Over the weekend, I thumbed through the December 2008 issue of OMMA magazine, “Survival Guide: 2009.” OMMA assembled its 2009 Survival Guide from a collection of “Top 10 Things You Need To Know About…[insert important industry topic here].” You can imagine my delight when I turned to the section on Video, authored by Daisy Whitney. Finally, a top-tier publication was going to let all of us online marketers know what we need to do to succeed with video in 2009.
Imagine my disappointment when I saw not a single suggestion was related to video commerce. Sure, there were plenty of references to branded entertainment, viral marketing, media companies, video advertising, Hollywood, and entertainment brands. That’s nothing new - video has been all about these things for the last few years. Video commerce is something different - something truly new.
For too long, the industry of online video has been framed through the lens of media companies, Hollywood, and online advertisers. Unfortunately, that view is inadequate for online marketers because it views video primarily as a product for advertising, not as a sales tool.
As online marketers in the e-commerce industry, we need to move away from the idea of video as a media that builds audience and instead focus on how video supports the core business. Viral video can be important, sure. Launching a new online TV channel might sound like a great idea… I get it. But online marketers focused on selling products need to think more about how video will help sell more, not about how to use video to launch a new media venture. Let me put it another way, perhaps a bit more bluntly: E-commerce companies can either monetize video NOW by driving more traffic to their e-commerce sites and increasing site conversion rates, or e-commerce companies can focus on video as a new media outlet and HOPE to break even by selling ad inventory while simultaneously entering a completely new industry already bursting with new and established entrants.
I don’t mean to be the one to be the bearer of bad news, but in times of economic slowness, despite what all the optimists out there in the media say, few of us will have the luxury to experiment outside the core business in 2009 (and those of us that can, count yourselves among the lucky ones!) Video commerce is different because it’s primarily concerned with supporting the core business of selling products. QVC, HSN, and ShopNBC may not have viral video hits or the most ground-breaking ads, but they’ve built empires on the power of direct response video and now are leveraging that content to drive sales online by merchandising with video on their sites.
While I don’t think the QVC and HSN model are necessarily the best fit for all e-commerce companies, their online model should be considered by those of us without a background in video production and direct response. Let’s remember these pioneers of the video commerce industry aren’t dedicating so many resources to online video simply because it’s “easier for them to do” since they already have content. The reason they’re doing it is because they understand what many of us still do not.
VIDEO WORKS.
In closing, I’d like to reiterate I have nothing against Daisy Whitney. She is an accomplished reporter and without a doubt one of the leading online video industry luminaries out there, but her background isn’t in e-commerce - it’s in media. And OMMA, as the self-proclaimed magazine of “Media, Marketing, and Advertising” is way too heavy on media and advertising reporting when it comes to video, and way too light on using video as a marketing tool accountable to the bottom line.
Happy Selling!
December 17th, 2008 at 9:04 am
Hi there,
a short note on the sentence “video works!”: what about using video in ecommerce for luxury and/or high-end brands ?
Gucci, Louis Vuitton and others seems to leverage more on trendy Adobe flash animation rather than, as an example, linking a fashion show video footage to the eshop application.
Do video NOT work for luxury brands ?
Simon
December 17th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Simon,
That’s a great question. There’s no doubt that luxury goods companies invest a lot in the brands they’ve painstakingly crafted over many years (over centuries, in some cases).
When it comes to luxury, “image and lifestyle are everything.” My observation is that luxury brands tend to be more cautious as to how they expose the brand online, including exposure through video. That’s especially true in cases where luxury brands are moving their products through 3rd party retailers that may themselves promote a value proposition with potential to create cognitive dissonance in the mind of the consumer (e.g. a discount retailer pushing Gucci bags on closeout could harm the luxury brand’s image of exclusivity). Having said, I’ve seen deep interest in video from at least one of the companies you indicated here. One company you may also wish to check out is Ralph Lauren. While Ralph Lauren is still evolving its video strategy, you also might be interested in checking out RL TV which does include a lot of lifestyle content including fashion show footage (check it out here.)
There’s also little doubt video can be used to successfully move high-end items. Ice.com, HSN, and ShopNBC, while not necessarily “high end” retailers, all use video to move expensive jewelry. In my own experience, I see more demand for video coming from the luxury segment than many other segments of retail and have little doubt that luxury will be among the most aggressive adopters of video commerce in the coming few years.
December 22nd, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Could not agree more. The “viral story” — ie the Elf-yourself or Will It Blend kind of example — has run for too long and tends to communicate the wrong message about video commerce. Video commerce is 90% selling, 10% branding. Right on.
December 23rd, 2008 at 3:12 pm
[...] my last post, I lamented online video has been viewed solely through the lens of branding, media, and [...]
January 9th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Sell it as demand generation. Don’t sell video as ‘branded entertainment.’ This is the key.
Sell it as direct response. Make the outcome a behavior and not necessarily a transaction. Think about it. ROI is re-defined.
Example: Request more product info. Email newsletter sign-up. Whitepaper or recipe?? download. This isn’t just yanking around semantically… but let’s assume it is :).
‘Branded content’ reeks of un-trackable frothy crap that’s trying to create mental states among customers (influence them). You want to promote ‘behavior inducement’ not branding. It’s ALL trackable and measurable.