Why your company needs to be on YouTube

Viral marketing is hotter than ever. Read this article from Ragan’s Media Relations Report (www.ragan.com) to get a taste of how Capstrat and other industry leaders are spreading the word about word-of-mouth marketing.

Why your company needs to be on YouTube

It’s free, it’s cool, it’s viral. And it’s a PR opportunity

That Web site you visit to watch funny cat videos and replays of the best bits of The Colbert Report may be the next big weapon in your PR arsenal. Sites like YouTube (www.youtube.com) are not only hosting videos from college kids pulling stunts but also from savvy marketers who see value in the free publicity.

Sometimes it’s as easy as posting the video of your latest TV commercial. 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, the junk-removal company based in Vancouver, submitted its “Rat Advertising Trial” commercial back in March. Katie Dunsworth, the company’s PR manager, says the TV commercial www.youtube.com/watch?v=YarVLAhIqrs, which featured rats in company “T-shirts” being dropped off in junk-filled basements and backyards, became one of the site’s most popular videos the week it was posted, and was picked by TBS for an August airing of America’s Funniest Commercials.

“Our ad campaign was only running in some parts of the country, so we put our heads together to figure out how to make it viral, and get more people to see it,” says Dunsworth. “I use YouTube all the time, and we thought by posting the commercial we’d get more traffic.” Since it’s free to post, she explains, it wasn’t a tough decision.

Since YouTube and other video Web sites are still ranking high on the Cool-o-Meter, the brand looks good simply by being there, Dunsworth says: “At the moment, there’s news value simply being on YouTube.”

Smart PR people are jumping on the viral video bandwagon now, while it’s still the flavor of the month.

“The Today show is doing a segment about once a week on YouTube videos, and it seems like every other day The Wall Street Journal is talking about them,” says Wilson Cleveland, associate VP in the social media relations practice at Cubitt Jacobs & Prosek Communications in New York. Cleveland says he’s in talks with clients to create “Web sitcoms,” which would be posted on a video site. The agency plans to do all the work in-house, including writing, shooting and editing the “Webcoms.”

“It has been a great differentiator for the agency,” Cleveland says of CJP’s ability to offer turnkey video. In fact, the agency created a spoof video about itself called “Behind the Magic” [www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytD5N27HwBI], meant to be a recruiting tool to showcase its “clever and witty office.” (Cleveland stars in the video as a “recovering Blackberry addict.”)

Capstrat, a marketing and PR firm in Raleigh, also used viral video to showcase its own talents—and landed on the Late Show with David Letterman. A project to liven up a dull conference room resulted in a team effort to create a giant picture of Elvis Presley composed entirely of Post-It Notes (see and read about it at www.capstrat.com/cs/insight/articles/whatsbuzzgottodowithit.cfm).

Far from being just an office stunt, explains Capstrat Creative Director Todd Coats, the Post-It Elvis—and the corresponding YouTube video of Elvis being replaced by a Post-It Albert Einstein—was a strategic effort to draw attention to the firm. “Our whole purpose was to drive hits on our Web site, so that people could see our capabilities,” Coats explains.

Shortly after the Post-It Einstein was created, Account Director David Chatham happened to catch a Letterman episode in which stage manager Biff Henderson’s likeness was rendered in cheddar cheese. “I thought, if they can do it in cheese, why couldn’t we do it in Post-Its?” says Chatham. “I emailed the show and directed them to the YouTube site with the video. Oddly enough, one of the producers had heard about the Elvis Post-It somewhere. Within a day we heard back, and the next week we were on the show.”

Case studies like the Post-It Elvis can certainly help convince nervous executives that viral videos are smart marketing—but in most cases, given the newness of the viral video market, companies need to simply jump in with both feet and hope for the best.

Centive, a sales commission software company based in Burlington, Mass., is a relatively serious and sober business that’s usually reaching potential customers in more traditional media. Kel & Partners, a Westborough, Mass., marketing firm, created an animated parody [www.centive.com/forms/bicbac/bicbac.html] that took a lighter approach to Centive’s business.

“The biggest mistake that business- to-business companies make is that they always try to be serious,” says Kel Kelly, CEO of Kel & Partners. “But you’re communicating with humans, who always want to have a laugh.” The parody features the conflicts between sales and finance professionals, which goes to the heart of Centive’s products and the problems they solve. The video flew around the Web, and netted Centive a mention on the MSNBC program The Most, which chronicles fun stuff on the Web.

“For many clients, it’s a challenge to get them into the media,” says Kelly, pointing out that sales-commission software isn’t exactly hot stuff. “We took something that didn’t have a lot of sizzle and we wrapped it in sizzle. It was a Trojan horse to get the company into the media.”

Asking consumers to contribute viral videos about your product or brand is another key way to grab attention. Pyper Paul + Kenney, an ad agency in Tampa, is planning to launch the “Crush Everything” campaign this fall for Reeves Import Motors, a local luxury car dealer. The Web site, www.crusheverything.com, will feature videos of Hummers, well, crushing things, and site visitors will be invited to send in ideas for more things to crush. Print ads and billboards will direct people to the Web site, but the dealership’s name won’t appear.

“We watch YouTube videos all the time, and pass them around,” says Tom Kenney, executive creative director of Pyper Paul + Kenney, of the origins of the idea.

Wilson Cleveland of Cubitt Jacobs & Prosek thinks that viral video campaigns that invite participation are a great image-builder. “You’re encouraging the creativity of your stakeholders,” he says. “And you’re showing appreciation of your audience—you’re allowing them to give something back to the brand.”

But beware: Cleveland says your organization needs to be upfront about who created the viral video. “There’s nothing worse than a fake viral video,” he explains. “Be transparent, and make sure the Internet audience is aware of who’s behind that.” It’s fine if that’s a company instead of some high-school kids, he says—just don’t pretend to be what you’re not. “If you do, you’ll build a huge backlash from people who will criticize your video on their blogs.”

This article first appeared in Ragan’s Media Relations Report.
Copyright © 2006 Lawrence Ragan Communications, Inc. Reprinted from the Ragan’s Media Relations Report (October 2006 issue) with permission. Visit www.ragan.com for the full report and other issues.