A Guide to the Best YouTube Marketing Campaigns

Remember the days how pissed we used to get when suddenly an ad popped up on television while watching our favorite show or movie, and we had no other choice rather than watch those long ads and imagine how wonderful it would be to have a platform allowing us to watch anything anytime without interrupting us with any kind of ad. And years later youtube came into existence and in no time gained so much popularity that all brands shifted their sight from television to youtube for promoting their products. The same story started there as well but this time with a different strategy. Over time, the Best Youtube marketing campaigns had just gone better and better, whether it’s about the content in that ad or the way they target their audiences.

Brands and marketing agencies have started a new revolution on Youtube allowing the users to connect with them. But are only ads part of the best Youtube marketing campaigns? We could have said this a few years back, but in recent times, the dynamics and strategies of ads and agencies have changed a lot.

It is not only about creating an ad and showcasing a product or service by vibrating the EQ level of audiences, but it’s also about how companies or brands are touching the IQ level of audiences as well. Every day hundreds of ads are made and run on different platforms and many of them are so good enough not to skip. So here we will look at the best youtube marketing campaigns and what are the strategies behind them.

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What is Youtube Campaigning?

It is a way of promoting a brand, service, or product via youtube. Various tactics are used to target a particular set of audiences. Brands hire social media or youtube influencers to promote their services or product and some big brands even hire celebrities who promote their business and that is where the audience gets into the game.

Various promotional organic videos are created to highlight their products and many other ways are used to gain popularity among the audience. As youtube is also a search engine, it also requires optimization just like ranking your article or your content on google. Any company or a brand whosoever runs an ad on youtube look for an audience who is specifically looking for a product or service 

Why a Youtube Campaign?

Youtube is currently the biggest platform to promote any business, with nearly 2 billion users logging in every month it is the second most visited website in the world after Google and has tremendous power to flourish any type of business if promoted fairly. Just like google, youtube is also a search engine that ranks ads or any promotional video.

A highly interactive video campaign not only engages audiences but also generates good revenue for the companies. As many marketers say, the play button is the most clicked call-to-actions and videos are nothing but just press and play they are powerful and engaging. Video campaigns are the most effective ones and even 78% of researchers state that videos have the best ROI.

It generates leads for the brands and even creates brand awareness among the audiences with almost accessibility in every part of the world. It is the biggest platform in the world at your fingertips to promote yourself and your business.

It won’t be wrong to say that the best Youtube marketing campaigns have outcasted all other means of promotion although they are equally important in the growth of any business or service. Digital campaigning on youtube has changed the way of promotion, and not only small businesses but the big established brands are also heavily dependent on youtube campaigning.

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Types Of Youtube Ads

There are various methods to the campaign on the Youtube and are generally categorized into five different types of youtube ads; 

• Skippable In-Stream Video Ads:  Well an ad is an ad and no one likes to get interrupted in between but at least this type of ad gives viewers a choice to skip after 5 seconds of play, they appear just before a video is about to start or sometimes in between as well. The good thing about these types of ads is that they will be considered for getting charged by youtube only if a viewer watches it for 30 seconds or if it is clicked.

• Non-Skippable In-Stream Video Ads: As the name suggest these are non-skippable ads and they are played right before or after the video is over, considering as 76% of the people skips the ad so this type of ad is perfect for the brand who are intensely looking to promote themselves. These ads are charged in a little different way, charges are incurred per impression or can say per 1000 views.

• Bumper Ads: As a bumper appears on the road suddenly these ads are like that only, these are non-skippable ads with a timeline of about 6 seconds, these are a great type of promotional ads to create awareness among the audiences, and these are beneficial for those who are not looking for a minute-long video to give any message to its viewers.
• Discovery Ads: These are much similar to google ads search ads, appearing amongst search results in a semi-organic kind of way. Discovery ads are composed of thumbnail images and three lines of text. They also appear on the youtube home page and on the video watch page, which gives them good visibility among the viewers.

• Non-Video Ads: Youtube also offers some non-video ads for the promoters who aren’t looking to spend big on promotion, these ads appear on the right-hand side and also contain clickable images which appear on the videos while they are being played. They are charged based on pay per click.

Here Are the Examples of Some of the Best Youtube Marketing Campaigns that Have Best of the Creativity and Some Emotional Assistance as Well:

Nike: Margot vs Lily

The sporting merchandise giant uses one of the best marketing strategies in promoting its merchandise and has launched some of the best youtube marketing campaigns, and this one is no less than its previous commercials.  A mini youtube series by Nike has not only promoted their merchandise so well but has also opened some new ways of promotion which nowadays are used by various brands as well.

The story revolves around two sisters challenging each other to do the kinds of stuff at which they are naive. Nike merchandise is shown everywhere in the commercial with a uniqueness such that it doesn’t seem that brand is over-marketing its products. The brand is not only selling its products but also serving an aspirational story binding the viewers with emotional branding and making it one of the best campaigns by Nike.

Read Here How to Build a Successful YouTube Content Strategy

Kermit the Frog x Adidas Sustainability Campaign

This was one of the most creative campaigns by Adidas that could be much more compelling than Kermit the frog staring in an Adidas ad alongside legendary tennis star Stan Smith. The idea was simple and unique, promoting its going green initiative. The idea was dedicated to its commitment to lowering its carbon footprints and eliminating the use of plastic waste, as the sports giant has pledged to use only 100% recycled polyester in all its products by 2024.

