Campaign with youtuber in research and hard evidence

Reportedly, in one minute, more than 300 hours of video content arrive on YouTube globally, and in the last month there has been three times more content on this platform than on all television in the last 30 years. This pace, combined with the difficulty of understanding the phenomenon of certain content and the lack of extensive research and transparent results of campaigns involving influencers, creates an insurmountable barrier for some marketers. In this article I will try to change that — to show on numbers and examples of effective actions that it is worth using the power of influencer marketing to achieve concrete and measurable results.

PRODUCT PLACEMENT — A BRIEF HISTORY OF ART

For a better understanding of the power of YouTube, let's take a moment in time to the year... 1988. In the 1980s, the American police faced a major problem, which was the ever-increasing number of accidents caused by young drunk drivers, most often returning from parties and meetings with friends. In response to this phenomenon, more and more programs and social campaigns appeared, but nothing gave visible results. It was only Jay Winsten — a Harvard professor — who is still associated today with the term designated driver and the “campaign” he conducted. Who is a designated driver? Well, that's it! In Polish there is no direct translation, there is no such concept or even a longer phrase that we could use. It was exactly the same in the 1980s in the United States. However, the concept of designated driver — that is, a person who does not drink alcohol at a party and is responsible for driving others away — functioned in Scandinavia and Canada. Professor Jay Winsten decided to transfer this concept (and the custom itself) to American soil.

However, initial attempts to implement the idea through standard activities or meetings at school did not produce the expected results. So how did Winston manage to write the history of social marketing on the cards? Thanks to the placement of the “product”. From 1988 to 1992, Winsten began working with Hollywood producers who, pro publico bono, incorporated the idea of a designated driver into the scripts of their films and series. When, moved by a noble goal, they even offered him entire commercials or episodes devoted to the problem, Winsten refused. “A simple mention or a brief situation in which a designated driver appears is quite enough,” he replied. In four years, he managed to situate the idea of a designated driver in 160 films and series. The effect? From practically zero awareness of the concept and behavior after four years of such a “campaign” increased to 90%, and the percentage of accidents involving young drunk drivers on American roads decreased by 24% (with a simultaneous increase in traffic)! And what was the most interesting thing about all this? Everyone who was asked why they chose a designated driver at the event replied, “How is that? They all do that!”

WHAT DOES JAY WINSTEN TEACH TODAY'S MARKETERS?

It's been 30 years. The media have changed, the habits of their consumption have changed, but... the mechanism itself has not changed — a simple, good placement memorable (also at the unconscious level) in the natural context and content reaching a large group of people. This is the way of acting is adopted by today's marketers, who move efficiently in the world of influencer marketing. And here are three examples of good practices and the results that have been achieved through this.

BRAND/PRODUCT PLACEMENT — HOW VIEWERS REACT

Many may be surprised by the fact that not a viral prank or a movie with a cat in the main role, but an episode created for the needs of the brand became the most popular video on Polish YouTube in 2015. “90s vs today” on the AbstrachujeTV channel — because this film is about — were tailor-made for EB beer returning to the Polish market at that time. At LifeTube, we decided to take a closer look at our campaign to answer the question that many customers ask us: how do youtuber viewers react to product placement in their video? To test this, we collected a sample representative of Internet users aged 18—35, sat them in front of a camera, and examined their emotional reactions to the video they watched. Using Quantum Insights technology, we read all the microexpressions and other facial changes of the subjects at a frequency of several times per second. Thanks to this, frame by frame, we learned how they react to each of the scenes.

90's vs today

The dominant feeling during the viewing was intense joy — also when a bottle of EB beer was placed on the screen. The exception was the first shot, where the placement of the brand was accompanied by sadness. However, in this shot, the EB bottle was lying in a trunk found in the attic among many iconic objects from the 90s. For the brand, such emotions, in this context — are a treasure!

The overall assessment of the material by the subjects was 8.79 on a 10-point scale. The dot above the “i” was a comparison of the intensity of emotions associated with watching the movie Abstracts with the analogous results for a TV commercial of a competing brand.

