Why So Serious? Creative Can Be Creative

Did you know that some of the most popular videos on YouTube are actually uploaded by innovative marketers? These videos are viewed -- and even better, shared -- by millions of people all around the world.

Some advertisers have had success simply uploading their television creative to the site. And while the best of these commercials can generally find a large audience, there's one thing the most popular videos on YouTube from advertisers tend to have in common: they take advantage of the fact that YouTube is a terrific place to have fun and be creative. Here are three great videos from advertisers that playfully used different YouTube features to their advantage.

Electronic Arts Engages With Video Responses
Responding to popular videos on YouTube is a great way to increase views for your own content, and one of the best examples of this we've seen on the site came from Electronic Arts. When a user uploaded a video that pointed out a glitch in their Tiger Woods PGA Tour video game, Electronic Arts responded in kind, making a web-exclusive commercial with Tiger Woods himself that jokingly implied the glitch was intentional. Their video has been viewed over 3 million times.

Samsung's Annotations Adventure
Video Annotations is one of the more popular ways uploaders generate commentary around their YouTube videos. But marketers have also been quick to adopt this interactive feature to create engaging brand experiences for consumers on the site. Growing up, many of us enjoyed "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. Samsung brought this experience into the world of online video, telling users to Follow Your Instinct on a user-controlled first-person journey through Samsung videos.

OfficeMax Keeps You Watching Related Videos
How many times does watching one great YouTube video result in your discovering and watching another related video (and another, and another...)? When OfficeMax launched their back to school campaign they took full advantage of this phenomenon by uploading a series of prank videos, creating a veritable playlist for users to watch. That way, as users discovered their first penny prank video, they could immediately -- and easily -- watch a second and third. In fact, OfficeMax was able to extend the reach of each video in their program by over 20% as a result of these videos being discovered in the related videos section.

For more information and examples, contact your YouTube representative.

Posted by Michael Rucker, Product Marketing Manager