• by Naomi , Chris Young , October 2, 2006

Now, more than ever, video content is one of the most attractive vehicles to communicate and interact with your target end-user. With new innovations and technologies, video allows you to extend your creative concepts beyond the 30-second spot on television to an interactive experience where users can click, scroll and "talk" and truly interact with the brand.

So, what is the next evolution of online video? That depends on the creative agencies. It is creative shops that drive our innovation. They challenge technology vendors to push the limits and make their creative visions become a reality. Whether they are developing greenscreen video editing or figuring out how to make a 5 MB video game work within a microsite banner, they are driving us to new innovative heights.

The fact is, creative content is becoming so sophisticated--in design and application--that it is driving the market to determine how it can bring the best video experience to the end-user. When working with creative shops, I am always amazed at the creative content they've developed. And, when I think I've seen the pinnacle of creative thinking, I'm hit with something new, bigger, better. As our industry continues to grow and audiences engage with video, the need to grow our technologies and solutions in order to deliver and manage high-quality video campaigns across whatever format or complexity audiences demand is obvious.

What is so impressive is that creative has the ability to be applied against a full suite of video mediums, providing maximum exposure to a whole host of audiences. With so much creative equity, it is vital to take a simple video and grow your brand presence by adding interactive elements, enhancing the content, to eventually increase your "eyeball count." Here are some ways you can do that:

1. Sweetspotting. You want to captivate and interact with your audience, but you have a small space on the Web page and limited time before they move on to the next thing. How do you grab their attention? Eye-catching creative offers enough incentive for the user to sweep their mouse over that "Sweet Spot." And, video becomes clickable. Upon click, a new video can appear or more information about what was clicked on--a movie character or automotive part for example. The user is engaged, and the best part is that you incite an immediate response resulting in an e-commerce opportunity.

2. Expandable Microsites. On another hand, you have so much interactive content, you don't know what to do with all of it. You have streaming video. You have too much great content to go into the veritable "black hole." To make matters worse, you have about three inches on a banner ad to make an impact. With just one click, you have the ability to take the user to a microsite (built into your banner ad), allowing you to showcase your creative content. Microsites can offer extras such as games, additional video content, links to contests or prizes-- allowing your user to spend time with your brand in a meaningful way.

3. MMS Messaging. Most people never thought they would be getting a personalized voicemail from their favorite celebrity. The next thing you know, a celebrity is calling you. This is the beauty of MMS messaging. By building the MMS function into your Web page, your user is engaging with your brand on multi-channels. You've moved beyond the Internet, and literally, into the hands, or ear, of your end-user.

Creativity continues to drive innovation. All of these ideas originated with creative shops. Video mediums are important to drive the upstream-downstream, consumer--brand relationship building model. How do you get there? Creativity is the way to do that, while meeting the challenges of the evolving video medium. It is innovations like these that will continue to grow the two-way communication between brand and audience, ultimately fulfilling the promise of the Internet.