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The YouTube Team

Sylvester Stallone’s interview for his new movie, 'The Expendables', starts off innocently enough. But then it gets real. A little too real.


On Monday, Lionsgate Entertainment unleashed one of the coolest customizations of the YouTube Watch Page we’ve offered to-date. Fresh off their promotion of ‘The Expendables’ at ComicCon, Lionsgate has pumped their YouTube advertising full of testosterone, and hopes to see big results at the box office.

Lionsgate has been placing its footage on YouTube for awhile now, in the form of promotional trailers and clips, television shows and full length films. So why this inspired creative approach to ‘The Expendables’ trailer where Stallone interacts with the ‘mercenaries’ in other videos?

“We’ve promoted ‘trailer overlay experiences’ for past films like ‘Daybreakers’ and ‘My Bloody Valentine 3D’ to great results”, said Lionsgate’s VP of New Media for Theatrical Marketing, Danielle DePalma, “This time we took the idea for ‘The Expendables’ to the next level by including a human element that surprises the user and turns something as simple as an interview into a bad-ass experience that matches the film’s fun and intensity.”

A bad ass YouTube experience? Precisely. It’s not about just getting your content uploaded anymore. There have to be drivers to your videos. For Lionsgate, that’s been the Youtube Homepage, the brand channel, Promoted Videos, and offline activities. DePalma went on to say, “Any offline event as powerful as Comic Con translates into buzz online, which is critical to marketing success. In the case of ‘The Expendables’, the energy and excitement from the overflowing crowd in Hall H and the thousands of fans proudly displaying their Expendables tattoos and pumped up by the cast signing and materials turned into extraordinary word-of-mouth via Twitter, Facebook, and blogs.”

Granted, not every business can attend trade shows or leverage large budgets for custom gadgets and Stallone-caliber endorsements. Lionsgate had the assistance of The Visionaire Group to pull together their YouTube customization. Nevertheless, if you're Sly-less and without a digital creative agency, there's still something to learn from 'The Expendables'. Have a diverse range of drivers to your video online and off, bring the element of surprise to your ads in ways that delight your audience, and hey - don't forget to SHARE.

Posted by Kate Rose, YouTube Communications recently watched Rocky Remix

In an age where hardcover books are feeling threatened by the web, publishing houses are learning new tricks. Increasingly, Random House and other large publishers have given book deals to web memes from ‘LOLcats’ to ‘Shit My Dad Says’, and have turned back to the web in order to market them.

Random House, in particular, expertly leveraged the power of YouTube with their blog-turned-book, Awkward Family Photos. During pre-sale weeks, authors Mike Bender and Doug Chernack posted videos of Mike’s grandparents reviewing the book on YouTube and used an InVideo campaign to help them go viral.

Soon after, their blog spawned a community of people commiserating and celebrating their awkward family moments. Best of all, the videos landed the book on the NY Times’ bestseller list, right behind ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’.

Co-author Doug Chernack says, “We were screenwriters at the time, and we’d never done a book before. There was no easier way to get something going than YouTube. Since we posted, thousands of people reached out, saying how much they loved the videos and wanting to know when the next would be posted.”

From a marketing perspective, using YouTube’s InVideo Ads was the right choice for Random House in generating buzz for this new book. Their Marketing Manager, Jay Sones, said, “We thought the YouTube ads were a great way to connect the video audience to a print product that they would really enjoy and, based on our ad metrics and book sales, we were right.” Overall, the clickthrough rate on the videos was 0.51%, up 10x that of other creatives. The average cost-per-click was $1.70, and the views and customer engagement were sky high (128,000 views at the time of this posting). Because of its cost-effectiveness, Random House will explore video and other online marketing tactics for their emerging eBook and digital business.

Sones also identified a critical part of the success of this book, “The authors are incredibly talented internet marketers. They’ve got a pitch perfect ear for what’s going to go big on the net. They’ve also got a sharp awareness of their brand and their viewers.” Ask co-author Mike Bender whether it was his talent for web marketing, and he’ll deny it. But he will talk about the authenticity his grandparents brought to their role as spokespeople. “They are who they are, it’s very real, and that’s why people have responded.”

There’s a lesson here for companies looking to launch a new product. Mike Bender said it best; “You have the opportunity to do something really creative to get the word out. Folks can smell when someone’s just trying to sell them something. Make them laugh and you’re 95% there.”

Kate Rose, YouTube Communications recently watched AFP Grandparents: Behind The Awkwardness