November 11, 2015

Speaker Spotlight: Willem Challenger at Brightcove

Willem Challenger, Video Marketing Consultant at Brightcove, is among the speakers at the Figaro Digital Marketing Conference in London on 26 November 2015. He considers the state of video marketing in 2015 and tells us why online shoppers crave ‘real life’ experiences

Can you give us a quick introduction to what you’ll be discussing at the Figaro Digital Marketing Conference and explain why this is something that matters to marketers now?

We’ve seen a lot of changes in the online video space over the past year. As well as becoming the fastest growing online advertising channel, many of the major social networks have come out and declared that their future is in video, so the potential for marketers is huge. It’s clear that video is one of the most powerful content types available to convey information and create an emotional response, but deciding how and when to distribute your content isn’t always quite so simple.

At the conference I’ll primarily be focusing on how marketers can fully integrate video across all of their online channels. By doing so, they can advance beyond the traditional advertising-led approach to video and move towards using video as a content marketing type to inform, inspire and entertain their audiences at each stage of the customer journey. Using video in this way provides a more useful and engaging experience for the viewer, and ultimately drives more revenue for the organisation. I’ll be exploring this concept during my session and illustrating it using examples from brands who have successfully adopted video into their content marketing strategies.

We’re impatient! Can you give us one quick takeaway from the presentation?

One of the things I’m excited to discuss is the new research that Brightcove conducted this summer into the online shopping habits of UK consumers. Despite being a very well established channel, we found that there are still lots of opportunities for marketers to deliver against the growing demands and expectations of today’s consumer. Our research has discovered that over three-quarters (77 per cent) of consumers say that more ‘real life’ experiences—via video and multimedia content—would encourage them to make a purchase online. In addition to discussing these research findings I’ll be showcasing examples from global retailers who have been adopting video into the online shopping experience to increase their basket conversion rates.

What do you anticipate being the most significant issue facing marketers in your sector in 2016, and where would you suggest marketers invest next year?

As video becomes more central to brands’ content marketing initiatives, we’re seeing that many marketers are being held back by the capabilities of free platforms such as YouTube, which initially helped them to launch their video strategies – this often referred to as the ‘high cost of free’.

The increase in sophistication of video campaigns and the growing importance of video in marketing outcomes is leading marketers to demand more from their video libraries and hosting platforms. Adopting a professionally-focused online video platform (OVP) allows marketers to take more control over the execution of their campaigns, whilst solving common challenges and limitations posed by the use of free technologies.

We see the adoption of online video platforms increasing in 2016 as brands seek to do more with video. Common capabilities that are missing from free platforms that can be achieved using an OVP include the ability to customise a video player to the brand’s own look and feel, to build interactivity into the video experience (thereby encouraging the viewer to take action) and to integrate with other technologies in the marketing stack so that workflows are simplified and results are measured.

What has been your favourite digital marketing campaign of 2015 so far and why?

So far the most interesting campaign I’ve seen this year came from South Korea. Together with a major content production company, Samsung C&T Fashion created a full length, six-part fashion drama series to showcase the best of their 17 brands. Not only did they create great content, but they actually made the whole experience interactive, allowing the users to shop any item shown in the series as it was displayed. The results were astonishing: compared to the same two month period last year, they saw a 30 per cent increase in traffic and a 75 per cent uplift in sales.

I’m a particular fan of this campaign for two reasons. Firstly because it complements our recent findings that online shoppers are craving ‘real life’ experiences, and secondly because Samsung have taken the ‘brand as publisher’ concept to a new level.

https://www.brightcove.com/en/