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C h a p t e r 6 Incorporating YouTube Videos in Your Overall 67
Web Marketing Mix

Tip

Whatever approach you take should be based on your particular circum-
stances; there’s no one right way to proceed. In fact, you might choose dif-
ferent approaches for different campaigns over time.

Repurposing

When it comes to joint television/online marketing, there are several approaches
you can take, the easiest of which is simple repurposing. If you have an established
TV advertising campaign, you repurpose your television ads to YouTube, posting
your 30-second TV commercials to the YouTube site.

This is a simple approach, and it might be a good one—if your commercials are
compelling enough to attract YouTube viewers. But, let’s face it, when given the
choice of watching a million other entertaining and informative videos, why would
YouTube viewers choose to spend 30 seconds of their valuable time to watch the
same commercial they’ve seen a dozen times on TV?

If the original commercial is compelling enough, this might work. (It certainly
works for Old Spice, Snickers, Evian, and other big advertisers.) But for most adver-
tisers repurposing, although inexpensive and easy to execute, won’t be very success-
ful.

Extending and Expanding

A better approach might be to take your existing television commercial and expand
it for the YouTube audience. Maybe offer an “uncut” or “uncensored” version or
shoot a new commercial that starts up where the first one left off. If a commercial is
really successful, you can create a series of videos playing off that first one. Or
maybe you can use YouTube as a channel for similar executions that you didn’t use
on television. Something to extend or expand your existing campaign, not just
replicate it online.

You can also use your existing campaign as the jumping off point for something
new and creative. For example, some companies have created an initial video, and
then encouraged viewers to produce their own variations. You can even do it in the
form of a contest: Make your own YouTube video promoting our product, and the
winner gets a valuable prize. Use your imagination and take advantage of the user
interaction that YouTube encourages.