It’s time to say ta-ra to 2013, and welcome in 2014 and all the video content it will bring. We’ve been reminiscing here at Hurricane, but also looking ahead in anticipation of new content marketing trends.
So in the spirit of reflection, my video inspiration of the week is an ad which won Ad Age’s Viral campaign of the 2013. Just one month after its release, this video gained more than 114 million total views. It’s Dove’s Real Beauty Sketches. Take another look:
The campaign’s concept is simple, yet compelling – to make women feel better about themselves. An FBI forensic artist draws a sample of women based on their description of themselves and then another image based on other people’s.
The results of this social experiment show that women tend to be harsher about their physical appearance than others would be. But when the women see the difference in the portraits of themselves, emotions run high, which makes the video highly sharable.
The brand presence is minimal until the tagline at the end is “You’re more beautiful than you think”, but Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ message is strong throughout.
Why does this content marketing campaign work? The audience and their motivations are at the centre of the creative, the experiment gives credibility to the product and raises a question to keep people watching, whilst the result offers a twist that people will want to pass on. The video became the most viral video of 2013 with its strong story, effective use of owned media and a well-orchestrated seeding and PR campaign.
What were your video highlights of 2013?
Would this Dove advert be in your top 10 of the year? It made it to YouTube Rewind.
This is a mashup of the most popular videos from 2013. How many video references can you spot?
Chat video with us in 2014
As a leading UK video production company, we’d love to chat video marketing with you all day long, so do contact us.
Give us a ring: 01179 240773
Drop us a line: info@hurricanemedia.co.uk
Happy New Year when it comes…