agencies. The number one grievance cited by marketers in the study was that ad agencies often lack knowledge or understanding of their business.  Understanding a client’s business is an area that Posner Advertising excels in. Since 1959, we have provided creative solutions for healthcare, hospitality, real estate, retail and luxury markets. As mentioned in a previous blog post, Peter Posner stated “We take pride in serving these markets and continue to find and implement new ways to assist and educate our clients.”

As an ad agency we marry together digital and traditional marketing efforts to save clients time, energy and costs associated of bringing a new creative partner up to speed.  A few of the digital marketing areas we excel in include:

1. Mobile Apps and Content Development. One strategic partner for both traditional and mobile efforts ensures your message is on target despite the delivery vehicle. From custom mobile apps to mobile marketing solutions that include short message service, multimedia messaging, in-game mobile marketing and location based services. We’re passionate about staying ahead of the curve to effectively deliver your message whether on a mobile device, computer screen or in the pages of a magazine.

2. Developing and following a clear marketing strategy. A marketing partner can help you find the best ways to integrate digital channels with traditional media. Offer advice on working with and managing content. Define analytics and metrics that define the success of your campaign. Keep marketing efforts focused and consistent.

3. Social Media Engagement and Buzz Building. We’ll help you engage customers in appropriate social media channels for your business and work to turn customers into your brand advocates.  Monitor online conversations and help you respond to both negative and positive comments in a timely fashion.

4. Manage multiple channels of marketing. Staying on top of marketing efforts in everything from print to e-mail can be overwhelming and time-consuming. As your partner, we can help you navigate the ever-changing world of digital marketing and traditional marketing to keep your brand in front of your customers without creating more work for you.

5. Search Engine Marketing. We are dedicated to providing constant campaign performance monitoring and insight results in extraordinary click through rates and a lower cost per lead. Our Search team was trained at Google and is supported by a dedicated Google account group in Mountain View, California. We’re proud to be among the first to participate in Google beta programs. Our campaigns successfully drive down cost-per-lead and cost-per-transaction.

Beyond providing fresh ideas and perspectives, we can help your business build a cohesive marketing strategy, whether traditional or digital, that delivers results.

Google recently added a new page layout algorithm which can negatively impact your page rank.  In an effort to enhance customer experiences, Google plans to penalize sites with ads placed primarily at the top of a website.

The Right Ad Mix

According to Google, the new algorithm impacts less than 1% of searches.  Pop-ups, pop-unders and overlay ads are not considered in the new algorithm. Google stresses the change impacts only the sites that have a large number of ads above the fold (the area that users do not have to scroll down in order to read).

SearchMetrics regularly charts the page ranking losers impacted by Google algorithm changes. A few of the top sites recently dropping down in page rank include IMDB, Facebook, Rotten Tomatoes,  

LA Times and Amazon. While it’s not clear if this new algorithm is directly responsible for the drop in rank or if other factors are at play, it does show that even the most popular websites are seeing some impact.

Should You Worry?

As long as the content located at the top of your site outweighs the advertisements, there’s no need to worry. If your site is ad heavy, you might want to take notice as the new algorithm is really intended to punish sites that rely more heavily on ads than content.

The Google Browser Size tool can help you determine the amount of content that is easily visible to visitors when landing on your site. To check, simply visit the Google Browser Size tool and input your web address. You’ll get a quick glimpse of the content visible when individuals land on your site. If all you see is ads, you might want to think about redesigning your site so ads aren’t the only thing your visitors see when landing on your site.

In essence, the change encourages businesses to focus on ad placement that doesn’t impact the user experience.  A few things to keep in mind to minimize the impact of this new algorithm:

Focus on User-Friendly Design. Sites that greet customers with tons of ads don’t create the best experience and don’t do much to build trust. Use the top of your page to promote content sought after by your customers, instead of ads.

Incoming Links – Incoming links coming from ad-heavy sites may be downgraded by the Google algorithm change. Their downgrade may impact your site ranking as well.

Make Changes – If your site is downgraded due to heavy ads at the top-of-the-fold, now is the time to make changes to your site. The changes will be reflected once Google has a chance to re-crawl the content of your site. It may take many weeks to for the penalty to be lifted.

In the end, this change will make websites better and search results more relevant. After all, few things are more frustrating than clicking on a search engine result and landing on a website with no content and a bunch of ads.

A few of the ways your brand can deliver outstanding care online are highlighted below:

Listen to Online Conversations
Brands that have yet to fully embrace social media and digital marketing should at a very minimum start monitoring online brand conversations. Regularly search your brand online and use Google alerts to monitor conversations.  Use Twitter search or free tools such as Twendz to monitor how people are responding to your brand. You should also monitor blogs discussing your brand. Both Technorati and Google Blog search tools are good tools to use for monitoring any brand discussions happening in the blogosphere.