Comparison of youtuber and TV advertising

The results proved an intuitive conclusion — content created by youtubers evokes much stronger emotions than advertising messages. Putting the product in the right context and building an interesting story around it guarantees a positive perception of the material.

YOUTUBER CAMPAIGN — WHAT ABOUT A SINGLE VIDEO?

Can a single YouTube video make a difference? This time we tested it in collaboration with the Kantar Millward Brown market research institute and used the Brand Lift Insights tool to determine the effectiveness of the campaign and its impact on brand perception. For the workshop we took a section made for the MyTaxi brand, in which the brand logo appeared in practically every shot (the entire section was realized in branded MyTaxi taxis).

Brandlift Results

We divided a representative sample of subjects into two (statistically) indistinguishable groups. We showed one group the video, the other we didn't. We then looked at how the answers of the two groups differed.

Video effects for the brand on the Youtuber channel

Among the people who watched the film, the positive rating of the brand was as much as nine percentage points higher, and the propensity to recommend it to relatives and acquaintances - by five percentage points. Let's emphasize — the only difference between the groups is the fact of watching one movie! Additionally, respondents who viewed the video described it as “engaging,” “standout,” and “enjoyable” — even though the video was fully branded and left no doubt that it was advertising content. By using the format typical of the youtuber channel and putting the brand perfectly in the theme of the main episode, the video was received so well, and a single viewing of it raised all the key indicators for the brand.

IN THE LONG TERM, IT MEANS EFFECTIVE

16 months, 28 influencers and 45 million brand views on YouTuber channels are just some of the stats from the Play brand campaign. This long-term campaign was further divided into stages — each aimed at achieving a slightly different goal. First: lead generation. Images of several gamers were placed on the Play starters. In order to receive such a starter, you had to leave all your data on the prepared page and give marketing consents. Each of the youtubers to distribute among their viewers had 5,000 such starters. How long did it take to set the record? 24 hours. The others joined a day later. The second stage is awareness and reach. Youtubers — ambassadors of Play — were everywhere: on TV, radio, on billboards, materials, POS, everywhere on the internet and on every social media platform. The third part is CSR. Play and many youtubers in one joint music video played together with the Great Orchestra of Christmas Aid, supporting a worthy cause. What were the effects of this?

Play Image

First of all, 90% of positive comments about the brand with a twofold increase in the number of statements about it. Secondly, from the Brandscope study commissioned by the Play brand, we know that among the people who were reached by influencer communication, all the indicators most important to the brand increased. Image aspects such as “brand for me and my friends” or “trustworthy brand” differed by up to a dozen percentage points (netizens not reached by influencers vs fans of influencers). Third, from the data from the client, we know that compared to the standard marketing activities carried out by the brand on the Internet, the campaign with influencers:

Generated 3.2 times more leads

ha fatto 6 volte di registrazioni

was 3.5 times cheaper (cost of reaching the individual user)

Campaign with Influencers Play

Remember the designated driver at the beginning of this article and the interviewee's explanation: “Everyone does that”? In the same way, in the consciousness of consumers, not 28 youtubers, not youtubers at all, but “The whole Internet has gone to Play” and it is under this slogan that this campaign was realized.

The case studies discussed in the text are evidence that even strongly branded content can be met with a very positive reception. What we should pay attention to is not the number of moments in which a product appears on the screen, but the context in which we will place the product in question and the story we will build around it. Traditional brand advertising messages have a much weaker effect on the emotions of viewers than videos that were created in collaboration with youtubers, who know their audience and know how to communicate with them. Creators are able to create tailor-made videos, perfectly tailored to the target audience of the brand. It is possible to act effectively and observe concrete, measurable results, and the key to this is a well-thought-out strategy and precisely defined goals. Such brands as Play or Coca Cola, which have decided to cooperate with influencers for a long time, create strong ambassadors, and thus benefit not only from the reach and credibility, but also the image of the creators.