Hidden messages in video content

It is no secret that in marketing today, video content is king. According to HubSpot, 1/3 of all time spent online is dedicated to watching videos, which has meant that embedding videos in landing pages can increase conversion rates by up to 80% and 90% of consumers say that product videos aid them with purchasing decisions (Kolowich, 2017).

Facebook has even responded by rewarding video content creation with financial incentives and increased exposure by prioritising video content on newsfeeds (Moses, 2016).

From the infographic we can see just how popular video content is, especially on Facebook with 32 billion views daily across the platform. It is interesting however, that 85% of videos are watched with the sound off. 

Interestingly from this infographic, we can see that when video content hasn’t got subtitles, only 66% of viewers will tune in to completion, compared with 91% when subtitles are present. However, subtitles also increase the social reach of your video, with 15% more shares, 26% more call-to-action click-throughs and 17% better reactions.

None of this information is particularly new to the digital world, seeing as most mobile users are also listening to music or travelling or sitting in public while using their phones, Facebook has discovered that over 85% of videos are watched with no sound. This has led to Facebook introducing automatically captioned ads back in 2016, as previously they received large amounts of backlash for video ads automatically playing with the volume turned on (Peterson, 2015).

So what IS new here, if it’s not video content, captioning or adverts, what can have changed to make this marketing application distinctly new. The answer comes from American Express. Check out the video below and see what the credit card company did to make one of their adverts stand out:

So American Express ran a video that looked like any other promo for the Guns N’ Roses tour it was sponsoring, knowing full well that the majority of viewership would be with the audio turned off, AmEx decided to reward those who tuned in on audio with a chance to win free tickets to the people who messaged in.

This is a really great way to sneak a competition into an advert, and with the follow up case study video, American Express ensures a larger audience of people will listen to their adverts in the future and that audiences will be psychologically engaged as opposed to passively engaged. When most adverts play on social media before or during videos that the consumer is actively engaged with, the viewer is a passive recipient of information (Schmitt, 2012). However American Express have made it worthwhile for the viewer to listen when they previously would not and in providing an incentive, American Express have made it the viewer’s choice to engage with their advertising. By using an opt-in interactive experience, this extends the time that the consumer spends with the brand message (Nelson, Keum & Yaros, 2004).

Hotel.com did the complete opposite in their ads, by making the audio something you really wouldn’t want to listen to anyway. 'Captain Obvious' failing to play the piano for example (Griner 2015). By embracing the silence of the newsfeed, content creators have found another way to connect to their audiences.

 Naturally, one of the main challenges with creating interactive content in this way is the risk that it may not be interacted with. If 85% of content is listened to without the sound on, it’s highly likely that 'passive' ad content is a vast proportion of this percentage. The lack of coverage and follow-ups to the American Express giveaway has to make you wonder if the metrics did not reach the expectations of the campaign. Secondly the campaign only allowed for 50 winners, when American Express is such a wide reaching brand as soon as their audience is aware that giveaways can be found in adverts, such a small number of tickets will cause the engagement to drop again as people will not think they have a chance.

This style of ad was recently picked up in broadcast content, proving that there are opportunities for unexpected subliminal messaging works in multiple mediums and not just social. A tv advert for Vimto shows a meditation spoof of office workers twerking to classical music, which works just as well as a giveaway.

The juxtaposition between the music and the visuals make for comical and memorable watching, especially as it takes a very confident brand to begin an advertisement by encouraging its audience not to watch. This helps Vimto to build rapport with its audience, the ones who didn’t close their eyes feel special, like they are in on a secret and this creativity will leave good connotations with the teenage target audience that will encourage them to engage with the brand further (Sheehan and Morrison 2009).

References

Griner, D. (2015, June 02). Hotels.com Created a Facebook Autoplay Ad That's Infinitely Better Without Sound. Retrieved July 18, 2018, from https://www.adweek.com/creativity/hotelscom-created-facebook-autoplay-ad-thats-infinitely-better-without-sound-165133/

Kolowich, L. (2017, June 28). 16 Video Marketing Statistics to Inform Your Q4 Strategy [Infographic]. Retrieved July 18, 2018, from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/video-marketing-statistics#sm.0000f7ujhkwrse8sqa62aq63w23fi

Moses, L. (2016, June 29). Publishers' Facebook videos are shared 7 times more than links. Retrieved July 18, 2018, from https://digiday.com/media/publishers-facebook-videos-shared-7-times-links/

Nelson, M. R., Keum, H., & Yaros, R. A. (2004). Advertainment or Adcreep? Game Players' Attitudes towardAdvertising and Product Placements in Computer Games. Journal Of Interactive Advertising, 4(3), N.PAG.

Peterson., T. (2016, February 10). Facebook Will Start Automatically Captioning Video Ads. Retrieved July 18, 2018, from http://adage.com/article/digital/facebook-start-automatically-captioning-video-ads/302616/

Schmitt, B. (2012). The consumer psychology of brands. Journal Of Consumer Psychology (John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ), 22(1), 7-17. doi:10.1016/j.jcps.2011.09.005

Sheehan, K. B., & Morrison, D. K. (2009). Beyond convergence: Confluence culture and the role of the advertising agency in a changing world. First Monday, 14(3), 5.