Create Memorable Customer Experiences Online
Most businesses have a strategy in place for providing exceptional customer experiences. This same focus needs to be delivered online. Brands can enhance customer experiences by providing interesting lifestyle content, sharing employee stories, inviting customers to share their own stories and sharing videos and photos that cater to the unique interests of your customers.

Provide unexpected experiences online and aim to delight customers with personalized communications when possible. Avoid broadcast messages and opt for personal messages to each customer.

React to Negative and Positive Feedback
A recent InterGlobe Technologies’ study confirmed that for every 100 customer service calls, airlines attract 96 conversations on social media. The relationship between customer service and social media may not be as strong in all industries, but it does stress the need for businesses to be aware of both good and bad online conversations.

Brands need to thank customers for positive remarks and reach out to customers when they post something negative or complain online. Most consumers will be delighted and surprised that your brand took the time to contact them. When feedback is negative, instead of creating streams of communication online for the entire world to see encourage customers to send a direct message with a phone number so a customer representative can contact them directly. Follow-up with customers after the issue is resolved to ensure they are still satisfied with the resolution.

Act on Customer Feedback
Some of your customer suggestions could be your next new product or service.  Use social media to invite customers to provide feedback on their recent stay or brand experience. Invite them to outline things you can do to make their experience even more exceptional. Empower customers to share their stories, pictures and videos on your website or social media sites like Facebook or Twitter. By doing so, your customers can become some of the strongest ambassadors for your brand.

When done right, online marketing and social media provide an additional way for brands to nurture existing relationships and build new ones. It provides customers with an opportunity to share their opinion and ideas direct with the brands they love. The businesses that respond and engage with their customers have a new opportunity to make these relationships even stronger.  Ignoring this communication channel is no longer an option, especially since customers are now more engaged online than ever before.

To help you continue to navigate the constantly-changing luxury environment, we’ve highlighted a few of the trends expected to impact luxury marketing below.

Deliver Outstanding Customer Experiences – Everywhere

Affluent consumers have always celebrated brands and services that continuously strive to exceed their expectations. We expect this trend to continue in 2012 on a much broader scale. Whether staying at a hotel, visiting a website or accessing information on a mobile device, consumers expect brands to deliver an exceptional experience on all platforms.

Luxury brands can no longer get away with slow-loading websites or stale content. Instead, brands need to embrace the power of storytelling to create online content that’s fresh, entertaining and engaging. Websites should load quickly, cater to the affluent consumer and be easy to navigate. Social media should engage customers on a more personal level.

Embrace Digital Marketing

By now, most luxury brands have embraced social media, ecommerce and mobile marketing. Those that haven’t may be missing out on a huge opportunity. According to the 2012 Four Seasons Luxury Trends Report: The Luxury Consumer in the New World: Then and Now, 78 percent of affluent consumers are on social networks. And 65 percent of the wealthy consumers surveyed believe brands with no social media presence are out of touch.

Luxury brands like Four Seasons are developing online digital media programs that authentically interact with consumers on all platforms are a good fit for the brand. To add authenticity to their site, Four Seasons integrated consumer reviews from sites like TripAdvisor and Twitter.

Recognize that Value and Quality Matter

Although the economy appears to be headed in the right direction, wealthy consumers will continue to demand performance at the best possible value. Ad Age recently released the results of their annual Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Survey revealing that 78% of the affluent individuals surveyed agreed with the statement “When it comes to quality, I believe you get what you pay for.”

Luxury brands need to deliver on their quality promise and reinforce their unique value proposition. Consumers no longer purchase products on services on brand name alone. They continue to seek out brands that can deliver on the things that matter most important to them.

Take Advantage of Mobile Technology

Mobile applications will continue to become a bigger part of the luxury marketing mix in 2012. Affluent consumers expect luxury brands to be available to them from any location and device. Mobile sites should be commerce-enabled, quick-to-load and easy to navigate. And when it comes to mobile advertising, luxury marketers should keep advertising simple and easy to read. Mobile technology makes it possible for luxury brands to easily offer exclusive content in a timely, personalized matter.

Develop a Focused Strategy

Now more than ever, luxury brands need to develop a cohesive marketing strategy. Whether utilizing current staff or working with an agency, luxury brands need to focus on integrating all forms of marketing, whether traditional or digital, into a seamless to provide affluent consumers with exceptional experiences at every customer touch point.

Describe yourself in three words. Creative. Insightful. Effective.

Fill in the blanks: Advertising is everywhere in our lives.

If you could do something other than advertising, what would that be?
I’d be a fine artist or an architect.

Why did you and your brother Peter Posner form Posner Advertising?
Actually my father Sidney Posner had been in the advertising business and both Peter and I grew up in it. His Agency was called Newmark, Posner and Mitchell (aka. NPM). When he retired in 1993 Peter and I formed Posner Advertising, bought his accounts and provided him with an exit strategy.

