From REELSEO: According to new research, viewers are far more likely to recall a brand name and engage with an ad’s message if a branded video has been recommended to them by a peer. The survey, conducted by Decipher Research to measure the effectiveness of social video advertising, found that social video recommendations had a direct impact on traditional brand metrics and ad enjoyment.

The new research found:

• Brand recall and brand association rose 7 percent among viewers who had peers recommend the videos versus viewers who found it by browsing;
• 73 percent of respondents who viewed a peer-recommended video recalled the brand when prompted versus 68 percent of viewers who had browsed to the video directly;
• There was a 14 percent increase in the number of people who enjoyed the video following a recommendation versus those who had discovered it by browsing;
• People who enjoyed a video were 97 percent more likely to purchase the product featured in the video.

The study, which surveyed online video viewers, aged 18-34, across four social video campaigns from top fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands Guinness, Coca-Cola, Unilever’s Cornetto and Energizer Batteries from July to November 2011, sought to determine the impact of peer recommendations.

“Social video is a powerful format for engaging consumers. If a brand creates great video content and makes it easy to share, it will see impressive results across the entire purchase funnel,” said Unruly COO Sarah Wood in a press release.

The survey, organized in conjunction with the brands’ agency partners Carat, Vizeum, Mindshare and MEC, was issued today in a free white paper entitled “Social Ad Effectiveness: An Unruly Whitepaper.” Viewers could opt in to the survey directly from an annotation within the Unruly video player or from the video’s YouTube page. The data gathered from viewers following a recommendation was compared with that of viewers who had arrived at the video by browsing, to determine the effects of recommendations on brand metrics and post viewing behavior. And 976 surveys were completed.

The data clearly shows that viewers enjoy recommended videos more than non-recommended videos: there was a 14 percent increase in the number of people who enjoyed the video following a recommendation versus those who had discovered it by browsing. Moreover, a recommendation reduced the number of people who did not enjoy the video by 41 percent.

Viewer enjoyment of branded video is important because it has a direct impact on key brand metrics. Viewers who enjoyed the video they watched demonstrated 139 percent higher brand association, 97 percent higher purchase intent, 35 percent higher brand favorability, and 14 percent higher brand recall than their counterparts who did not enjoy the video.

In addition, 68 percent of viewers who had browsed to the video correctly recalled the brand when prompted, compared to 73 percent of viewers who had arrived at the video following a recommendation. This 7 percent uplift suggests that video viewers are in a more receptive and attentive frame of mind following a recommendation, allowing brands that produce and distribute social content to benefit from closer communication with their audiences.

Recommendations caused a 7 percent increase in brand association: agreement with key brand statements increased from 41 percent among viewers who had browsed to the video to 44 percent among viewers who seen the video following a recommendation. This result reinforces the above suggestion that recommendations make viewers more receptive to brand messaging.

There was also a drop of more than one fifth in the number of respondents that disagreed with key brand statements. Recommendations have a large role to play for brands in changing off-message perceptions amongst their audiences as well as in actively cultivating on-message perceptions.

Brand favorability and purchase intent remained unchanged with recommendation. This is likely to be because all four of the tested brands were well established, high profile brands with a high favorability index. Seasonality could have skewed purchase intent, as both soft drinks and ice creams are highly consumed during the summer, when the campaigns took place. Also, the products advertised on the test campaigns were FMCGs, where purchase intent is higher than average vs. other sectors and unlikely to show much change. Running the survey against new product launch campaigns would be likely to demonstrate measurable effects for these two metrics.

Viewers of the social videos tested went on to perform a multitude of brand or video related actions, notably 49 percent of viewers purchased the advertised product within three days of the view. And 38 percent of viewers spoke to someone in person about the video, showing a social video view to stimulate real life conversation: what starts online becomes interchangeable with real life in the minds of today’s consumers. Interestingly, online sharing and emailing of the link are immediate reactions, highlighting the need for sharing functionality within a video player – users do not come back and share a video later, it is a spontaneous exercise. And 9 percent of users searched for the brand, and 4 percent of users searched for products of that type: so, social video viewing is having an effect across all aspects of the purchase funnel.

This research demonstrates that social video significantly increases brand attention.
The power of social video lies in the recommendation to view content. This recommendation comes not only from peers in social media environments, but also from authoritative blogs and news sources covering advertiser content editorially.

The impact of the recommendation on consumers is considerable:

• Viewers are more likely to enjoy a video when it has been recommended than when encountered through browsing (14 percent higher enjoyment)
• Viewers are more likely to recall a brand name when the social video has been recommended than when encountered through browsing (7 percent higher recall)
• Viewers are more likely to engage with an ad’s messages when the social has been recommended than when encountered through browsing (10 percent higher brand association)

Ultimately enjoyment of the video correlated positively with all tested brand metrics in the sales funnel, including brand favorability and final purchase intent.

