The terms online video advertising and online video marketing, like the broader terms advertising and marketing themselves, are often used interchangeably. According to online dictionary MerriamWebster.com, advertising and marketing are defined as follows:

Advertising: The action of calling something to the attention of the public especially by paid announcements.

Marketing: An aggregate of functions involved in moving goods from producer to consumer.

Online video advertising approaches the goal of increasing sales in a more direct fashion, announcing a product, service or special offer and encouraging the consumer to act on the announcement in the form of a direct inquiry or immediate purchase. Just as advertising involves paying for access to a large, targeted audience, online video advertising allows brands and products to drill down even further and reach an even more targeted audience, sorted by interests. Often, the same verticals established for an online video ad campaign can be carried through to online video marketing.

The Kodak Theatre, which will host the Academy Awards on Sunday, is just around the corner from the Supercool offices, so I used my lunch break to make an intrepid, cold and rainy trek to check out the action. Facing the torrential downpour (as we in L.A. call a slight drizzle) and passing Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, and Elmo huddled under an umbrella, I finally made it to my destination, where the red carpet has been rolled out and hundreds are hard at work making final preparations for Sunday’s show.

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Be sure to come back this time next year to check out photos of Supercool walking that red carpet when we’re nominated for Best Viral Video. We’d be nominated this year, but we thought we’d wait until the weather cleared up.

Identifying a primary demographic is as important, if not more important, in online video, viral and social media marketing than in more traditional channels of advertising and marketing. The primary demo is that group of people most likely to buy what your brand or business is selling. Another important target to establish is the secondary demographic, made up of people who are either somewhat likely to buy or in a position to influence those who are very likely to buy a brand’s products or services.

Word-of-mouth marketing has been around pretty much since the invention of words and mouths, and, since then, people have been referring friends to everyone and everything from the guy who made the best hunting spears to the hottest new video game releases.

Reaching the target consumer directly 100% of the time would be awesome, but they are not always in one place online just waiting for your video. Also, while they may all share a love of certain brands, products and services, they may respond to different stimuli designed to encourage them to watch your video, share, interact and follow a course of action that will lead to a sale.

So, including the buying consumer, here are the five people you have to reach and engage to get the most out of your online video campaign.

1. The Influencer. Influencers include bloggers, publications, writers, people with a large Twitter following, people with lots of Facebook fans, hot YouTubers with tons of loyal subscribers and celebrities. They will share your video and message either because…

a. they believe the content will be interesting to their readers, viewers, fans, followers and subscribers.
b. they’re being compensated.
c. they’re involved in the project somehow as a sponsor, partner or creatively.

2. The Fan. Fans can be broken down into 2 categories:

a. Fans of the brand, who will always be on the lookout for anything brand-related, including new products and branded entertainment. They are part of a loyal club and are always eager to share with other fans and convert new ones.
b. Fans of the video style, including fans of comedy, videos that touch an emotion like happiness, or outrage, or videos that inform and educate.

Video optimization including titles, tags and descriptions is key so that fans of the style can find your branded videos. They often may or may not care less about the message but will pass it along to other people they think may enjoy the content. Many of them will be your consumer!

3. The Zealot. Zealots will be interested in your video because it either supports their beliefs or goes against them. Either way, they are likely to pass the video to help further an agenda that may or may not be completely removed from your brand message. Take for instance the 2011 Groupon Super Bowl ad that sparked so much controversy. Plenty of people blogged and ranted about the insensitivity of the Tibet spot, but I’m sure a good number of them, and the people they reached, were still interested in saving a few bucks on fish curry.

4. The Friend. Friends will share your video and message with friends they think might need the brand’s product or service, who may want to enter the contest, sign up for the social network, attend the classes, or otherwise take advantage of the offer included in the messaging.

5. The Buying Consumer. Buyers constitute the end game. These are the people you are ultimately trying to reach, and that you rely on to not only follow a call to action and make purchases, but to share their experiences with influencers, fans, zealots, friends and other buyers.

Get the seal of approval from these five people — and your branded entertainment and viral marketing videos will be a smash!

Originally published on MediaPost, written by Supercool Creative Director David Murdico

Supercool Creative is a digital creative and social media marketing agency in Los Angeles specializing in big ideas, marketing, interactive & online video production.

The great thing about video, viral and social media marketing is that the brand message doesn’t always have to hit the end consumer directly, from the start. Each and every view doesn’t have to come from likely buyers or the end consumers, as long as the creative, message and viral marketing strategy of the campaign are aligned and intended to get there eventually.

Not that I’ve ever tried this, but apparently when you throw a grenade at someone, the thing blows up and sends shrapnel in all different directions. This blast pattern can be predicted to a certain degree, but largely, the people and things that get hit depend on where you threw it in the first place. The people closest to the blast will be influenced the most, the people hit with shrapnel will be second in line, followed by the people hit with debris, the sound concussion and the effects of witnessing such an event. They will be sure to tell their friends.

Supercool Creative’s Executive Creative Director David Murdico was a featured guest on Digital Production Buzz on Thursday,  talking about viral marketing videos, what elements go into developing and launching a successful viral campaign and Supercool’s recent work with T-Mobile, Zeno Group and Khloe Kardashian.

Hosted by Larry Jordan and Michael Horton, Digital Production Buzz is the world’s only interactive talk radio program covering Digital Production, Post-Production and Distribution and is filled with information and entertainment designed for the independent filmmaker or industry professional.

