H&R Block

H&R Block is one of several big brands making use of the annotations feature released last summer by YouTube. The tax preparation company is running a Razorfish-designed YouTube game that lets users click on “hot spots” in videos that link to other YouTube videos or Web sites.

With the video annotations feature, YouTube video makers can add interactive commentary to their creations. This can include background information, the creation of “branching stories” where users can choose among various outcomes. Annotations can also be used to add links to YouTube videos, channels or search results at any point in the video.

In its campaign, H&R Block adds video annotations to a game called “Don’t Miss It.”   The first level of the game shows two images of a cargo truck that contains boxes. The image on the right includes clickable areas and one has a box not found in the image on the left. The goal is to find and click the image that’s different. Annotations tell players whether they’re right or wrong, let them ask to be shown the answer, or try the next level. The goal of the game is to demonstrate H&R Block’s expertise at taxes.

It’s not all happening in the US though, or even in London. Some of our local North East based companies are pushing the boundaries of monetised video and video marketing.

Quick TV

How many start-ups operating in beta mode do you know that have won a Red Herring 100 Europe award – an award given to the top 100 private technology companies based in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region each year? Well, we know of one and it’s Quick.tv. Companies like Google, eBay, and Skype were spotted in their early days by Red Herring editors, and touted as leaders that would change the way we live and work, so it’s not an award to be taken lightly.

Quick.tv – the brainchild of Newcastle serial entrepreneur Nick Bell – was set up at the end of last year and aims to harness technology to provide interactive online videos for business clients.

He set up Quick.tv in partnership with music industry mogul Tod Yeadon, a veteran in the production and licensing of music videos who has worked with a series of major record labels in recent years.

In a nutshell, Quick.tv allows videos to be uploaded and injected with interactive and dynamic features from any location on any computer. It also provides analytics to monitor behaviour and adjust video playback accordingly – all aimed at media publishers looking to give their videos the interactive edge.

As well as the Red Herring, other accolades are flooding in. A recent article in BrandRepublic hailed Quick.tv as potentially holding the key to successfully monetising music videos.

So, what are the main benefits of Quick.tv to you – our regional creative agencies and their clients? Well, Nick Bell says “Creative agencies can use Quick.tv to manage and create interactive videos for their clients or to run campaigns across multiple sites and social media networks. Videos are uploaded into the Quick.tv VMS (video management system) and can then be injected with interactivity such as tag hotspots to external links, voting, data capture forms and live data via RSS.”

Starting at a cost of £75 per month, Quick.tv’s service helps companies make their online video an enriched viewer experience and a very accountable sales tool as all interactions are measured alongside the typical viewing analytics you would expect to see.  Agencies can use Quick.tv to add to their existing service offering and offer very powerful solutions to their clients.

An impressive feat and hopefully a company that will contribute to the increase in raising the profile of the burgeoning North East digital industry. Nick Bell said “The fact that as such a young company just entering an early BETA stage shows how industry experts are reacting to the potential of Quick.tv. We look forward to building on this great start when we fully launch on July 1st.”

Twenty First Century Media

twenty first century media is a provider of digital media production (TV Adverts, online video, virals, corporate / sales / training / CSR & web TV) operating nationally for clients as diverse as Imperial Tobacco, Sage & the NHS.

Ten Alps Plc, owned by Bob Geldof which has TV, radio and Internet operations, bought Twenty First Century Media to strengthen its online video production business that started operating in November. TFCM obviously represented an excellent opportunity for Ten Alps. Their spokesman at the time said that “the group sees video production as a growing market. We’ve witnessed strong increases in demand for our video propositions in recent months across the B2B and public sectors. We are only scratching the surface of a potentially huge market…”

Marketing Director Nick Imrie says “This revolution will be televised and we will all drive what we watch. Two years ago we made 80 video projects of which 10% had an online element (primarily distribution). Last year we produced 220 and 80% are delivered online, along with other methods. This year has been seismic with more and more projects breaking the historical “linear lean back and watch format” in favour of an engage and interact flavour.”

“Video has always had the capacity to immerse but now the audience drives what it engages with and their level of immersion. If content is king, then the greater the depth of connection the audience has with it, the higher the market value but not just to the originator of the video but to a whole new marketplace. ”

Twenty First Century Media are a great example of how an initially niche product can capture the mood of the moment and turn into a highly desirable and sought after business.

Industrial Strength

Industrial Strength are a local digital agency specialising in web design and development, multimedia and online marketing. Director, Richard Myers, says “Online video has become such an important medium over the last 2-3 years that we can’t ignore it as part of the marketing mix when creating online marketing strategies for our clients. We recently started offering the production of viral videos as a new service, from concept to delivery to distribution. And now, due to recent advancements in annotation and overlaying technologies we can extend our clients message further by creating videos which are interactive and therefore more compelling. And the beauty of it is that they don’t have to cost our clients an arm and a leg! Some of the best viral videos are shot on mobile phones – the idea is as important as the execution.

He continues “Plus, due to the viral nature the viewer distributes the video for you. One of the most prominent viral campaigns recently was the T-Mobile dancing video in Liverpool Street Station which has had over 12 million views. This started as an online campaign then moved across to TV. This demonstrates that brands and their agencies are taking online marketing as seriously as above-the-line ad spend.”

Thanks to:

BizReport

Passive Communications

Clickz