Hey, you can’t make this stuff up.

Source: The Impact Of Social Video Recommendations On Brand Metrics (Research) http://www.reelseo.com/social-video-recommendations-brand-metrics-unruly/#ixzz1n8Qb8y2G

Happy New Year! During 2011 we had the opportunity to work on many exciting, creative video projects with clients in a wide array of industries, from high tech to consumer products. Each project had unique technical and creative challenges, and this video gives just a taste of that work. Matter is a results-focused agency and our video production services help our clients reach their goals – and that makes us pretty proud. Please enjoy this short highlight video:

These comparative posts are often presented as PR vs. advertising as if the two were in a Thunderdome of marketing budgets. At their best, both disciplines are very powerful, and neither does the other’s job particularly well. The time to consider which practice to use is well before you hit budgeting — it’s when you identify the need. While both are effective means to influence public perception, the effects are not similar. You can see it pretty clearly for yourself in the story of how Santa Claus took his modern form.

Santa Claus — the large man with the snowy-white beard in a red suit that lives at the North Pole — is the result of two efforts to meet two distinct needs. The success in each resulted in a character with near global recognition and centuries of staying power.

The archetype of a solstice visitor bringing good cheer (in various forms and with various names) sprouted to help dispel the gloom of winter in the near arctic regions of western Europe. Some versions were children, some were religious, some were gift-givers. The need was not global agreement, but making the bleakest part of the year a bit more hopeful. You might call it a stretch to say Santa was a PR stunt, but none other than Martin Luther (who knew how to create a stir with the written word) co-opted the local and increasingly secular St. Nicholas traditions, celebrated earlier in December, to draw more attention to the feast that marked Jesus’ birth.

The beginnings of Santa Claus were grass roots, word of mouth, owned by the community and earned propagation by sharing value with the audience. It was passing ownership of ideas that enriched everyone. That sounds a lot like PR. As the stories ran into each other — particularly in America, where many traditions from around the world met and mingled — the stories adapted and the versions that best met the goal of keeping up holiday cheer continued.

Coca Cola had a different goal. The drink sold well in the summer when people were looking for refreshment, but in the colder weather, a hot cocoa sounded a whole lot more inviting. The company found its perfect seasonal counterpart in another white and red icon of good cheer. By investing heavily in tying its brand to a similarly bright and rosy Santa, the brand created a globally recognized version of the jolly old elf.

The advertising goal, connecting a product to the holiday season, required everyone to have the same associations with the season — a brute force tactic for a brute force need. A “Father Christmas” in his green robe (as was tradition in the British Isles) wouldn’t do because it was off-brand. Imagine Santa in an all-white robe. I can’t do it, but it’s certainly not less appropriate for a seasonal character that arrives with the snow. That’s how effective advertising can be in forcing an image into our collective heads.

So, as you consider your goals for 2012, consider Santa Claus regardless of the holidays you celebrate, and how you can best get your ideas spread around the world.

To celebrate the fall season, we decided to host a pumpkin carving social. You might think an office pumpkin carving contest would be a time to take it a bit easy, kick back and have fun.  But at Matter Communications, the creativity, hard work and “do it well or don’t do it at all” attitude were brought from the PR business to the carving business (at least for 25 minutes or so).

Enjoy this video tribute to the intrepid souls who made Halloween special in our Newburyport, MA office.  They wore lobster fishing clothes, created balloon shapes, and brought new meaning to the phrase, “carving out quality time.”

All the contestants were talented and deserved applause, and the winner, chosen by an impartial judge, was an extraordinary take on a “Halloween Hamburger.” Here’s a video to give you a glimpse into our recent get together, complete with pumpkin beer, cider donuts and candy corn. Lots and lots of candy corn. Happy Halloween!

Words by Andy Meltzer

Since 2004, Matter has participated in the PDN PhotoPlus Expo in New York, a gathering of the Who’s Who in photography.  We’re (exhaustedly) getting back into the office following this year’s fantastic event and I wanted to use this space to express some thanks to the many who made our presence at PPE a major success:

-     Our clients: SIGMA, Unified Color, Spider Holster, ILFORD, Gary Fong, Camera Bits, Datacolor, DxO Labs, Lowepro and Acme Made, and, of course, our booth neighbors at Lexar.  All of these brands came out strong at PhotoPlus and trusted Matter to help make their investments in PPE that much more effective.  Additional thanks to our client, Pinhole Press, who sat this one out but helped provide collateral that was incredibly well received!

-     The media: It never ceases to amaze me how Matter staff and members of the photography trade media interact at this and other events – almost as if we were seeing old friends at a reunion.  The photo community is a very tight group, even as it grows on a yearly basis.  We are honored to consider ourselves a part of this network and it is our relationship with the media that help make that a reality.  We staffed about 125 press meetings at this show and we can’t thank those who took time out to meet with our clients enough.

