USMC YouTube Channel Delivers Customized Experience
The United States Marine Corps has launched a YouTube brand channel that gives site visitors a Pandora-like feature that allows them to program and explore content about the
corps. It takes a cue from President Obama -- connecting with site visitors through social media.
JWT Atlanta created the channel.
The USMC content hub is the first-of-its-kind YouTube channel for the armed forces, although a handful of companies in the private sector use the technology to let visitors program their own content. A circular player features back-end logic and an algorithm similar to Pandora.
The site serves content based on thumbs-ups from viewers, creating an individual experience for each person who views the page. The Become a Marine button lets visitors sign up for information without leaving the site. The entire interaction with the potential recruit now takes place on YouTube.
The agency created the channel in Flash, providing a better experience on the desktop rather than mobile. Jeff Small, director of creative technology for the WPP ad agency, said the target audience consumes lots of video in diverse ways, including "key influencers like parents and mentors."
The videos answer common questions about length of boot camp, physical fitness requirements, etc. The site also allows visitors to like the page on Facebook, follow tweets on Twitter, and find the Marines on Foursquare.
The Marines' YouTube page has 33,631 subscribers; 11,975,593 views; and about 23,679,338 minutes watched. On average the audience watches 1 minute 58 seconds of videos, compared with the average reported by YouTube as 15 seconds.
"A custom experience is increasingly important for today’s digital audience," said Courtney Kuhl Rose, head of public sector at Google. "Viewers expect the content they want, when they want it, and how they want it. The Marines deliver a tailored experience to its various audiences: potential recruits, friends, family and their community."
Rose called it a great example of how marketers can express their brand on YouTube, where they are free from traditional constraints of the 30- or 60-second ad spot.
Recent Online Media Daily Articles
-
Network Advertising Initiative Proposes New Mobile Privacy Rules May 22, 9:03 p.m.
Moving forward with its plan to issue mobile privacy rules, the self-regulatory group Network Advertising Initiative ... -
Entertainment, Travel Bet On Mobile Banners May 22, 4:16 p.m.
Banner ads have long been the whipping boy of online advertising, and the same is now ... -
Marketers Should Tailor Specific Pitches To Tablet, Smartphone May 22, 2:51 p.m.
Don’t lump tablets in with mobile. That’s the takeaway of a new Forrester study looking at ... -
Good TV Content Trumps On, Whether Trad TV Or Streaming May 22, 2:42 p.m.
While consumers continue to perceive TV programming as superior in quality to that of online fare, ... -
Google Releases Self-Serve Display Benchmark Tool May 22, 2:02 p.m.
Understanding how a brand's online campaign competes with competitors requires trending benchmark data like engagement rates ... -
Twitter Brings Lead Generation To Tweets May 22, 1:14 p.m.
Twitter began testing a lead generation tool Wednesday in its tweet stream that resembles a cross ... -
DigitasLBi, Razorfish Tap Execs For Global Ops May 22, 11:26 a.m.
Publicis Groupe digital agencies DigitasLBi and Razorfish have installed new executives to run their respective international ... -
More Consumers Turn To Mobile To Research, Book Travel May 22, 8:53 a.m.
More than half of consumers used a mobile device to book travel in the last 90 ... -
Showrooming Overhyped, Mobile Key To Shopping Purchases May 22, 8:53 a.m.
Given consumers' mobile in-store shopping trends, some consider the showrooming hoopla overblown. The research process still ... -
Shopping App Swirl Adds In-Store Capability May 22, 8:53 a.m.
Swirl entered the mobile shopping fray last year with an iPhone app allowing users to learn ...
Be the first to comment on "USMC YouTube Channel Delivers Customized Experience"
Leave a Comment