Give me a reason

Here's a tip for any marketer producing "viral" videos.

We don't watch television for the ads, why would that be our primary purpose for going online?

Think about it.

We watch television for the sports, comedies, dramas, rich housewives acting badly, d-list celebrities acting badly, spray tanned New Jerseyites acting badly, and severely biased news programming.

We put up with the advertising because it pays for the content, questionable as it may be. That's not the case on YouTube. Your funny product video is just another ad, but it's not sponsoring anything nor adding any value to my online experience so I have no reason to watch. None whatsoever.

Apparently the folks at GE aren't aware of this.



A four and a half minute commercial for a refrigerator? I don't think so no matter how well produced it is.

The next time your agency comes to you and tells you they want to make wacky webisodes featuring your product, ask them one simple question: Why would anyone who doesn't work for our company watch this?

If they can't tell you, tell them to get back to work.