Written by Jay Fortner and edited by Richard MacManus
The New York Times has an
interesting report about companies that offer customized video advertising, such as
Spot Runner and Visible World. Marketers are excited
about this technology, because it means they can utilize demographics to deliver targeted
advertising across several platforms – including television and the Internet. It’s also
less expense than traditional TV advertising and in some cases means they can route
around traditional ad agencies, by creating the ads themselves using the tools offered by
services like Spot Runner and Visible World.
So what does this all mean for the advertising world, the media industry and the ever
expanding Internet?
What Spot Runner and Visible World do
Not only is it becoming far cheaper to produce video ads, it is also becoming
cheaper to distribute and customize them. This effectively is making videos
easily stored and re-used, much like digital photos and music have become in recent
years. It removes a large chunk of production costs, as marketers no longer have to film
the commercial themselves – Spot Runner allows you to mash-up an ad from their ad
library. It also allows the creator of the content to reap the rewards for each customer
that chooses their ad.
Spot Runner
With the technology offered by Spot Runner and Visible World, a commercial can be
edited with voiceovers and text. Other imaging can be also added, or existing imaging
modified. This all allows for minimal human interaction (with video production companies
etc), fast changes, and remote control over an entire ad campaign. It means that a
commercial can easily have many different versions and be distributed to specific
demographics, depending on graphical location, gender, and other variables.
How the technology is being used
This simplified process of targeted advertising is ideal for small companies that want
to appear big, and for big companies that want to appear small. In that sense, the world
becomes a little flatter. Small businesses can operate within their budget to get a
professional ad; while large companies can tailor their ads to appeal to consumers across
the board, varying the product they sell or the spin their ad takes.
The format of these commercials makes them easily spread via television, or the
internet – and I’m sure mobile devices aren’t too far behind in becoming another
mainstream platform for distribution.
A Ford commercial from Visible World
The Long Tail of Video Commercials
Services offered by companies such as Spot Runner and Visible World cater to a broad
base of marketers, and create a platform for creativity and replicated data. The ability
to operate over the Web makes editorial accessibility an afterthought and increases the
number of niche markets an advertiser can display their product for. The media world has
departed from so many traditional models; and the Internet has enabled the majority of
those changes. Now the world of video marketing is following suit, catering to the
long tail of social networks and specific demographics – fragmenting themselves in the
same manner.
Essentially this allows marketers to take advantage of targeted marketing in ways
they’ve always dreamed of.
Implications
What’s the larger picture here? And what does it really mean for marketers to not only
gain increased access to demographic data, but to use it for more and more targeted
advertising?
Privacy issues are and will continue to be raised regarding the use of targeted
marketing. Much of our activity on the web, and even with our television’s remote
control, gives companies data to feed their advertising strategies. Also the advertising
job market will shift in reaction to the oncoming automation options, which are becoming
more available to marketers.
The Internet and mobile devices will become extremely important for the future of this
type of advertising. It will also become integrated within the widening Internet video
culture, and probably closely associated with user-generated content. This means
consumers may have a larger role in the distribution of these commercials; perhaps
customizing ads to be played along with their own videos, even becoming the most powerful
channel by which these commercials are distributed.
What are your thoughts on customized video ads — are we in the midst of a sea change
in video advertising, enabled by Web services like Spot Runner and Visible World?