This is a photo of David before going on the show. Actually, several months before going on the show. He didn’t even know he was going on the show back then but if he had known, this is what he would have looked like, so I think the picture works.

In addition to running Supercool Creative, David is a contributing writer on ReelSEO and MediaPost and recently spoke to the Master’s in Human Behavior Program (MHB) at The University of Southern California.

To book david as a speaker or for additional information, please contact Brian Alexander. he can be reached at brian@supercoolcreative.com.

Join us on the set of T-Mobile’s “Share the Love” video shoot with Khloe Kardashian at Dash!

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Each year, we’re seeing more and more video campaigns launching for viral and social media distribution on Facebook, YouTube and elsewhere by larger brands and businesses intent on tapping into the power of video as a marketing tool. Likewise, we’re seeing an increase in video marketing content centered around holidays.

This trend is by no means restricted to big brands and businesses. The Internet has leveled the playing field considerably, so video and viral marketing can be as effective, with a small budget, proportionally speaking, as with a big budget. Big brands have to reach millions of people, while smaller businesses may only have to reach thousands. As always, targeting is key, and quality of views and shares trumps quantity.

As Supercool Creative put the finishing bows and ribbons on a Valentine’s Day video campaign for T-Mobile, I started thinking about why launching videos based on holidays is such a good idea and why everyone seems to be jumping on board.

As a creative director at a creative agency, I am routinely faced with blank sheets of paper and empty whiteboards just begging for big ideas. This, I can handle. A harder proposition is being faced with a brand, business or organization that is looking for “something like this video” or “a little different version of that campaign.” On one hand, this is a great way for marketing executives to convey a creative direction. On the other hand, the approach betrays the potential reach and impact that can be earned with a completely original online video, social media, interactive or integrated campaign.

Chasing the Dragon

Chasing the dragon is an expression most commonly associated with heroin or other drug use that describes a user’s attempts to re-experience the thrill of their first high. Since we all aspire to achieve marketing success with each new product and service, the tendency is to study and follow those campaigns that have already been successful. There are two ways marketers chase the dragon.

Audiences are becoming increasingly fragmented in the ways they find and experience entertainment content and related marketing messages, which can be frustrating for the brands, businesses marketers and advertisers that are trying to reach them. There is indecision and hesitancy about where to best spend tightening marketing budgets and nowhere is this more true than in the explosive areas of online video and social media. Demographics aside, we must now contend with, and benefit from, media, platforms and devices that didn’t exist less than a decade ago. Strap on your helmet and lace up your boots because it’s only going to get wilder.

When brands, businesses, marketing executives and agencies consider developing and launching an online video marketing initiative, the assumption is often that the video or videos will be launched on their own, independent of other departments or media. There is often little or no budget or inter-team cooperation for promoting the campaign other than a press release, a tweet and some emails to coworkers and friends. If the video doesn’t perform as well as expected, many executives don’t evaluate the bigger picture but rather decide that other factors must have been involved, including:

• The audience didn’t like the video — or they “just didn’t get it.”
• The video was too long, or the video was too short.
• The product or service is B2B and video is only good for B2C.
• The production quality wasn’t good enough — or the production quality was too good.
• The message was too strong — or the message wasn’t strong enough.
• There was no call to action — or there was too much call to action and we scared the audience away, as if consumers are herds of skittish impalas (not the cars) gathered around some watering hole in Botswana.

There’s a wealth of information available contrasting online video advertising and broadcast advertising, traditional marketing to online marketing, whether or not social media will kill PR, push advertising vs pull marketing, lean-back versus lean-forward and on and on. Maybe the time has come to stop pointing out the disparities or trying to figure out which is better — and to start capitalizing on the similarities, identifying the places where the mediums intersect and, more importantly, where they can be benefit each other in the bigger picture.

Television. TV and radio are great at reaching mass audiences but not as good at engagement and interactivity. TV can raise brand and product awareness and tell lots of people to go do things, but viewers can’t communicate directly with the commercial, leave a comment or directly send the ad to their friends. Also, as soon as the media buy is over, the TV ad stops running.

Online Video. Online video is great at targeting and engaging specific audiences, is easily shared, and thrives on interaction. The video lives on regardless of additional media buys. However, reaching a critical mass audience — an audience that will take enough action to offset the budget spend and deliver a return on the marketer’s investment — requires a viral marketing strategy that includes ad placement, outreach, social media marketing, video optimization and cross-integration wherever possible.

Social Media. Social media describes multiple channels of distribution and engagement and is ideal for sharing online video messages. Basically, social media is to online video and brand messages as TV is to shows and commercials, but with far more interactivity.

So imagine if a simultaneously launched TV and radio campaign, along with press releases and blog and publication outreach, were to direct interested viewers to social media initiatives on Facebook, Youtube and other social platforms with additional online video content that would:

a. live there forever

b. encourage interactivity and sharing

reinforce, supplement and spread the brand message through the videos and surrounding conversation

d. allow for sustained reactive engagement

e. build audiences for future engagement

Wouldn’t that be nice?

Start thinking in terms of integrating bits of TV, radio, PR, outdoor advertising, print, guerrilla marketing and social media wherever and whenever you can. Get more than one department involved and share the success of the campaign. I like to equate viral marketing with trying to break boards with your hand. If you don’t hit with everything you’ve got, you’ll break your hand — which, in the words of Charlie, “really hurt

Originally published on MediaPost, written by Supercool Creative Director David Murdico

Supercool Creative is a digital creative and social media marketing agency in Los Angeles specializing in big ideas, marketing, interactive & online video production.