#IABInsightSeries: Digital video marketing

Danilo Acquisto, Danielle Olivier, and Mark Lollback

The perceived dichotomies of television vs. video, broadcast vs. cable, and desktop vs. mobile are breaking down under the pressure of an accelerated convergence of technologies and markets. In a world of endless choices, accessibility, quality content and user experiences are key.

Speakers include Mark Lollback, chief strategy and growth officer at Oovvuu; Danilo Acquisto, CEO and cofounder of Special Effects Media South Africa, and Danielle Olivier, online platforms specialist at Special Effects Media South Africa.

Here, we find out what they’re going to discuss and what to expect...

What is the key theme of your talk?

Lollback: How important digital video marketing is in the marketing mix today and how to leverage context and content for performance.

Acquisto: I am going to be focusing on how things have been done in the past regarding video content creation and walk attendees through the new world that is led by consumers, their expectations of content and how the platforms will follow. I will also look at how you should be thinking if you want to keep up.

Olivier: My talk centres around the top five video marketing trends forecasted for 2022. However, the key theme I hope to leave attendees with is that naturally, online is here to stay - but it is a space in which to celebrate play and experiment; whether you are a brand-building a community, gearing up for a digital ad campaign or an individual finding their voice in the space.

Talk us through some of the key insights that determined which changes, updates, constants will be happening in the digital advertising industry in 2022.

Lollback: Clients should challenge media agencies to think more broadly about digital video marketing and quality options available to drive performance.

Marketers should be supporting news publishers where there are very engaged large audiences. This is important for the whole marketing ecosystem and smart marketers and agencies are driving this push.

Attention, context and the right content are critical.

Acquisto: 2022 is going to be an interesting year for South Africa's budding digital industry for a few reasons:

Consumers are going to have all the control. This is because choice is everywhere and their privacy is everything. Brands need to start thinking from the perspective of the 'woke' consumer if they wish to attract customers and build brands.

With the number of online platforms diversifying and every existing platform bringing out new features, I expect to see brands having to work a lot harder or relying a lot more on agencies to experiment with new content formats that have shorter preparation times. This will be necessary to keep up with the 'trends' world of TikTok and the adoption of a lot more short-form content while audiences seem to ignore more advertising.

Olivier: The option to go ‘live’ is already being geared up for monetisation options on some platforms and will make for a really interesting challenge for agencies and brands in general - I believe it will also mean a lot more collaboration with content creators.

With more platforms embracing the TikTok video aesthetic it is inevitable that we will see a lot more short-form video content and social strategies built off the back of that. It will be interesting to see what impact that will have on long-form.

What one main call to action would you advise your fellow industry colleagues at this time (in the context of your talk) to help companies who are looking to beat the benchmark in digital advertising and create great work (teams, processes etc) that exceeds business goals?

Lollback: Leverage premium digital video in contextually relevant environments to drive performance across the funnel.

Acquisto: Focus on the long term and build communities through content marketing. Trust me, in the long term, this will be cheaper than the pay-to-play world with the cookie crumbling and first-party data going to become so much more valuable. Invest in content that builds communities online that you can sell to and mine for their data - it will save you in the long term.

Olivier: I think a lot of time is spent using impressions as an objective or an indicator of great campaign success but it can be somewhat of a vanity metric. My opinion on impressions does butt heads with virality which you will see with short form content like reels, or YouTube’s #Shorts but I believe time spent exploring the views and engagement on your digital advertising content will uncover a much more valuable and less fleeting audience.

Please share one key learning from 2021 that you have personally (or professionally) taken on board, that you believe will assist others to navigate the future of work as we (are getting to) know it.

Lollback: Marketers need to be very commercially literate, and at the same time, never forget the craft involved in creating great work and results.

Acquisto: I have personally learned that customers do business for many reasons, and some of those reasons are not related to the quality of your work. If you can, invest lots of time into understanding why people do business with you. Retain the quality of your work, but also lean into other reasons why people do business with you - there may be hidden opportunities for you lying there.

Olivier: Learn together. In the past two years, I have witnessed online audiences be forgiving of brands trying something for the first time, helping them in the live chat and appreciating the effort it takes to provide valuable content to their communities. To me, this translated as an era where people are identifying with organisations and brands on a human level where you are allowed to make mistakes. In 2021 and 2022, I think we will all be learning together and brands shouldn’t be afraid to ask questions or ask for help.

The IAB SA has taken its Insight Series online to provide 60 minutes of insights, featuring fellow and future industry leaders, on subjects selected by IAB members and the industry at large to make better digital decisions. Episode 32 is brought to you in partnership with Gumtree, Everlytic, Ornico, and Bizcommunity. The 2021 IAB Insight Series is also approved for 2 CPD points at CMSA-level under marketing, by the Marketing Association of South Africa. To attend this episode on Digital Video Marketing on 25 November 2021, you can register for free here. Episode 32 is free and open to the full industry to attend.