Agencies and brands spend hundreds of thousands of dollars testing TV commercials to see what version is liked better or what is more effective or what resonates best with consumers. Especially if it's going to be in a high profile medium, like the Super Bowl. Last year's Super Bowl ad that we picked as our favorite was Google's boy meets French girl ad. Apparently Google tested this ad without spending a cent. And you can, too.
I was listening to the Beancast Marketing Podcast this morning and heard them talking about how Google tested different versions of their Super Bowl ad by posting them on YouTube and seeing which one fared the best. What a great idea! You can produce multiple executions and see which ones draw the most heat. And you can look at different metrics: What got the most views? What got the highest ratings? Which generated the most conversation in the comments section. Which had the most positive comments?
This is something any marketer can do. Of course, if you're a bigger brand or you have developed a strong online community, it's going to be easier for you. If you've never developed a YouTube channel or any other online community, getting the word out there will be harder and take longer. Then again, if it's only your raving fans that are watching and judging, is that indicative of the entire audience you're looking for with your advertising? Still, it's a pretty good way to get some feedback for free.
In fact, it seems a lot of companies are starting to release their ads ahead of time on channels like YouTube before breaking them on TV or other more traditional channels. Besides finding out things they many need to tweak, they are trying to build some buzz ahead of time and give their own community a sense of getting first peak. You can see that great creative has it's own life online, becoming more than just ads, but becoming content that gets passed around and drives traffic.
How about you? How are you using online tools to either improve or repurpose your marketing materials?
Mike McClure, Yaffe Group Exec Creative Director & Social Media Guy
Question Mike.
Is the youtube audience an accurate measure of the TV audience? The two are different, even though they may blend into each other slightly, don’t you think?
RR
Good question Richard.
No, I don’t think YouTube viewers would be an accurate representation of TV viewers. It’s certainly not a scientific sampling, either. However, you can get a feel for what people think. In the case of Google, their audience is probably much closer. For a brand like Denture Cream, it’s probably not that close. Still, it’s a way to see if your gut feelings about the creative are the same as what a general audience might think.