Page 139 - 100 Great Marketing Ideas (100 Great Ideas)

millions of people have done so. Some of the clips are no more than
a few seconds of shaky “home movies” taken on a cellphone, others
are professionally produced videos. Some movie companies have put
clips from their latest releases onto YouTube, and popular TV shows
sometimes appear—Shaun the Sheep has appeared on YouTube, to
name but one.

In some cases, companies have put commercials on YouTube. Strictly
speaking, this is against the terms of use: YouTube specifically
excludes videos that aim to solicit trade, but in general this has been
interpreted to mean that the company does not allow advertising
that directly seeks a response. General promotional advertising
is allowed provided it is interesting and amusing for YouTube
subscribers.

YouTube had 160 million unique visitors worldwide as of March
2007.

Other sites include MySpace, Google Video, and Yahoo! Video.
Brands ranging from Gap to Victoria’s Secret, Calvin Klein, Nike,
and Adidas are all on the video-sharing sites somewhere: the
medium is, of course, available to any business, no matter how large
or small. Obviously, there is no control over who will (or will not) see
the clip, but with so many subscribers that hardly matters. In any
case, anyone who is interested will seek out the clip—that is sort of
the point!

In practice

• Create as slick a video as you can. Use professionals if possible.
• Keep it humorous, or surprising, or entertaining in other ways.
• Don’t patronize your audience. They are on the site to be

entertained, not to be preached at.

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