Commentary

Green: Video

On the fourth Wednesday of the month, Marketing:Green focuses on green media strategies and opportunities within specific media. (October: outdoor; November: print; December: TV, January: online video, February: radio). Creative, strategic, operational and other media pros are invited to brainstorm and collaborate, with the goal of indelibly cementing "green" into media of all types: Ideas ranging from "so-crazy-it-just-might-work" to "as long as no one gets hurt." This month we explore how online video pioneers have been quietly saving the planet behind firewalls, while daring creative producers are pushing the envelope to get their green messages across in front of consumers.

YouTube is synonymous with online video. This is by far the largest video sharing site in the world. However, aside from what you see on YouTube, there are some large influential companies that were on the green wagon before YouTube was born.

"Virality" is the goal of a YouTube video campaign, whereby media costs are mitigated or entirely negated because of user sharing. The famous Dove Evolution commercial was the watershed cause-marketing video, with well over 12 million views in its first year as well as numerous international awards. That was way back in 2006, however. Since then online video has become a lot more pervasive, a lot noisier and way more competitive.

According to comScore, more than 10 billion views were recorded in August 2009.These numbers were modified by YouTube shortly thereafter, when Chad Hurley (co-founder and chief executive) stated that YouTube was "well over 1 billion views per day." Given such a massive amount of inventory, getting a green message (or any message for that matter) across with the platform is extremely challenging today.

In 2010, online video visibility takes an increasing amount of creative sophistication, along with at least a dash of "shock factor." Case in point is Polar Bear from environmental activist group Plane Stupid, in which dozens of polar bears drop out of the sky to graphically illustrate the effects of plane emissions on global warming. Equally racy, but more tongue-in-cheek is Xixi no Banho, a Brazilian public service animation encouraging viewers to pee in the shower in order to conserve water.

But, green in online video is certainly not all about peeing aliens and polar bears dropping from the sky. When we get a peek behind the firewalls into the world of online media management and distribution, there is a very green tale to tell.

As discussed in December's installment of this column, TV is by far the king of the media jungle. The good news is that companies within that massive industry were using online video before YouTube was even founded, in order to expedite delivery of creative assets while reducing major amounts of toxic waste from the atmosphere and from landfills.

DG FastChannel is a publicly traded company (Nasdaq: DGIT) in the media asset management space. According to a spokesperson, DGF (as well as similar companies) have eliminated millions of videotapes and DVDs from production, distribution and disposal by moving to online video distribution infrastructure. Aside from the amount of fossil fuel required to produce a single tape ("one gallon of oil" is the closest estimate from any spokesperson), certain toxic substances are also employed in manufacture. The tapes are often discarded after a single use, due to worries about quality control.

The collaboration process in creating a piece of video collateral is also significant.

"[Digital video] is greener as well as faster, more efficient and, most importantly, cheaper [than tapes or DVD's]" according to Steve Hancock, CEO of adbeast (a video collaboration technology solutions provider).

"Thousands of files are shared daily on Adbeast, all of which used to be tapes/DVDs," according to Hancock.

So, aside from a marketing strategy, these companies have realized that green is simply good business: efficiency, lack of waste, faster, and cheaper! These less visible, but influential companies are proving that online video is the future, while literally dispelling the myth that online video is garbage!

5 comments about "Green: Video ".
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  1. Chris Corbett from KMA Direct Communications, January 27, 2010 at 12:40 p.m.

    Never mind the fact that the "Polar Bear" video has been proven to be factually a pile of . . . bear dung.

    Never mind the fact that global warming is being revealed day by day as dubious at the very best.

    Never mind that polls show Americans and even non-Americans (the market) catching on to the fact that global warming is not a priority problem--and becoming annoyed at the pious hectoring from leftist philosophers and mega-corporate marketers.

    Never mind that great harm can result from media in the service of global error.

    For decades, video images have been used for good and bad. I would submit that marketers be a little humble in the face of facts, in the face of the power they have to propogate deception and falsehoods, and in the face of an increasingly resistant marketplace.

  2. Brad Stewart from Molecule Inc., January 27, 2010 at 1:36 p.m.

    Since I'm not a scientist, I won't comment on the various claims you're making regarding global warming.

    I will invite readers to comment though about some of your scientific claims.

    Is what Chris saying correct? That is "Global warming is being revealed day by day as dubious at the very best". I wasn't aware of this. I thought that global warming was very much a concern of scientific and political communities.

    In terms of green marketing as a trend vs. a passing fad, I can comment on this. Jan 4 2010: A Recent industry report from MediaPlannerBuyer found that 33% of respondents said green marketing was more effective than their normal marketing efforts, with just 7% saying it was less effective.

    Other highlights of the report.
    -82% of respondents indicated they expect to spend more on green marketing in the future.

    -28% of marketers themselves think green marketing is more effective than other marketing messages, compared to 6% of marketers who think it is less effective.

    -About half of companies reported that they are consciously taking steps to become more green.

    Green is here to stay, in other words!

  3. jay odenbaugh, January 27, 2010 at 3:13 p.m.

    Unfortunately, Mr. Corbett has been factually misinformed.

    First, polar bears are greatly at risk. As the U.S. Geological Survey has noted in their executive report, "Projected changes in future sea ice conditions, if realized, will result in loss of approximately 2/3 of the world’s current polar bear population by the mid 21st century. "(1)

    Second, the most esteemed scientific organizations including the National Academy of the Sciences, the American Geophysical Union, IPCC recognize that the Earth is warming and that it is in part caused by human greenhouse gas emissions.(2)

    Third, economists are in agreement that it would be less costly to act now than to act later (or do nothing at all!) in curbing our emissions.(3)

    (1) http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/special/polar_bears/docs/executive_summary.pdf
    (2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_opinion_on_climate_change
    (3) http://www.thebigmoney.com/articles/hey-wait-minute/2009/02/11/surprise-economists-agree

  4. Nelson Yuen from Stereotypical Mid Sized Services Corp., January 27, 2010 at 4:34 p.m.

    ... wow. This article became a discussion on global warming. (Totally takes away from the article in my opinon LOL but let's end the argument now.)

    Chris if for NO OTHER REASON you should support green initiatives just for the economic benefits. It costs companies & consumers LESS to go green.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1UGmm5ueqA

    End of topic right? I mean companies thrive on innovation and improving the business process - doing things better than we did yesterday. If it's CHEAPER in the long run, or the return on investment happens within X amount of time, doesn't it make sense to supplement green initiatives?

    Oh and btw... I want to mention this very politely - if we aren't trying to innovate in the environmental science industry, what industry do you suggest we try to innovate in order to create new jobs? The automobile industry? How about the computer science industry? Manufacturing? I cannot name a domestic industry in United States is still #1 at. Certainly not a growing industry.

    (PS. addressing your industry. One of the top ranking media companies in the US Dentsu. 4th World Wide - with a stronger presence in the US than most Domestic Advertising Firms.)

  5. Mike Darnell from Treepodia, January 31, 2010 at 1:52 p.m.

    I think the most significant "Green" factor online video promotes, be it via Youtube or other solutions, is a valid and affordable opportunity for SMBs to access a medium that was beyond their reach for most of its existence - VIDEO.

    On Youtube a mom-&-pop business has an opportunity to compete for attention against huge corporations and, ever so often, even win!

    A personal favorite of mine is "Tequila Robot" created for a local business out of Birmingham Alabama with a budget of $100. Enjoy:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5K6NGT0Esc
    : )

    Cheers,
    Mike
    @treepodia
    http://blog.treepodia.com

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