Online video is the place where culture is exchanged between viewers, fans, brands, and creators. About 300 hours of content are uploaded on YouTube every minute of the day.
Watch time had grown by 60% in the past year, and about one billion hours of content is watched every day. In the time of COVID, online video has emerged as an opportunity for companies to stay in touch and contribute regularly to explain and reinvent culture.
A new white paper released by WARC, titled “Brand-building at the speed of culture: The role of online video in Asia” in partnership with YouTube, discusses how brands can use culture to increase their role in Asia’s online video scenario.
The report, derived from an analysis of the winners of YouTube Works 2020-2021 awards from across Asia, provides key lessons for marketers, accompanied by the best practice from WARC and industry insights.
The following are some important insights from the white paper “Brand building at the speed of culture: The role of online video in Asia.”
- Pull cultural levers for emotional impact
Storytelling success depends on how well a brand story resonates with the intended audience. And to do that, it needs to fit the cultural narrative.
Taking Kleenex Viva in Taiwan as an example, brands should align themselves with the apt subcultures to find stories that resonate, entertain, and invite the community to amplify and share.
Using humour is also an effective means to achieve an emotional connection. Humour was used by 21% of the winning case studies, including Delicare Ms in Japan and RC Cola in the Philippines.
Festive celebrations and rituals have been reimagined digitally following the pandemic. Marketers should explore the relationship between technology and culture, like Mondelez – Cadbury in India, to find new opportunities to reinvent rituals in a way that enriches audiences.
- Take a new approach to build fame
Online creators and personalities who want to strengthen their relationship with their audiences should create opportunities for impactful collaborations.
Collaborating authentically with content creators in a transparent and relatable way is key, especially with Gen Z audiences, as seen by Bear Brand ImmD in Thailand.
- Activate purpose through community
A study by Kantar showed that 31% of Asian consumers list a company’s positive effect on the community as one of the brand attributes they consider most important. Supporting the community and having a distinctly articulated purpose is now important for success.
To aid brands to use online video for fruitful marketing, the whitepaper has full chapter analysis, case study examples, and WARC Best Practices.
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