• by Ian Schafer , March 15, 2007

All brand marketers are likely executing or developing a video-based advertising strategy. That strategy likely consists of one or more of the following: in-stream or in-page video, "viral" efforts, mobile, VOD, in-game, and of course, television.

In general, brands spend way more money developing their television commercials than on any other platform. And why not? They spend more on the medium than any other. But many consumers (especially younger ones) are now watching more individual pieces of video content online than on television.

The rules of the game are changing. To effectively use video to speak to consumers, brands have to change along with them. Complicating things further, consumers are changing the game itself by avoiding advertising wherever they can, forcing advertisers to evaluate and evolve their strategies.

Here are three of many ways video's rules are changing, and what they mean to brands.

Old rule: If you're going to launch a new brand, TV is the platform that will generate the most efficient success by immediately creating mass awareness about what the brand is.

New rule: Online video can make any product launch even more successful by being used to enrich audiences' understanding of why the product is.

In the launch of any new brand or product, it is imperative to identify who potential best customers are, where they congregate online, and who they respect and why. Many new software and technology companies have launched successfully by doing this very well.

They have opened themselves up to criticism, but ultimately gave audiences what they wanted and needed by developing a product that genuinely felt like it was for them. But how did they generate excitement? With video that creatively explains the ins and outs of the product, its features, tips and tricks, or even who the people are behind its design.

This gave influential audiences a deeper understanding of why the product would be something they'd want, and it made it easier for them to explain to others, creating momentum in the process.

A simple 'face-to-face' introduction, conversation, or walkthrough, coupled with respect for the consumer will plant the seeds for a campaign that audiences will respond to. Tribal DDB's "Shave Everywhere" campaign for Phillips' Body Groomer is a perfect example of this in action, using video to educate audiences (even if done tongue-in-cheek), without a TV campaign.

Old rule: Commercials work best when they air around relevant content.

New rule: Video advertising works best when it is relevant content.

Advertisers have the ability to create advertising that doesn't feel like advertising. In an era of ad avoidance, this is an ability that all brands can exert to be relevant to consumers. By creating content, advertisers can entertain, engage, and enlighten their consumers in ways that have previously been impractical. Instead of relying on consumers to associate an ad with the programming it ran within, brands can create an association with an emotional response -- laughter, sadness, nostalgia. Digital media provides a cost-efficient way to produce this kind of content, even in episodic format.

Old rule: Demographic and psychographic targeting opportunities are limited by content.

New rule: Targeting opportunities can be made limitless by technology.

Contextual ad targeting has been one of the most influential reasons for shifts in dollars to digital media. This has primarily been driven by text-based/search advertising. Stay tuned, because very soon we'll be able to dynamically target video advertising based on the content of the video it runs within -- recognizing speech, images, and text. There is at least one company that will be bringing this idea to market starting this year, and may very well contribute to changing the way we buy video advertising in any medium.

It's hard to play a game when the rules constantly change. However, unlike generations before, advertiser-created or brand-sponsored video is now versatile and portable enough to be much more to consumers than a commercial.

Video advertising can and should evolve into entertainment, a conversation, or an education. Add in targeted delivery mechanisms that can deliver video to the right people at the right time, and we've got a creature of higher-intelligence.

And as with any kind of evolution, only the strong shall survive.

Ian Schafer (ian@deep-focus.net) is Founder and CEO of Deep Focus, a leading interactive marketing agency with offices in New York and Los Angeles.