-     The team at Matter – in no particular order: Zachary Heath, Tobi Young, Greg Wind, Chrissy Kinch, Kristin Amico, Colleen McCarthy, Andrew Rodger, Sheena Guide, Tim Bradley and, of course, the Boss, Scott Signore.  At home in PVD, Theresa Freeman and Julie Sellew did serious grunt work and held down the fort.  Thank you for your incredible and diligent work before, during and after this show, for making a naturally chaotic experience run like clockwork, for trudging through rain, snow and cold and still keeping up your enthusiasm for your work and for sacrificing the treads on your shoes to the Javits Center floor.  You guys are the best.

I will let Tim’s sweet video (that’s only fault is that it contains my visage) give you a sense of what it all looked like, but to all who were there and made this year a rousing success for Matter and our partners, my sincere thanks and see you at the next show!

As a new face to a new role and title here at Matter, I thought I’d write my first blog post stating the obvious. Well, I should rephrase that: write my first blog post stating what’s obvious to me, the Video Production Specialist, in regards to videos and social media. I will give it to you short and simple, after a few selling points:

• 17M connected their account to at least one social site (Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, Buzz, etc.)
• >12M auto-share to at least one social network
• 150 years of YouTube video watched/day on Facebook (2.5x YOY)
• >500 tweets/minute contain YouTube links (3x YOY)
• An auto-shared tweet results in 6 new youtube.com sessions on average
• 100M users take a social action (likes, shares, comments, etc) every week
• >1/2 of YouTube videos have been rated or includes comments

Videos are 53 times more likely than text pages to appear on the first page of search results. - Forrester

Month over month growth rate for video traffic referral by source:

• Facebook: 40%
• Twitter: 38%
• Yahoo: 35%
• Google: 15%
• Bing: 3%

Video has become one of the most effective ways to motivate people towards certain behaviors. Video is a highly effective persuasion techonology. – Dr. BJ Fogg, director of Standford’s Persuasive Technology Lab.

So how do you capitalize on this wealth of eyeballs? Follow this simple Video Social Media Checklist:

1. After you’ve uploaded your video to the video platform(s) of choice (at least YouTube), use your metadata. Having complete titles, descriptions, and tags will make it easier for your videos to be found in the first place.
2. Enable social sharing buttons in players
3. Enable embed codes for sharing
4. Embed and/or annotate clickable calls to action
5. Promote sharing at video completion
6. Review performance
7. Repeat – create and upload more videos!

Please share some of your video social media success stories in the comments below!

Sources: http://www.youtube.com/t/press_statistics, http://www.slideshare.net/ReelSEO/social-video-marketing-strategies-for-great-social-video

When our clients enjoy a significant milestone, we like to note the fact, especially when that milestone is part of the public relations program. Our clients at Pinhole Press had products featured on the Martha Stewart Show, and our team got together to enjoy the segment and take a moment to savor the sweet taste of success! 

Congratulations to Pinhole Press and the Matter team dedicated to their PR well-being.

My favorite blog isn’t a newspaper site. It’s a blog by a lobster dealer who started working on the docks when he was 9 years old. Good Morning Gloucester gives a daily snapshot of life in Gloucester, Mass., the nation’s oldest fishing harbor. It’s hugely popular, with 22,000 to 30,000 page views per day.

The main reason Good Morning Gloucester connects with readers around the world is because it’s so real. The language is how real people talk and the people on the blog come across as real, likable people with interesting stories. There are lessons there for those of us who communicate for a living. Use simple, clear language. Be likable. Tell a good story.

My friend Joey Ciaramitaro is the lobster dealer behind Good Morning Gloucester. We interviewed him for ideas on ways to engage readers, build an audience and create, as he would say, “a blog that doesn’t suck.” Here are his tips.

What do you think? Which tips did we miss?

If you need more reasons to want to work here – other than the great atmosphere and food at Matter –check out this video:

We’re all pretty jazzed about being part of the Matter team and the video gives an idea of what makes this a great place to hone your PR skills. There are plenty of places to look for a PR job; but we like to think Matter stands apart. It’s all about the people and the results at Matter.

Words make a big difference. How you describe your brand in the first few words of a conversation, interview or presentation can often set the tone on how you are ultimately perceived. We’re strong believers in making a great first impression, so we counsel our clients to really think about the words they use to describe themselves – both in formal and informal settings. Equally as important: we also put a lot of thought into the words we use to describe our own agency, and the work we do, so that potential new clients or job candidates get a sense of what we’re all about, right off the bat.

We recently asked some of our team members to describe Matter Communications using just three words. Check out this video to see what they said, and then tell us in the comments: what three words would you use to describe your agency partners?