You’ve worked with Peter [Posner] for the past 35 years. Tell us what it’s like to work with someone so close.
What can I say, he’s my brother! My first time working with Peter was when I was only 14-years old, as a coolie at Catalina Beach Club in Atlantic Beach, Long Island. He was a cabana boy and I was his assistant. It was all about the tips.

What was the most important lesson learned throughout your career?
Never take things for granted. Value clients and colleagues alike. The rewards are not in the prize, but in the journey.

Who was your first client?
My first client was Linda McKean of McKean Real Estate in Sullivan County, New York. I remember driving 2 hours to meet with her and her father. Her father came in from hunting with a rifle and was apparently a real maverick in that part of the county. He showed me a dozen buck hanging from a tree. I knew then that I couldn’t mess up. Linda and I had taken an immediate liking to one another and we worked together for over 10 years.

Since then, you’ve worked with some really big named clients – Trump, Asprey, L.G. and Capella to name a few. Can you recall an advertising campaign you were most excited to work on?
I’ve been really engaged on the Capella account in particular because the founder of the company Horst Schulze is a true legend in the hospitality business and I find him inspiring. I also had great fun working on the branding for Citi-Habitats and helping its founders, Andrew Heiberger and Gary Malin, grow their brand into a huge success.

Is there a recurring style or idea that marks your creative work at the agency?
Honestly, every creative solution is entirely different and specially devised to solve a particular marketing challenge. While all of Posner’s work is impactful and visually engaging, rarely do you see two campaigns that look anything alike. The one thing that is consistent is that we deliver strategies and solutions that generate an immediate response.

What does a good ad say to you?
A good ad gets my attention right away. It is memorable and has emotional resonance. It can take on many different tacks and still deliver emotional resonance – be it entertaining, inspirational, endearing, familiar, sexy, etc. The bottom line is, it should make you want to experience that product or service soon.

Those are excellent questions, Michelle. Posner Advertising has been around for over two decades, specializing in traditional and new media marketing for the real estate, healthcare, hospitality and luxury market. We take pride in serving these markets and continue to find and implement new ways to assist and educate our clients.

When our agency hires a manager to look after our social media presence, we look for a person who is knowledgeable about the aforementioned markets. Our social media manager must also be organized, have superior common sense, be able to communicate with a professional, authentic and ethical point of view and most importantly, he or she must possess good listening skills – because as much as we want to be “social,” our priority is in finding out what our clients’ needs are.

Additionally, we strive to create an informative and empowering marketing platform for our potential and existing clients.  Therefore, even though our agency’s voice may appear to be very focused and singular, it is in fact a grouping of shared ideas from many of our top marketing executives.

Jules Hecht from New York, NY asked:
“Self-publishing is the easiest way to produce a book without having an agent or a publishing house. What course of action would you take to promote a book to push it toward the bestseller list?”

Thank you for your question, Jules. Though our agency does not specialize in marketing books, we believe the best course of action for your shoestring budget involves leveraging the power of word-of-mouth and social media.

We would start by first branding the book and author. Have you determined the official typeface for your book? Will you be using artwork for the cover? Do you have professional headshots for press?  Once you have created a clear brand for your book and yourself, you can start the marketing process.

Begin by sharing your book with your established fans – your friends and family; ask them to help by recommending your book to others. We would also partner with businesses within your community to organize book reading and book signing events to promote your book on a local level. Expose your book on a national (or even global level) utilizing social media. Set-up a Facebook page as a platform where fans can engage and find out upcoming tours and news items. Set-up a Twitter account and align yourself with like-minded individuals. Set up a blog and write informative articles that relate back to your book. Be sure to use good SEO tactics!

Lastly, stay on course. Word-of-mouth and social media marketing takes time. Be patient and if your book is any good, we’re sure you’ll make the list.

Charles Trevor James from New York, NY asked:
“Everything is digital now. Will print advertising be as relevant?”

Hello Charles. Your question seems to be on the top of many minds. In the past five years, our agency has experienced a surge in new media clients. We have also seen a noticeable shift in media buys, with large budgets being allocated to digital spheres. What this says to us is that digital is here to stay.

But while there are many benefits to working with digital media such as efficiency, trackability and lower costs, there are also set backs that should be considered.

This year, the average user spent one minute and 12 seconds with online news compared to the 3 hours and 25 minutes an average user spent online in 2010. This indicates that our online engagement is actually declining even as our digital spaces are growing. Not surprising, our engagement for print is substantially higher, averaging a total of 50 minutes for newspapers and magazine readership per day.

So to answer your question, we believe print advertising is still relevant today, as it provides a space for marketers to invest in consumers who are truly and thoughtfully engaged.