The ad runs for about one min in which Kermit talks about climate change and shows how great it feels to be against the big challenge of climate change Kermit. The frog explains why it is so important for everyone to stand against climate change he says that “If we all do our part, we can make the world a better place, a greener place, for the next person to walk in our shoes.

“In a really smart commercial by Adidas, it promoted their sneakers with the green initiative for the future making it one of the best youtube marketing campaigns. The ad binds its viewers and forces to think them about its initiative and as an audience, you can be part of that. The ad concludes with Kermit’s statement that “it’s not easy being green”, on which Stan Smith their legendary tennis star ambassador replies with the statement that “ but nothing great ever is.”

Go Pro HERO4: The Adventure of Life in 4k

Since its arrival GO Pro has been one the most beloved gadget for any person who loves adventures and is keen to record them as well not only adventure lovers many YouTubers and vloggers trust their only travel partner i.e GO Pro. And this time not only their product but their marketing team has also shown a lot of creativity, go pro featured the creative footage uploaded by their users on their youtube account.

By viewing the user experience clips the brand has earned a lot of attention from the audience and it was seen in their sales as well their profit almost got double. With the usage of a minimum budget and a lot of creativity go pro featured one of the best youtube marketing campaigns allowing the viewers to get the experience of the best.

Also Read: How to Make Money on YouTube

Colgate

The toothpaste manufacturing giant Colgate has always promoted its products in brisk of people’s smiles. They have been so successful in promoting their brand that every other toothpaste in the market is known by the name of Colgate rather than their name.

This has been the height of success achieved by Colgate, and all thanks to their marketing team on how they have attracted customers and have made them stick to their products over the years. This time again Colgate was able to touch the heart of the people amid the COVID19 pandemic when there was no smile all over the world and all the faces were locked behind the mask.

The campaign was launched to thank every individual who has given their services during this pandemic and all the essential workers who have worked day and night during this pandemic without thinking about themselves. The campaign’s motto was to give hope to the world that every smile lost behind the mask will be relieved soon. The campaign earned huge praise across the globe and was watched by millions of people.

Cred: Great for the Good

This was cred’s first ad film ‘Cred: Great for the Good’ and it just went nuts on youtube, cred ad featured Rahul Dravid one of the former Indian cricketing legends and the best part about this campaign was that Rahul Dravid was shown in a different avatar, a cool, calm and composed man was seen creating a mess in public was something that just attracted the viewers.

The ad runs for about 20 seconds stating the benefits of paying your credit card bills via cred to earn reward points, it was simple with no such fuss around it but was made unique by featuring Rahul Dravid.  The timing of the ad was even perfect as it was launched when the Indian Premier League (IPL) was running and featuring Rahul Dravid in that ad film made it easy for cred to viral their campaign.

Cred benefited a lot from this ad film and they went on to make more such types of advertisements. A unique campaign was launched by cred to start its journey and it went on to be one of the best youtube marketing campaigns.

Recommended Read: Digital Marketing Courses in India

Purina: Puppyhood

In today’s ad campaign, it’s just not about how well a brand is promoting its product or how wisely they are targeting the audience, but the one thing that also matters the most is how well the storyline of that ad campaign is matched its product or how creatively an ad film is made, and this what exactly can be seen in the ad campaign of Purina dog food.

The ad campaign is short video series about a man Max who finds a dog on a street and suddenly gets mesmerized by the charm of the dog and takes the dog home to buy some toys and dog food. Max names his female dog friend Chole and at starting everything seems to be perfect as both were enjoying their new relationship until Chole walks into the bathroom while Max was using it and later on creates a mess in his house by destroying his art project.

But in the end, Max learns how to forgive and realizes it’s not bad to have a companion. At the end of the ad, both are seen having breakfast together with the bag of Purina Puppy Chow in the background. The ad campaign targets dog owners by making a sudden emotional impact on the mind of the viewers making them aware that Purina is the only food that is beneficial for their pet, marking their product as the frontline in the ad campaign even without promoting it too intensely shows how well this ad was made.

This campaign was highly appreciated by the audiences and could easily be regarded as one of the best youtube marketing campaigns seen in recent times.

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Mercedes-Benz – Lok

Mercedes is a brand that has always been on the top when it comes to marketing its cars whether they do it digitally or in any event. They do it with a style and as we are looking for the best youtube marketing campaign, how we can miss out on this one. Mercedes have worked with many influencers but this time it was a bit different also it was an Instagram influencer it was not a human but a dog named Loki and his owner Kelly.

In this ad campaign, Mercedes uses 360-degree cameras to showcase their new GLS-SUV, the ad shows how Loki and his owner go for a ride in the snowy terrain mountain area, and with the help of 360-degree cameras shows the interior of their new car giving a virtual reality feel to the audiences attracting the viewers by revealing all the insights of the car and by showing the surrounding  Mercedes demonstrates the off-road capabilities of their car.

The ad campaign has many unique features from having a 360-degree view of the entire ad film to emotionally targeting the audiences with the help of cute animals, Mercedes never fails to leave its aura and in the automobile segment, it has the best marketing team to promote their car and other vehicles.

These were some of the best youtube marketing campaigns that I thought should be on this list not just because of the branding value but because of the creativity shown in these commercials, many other campaigns haven’t gotten much attention but are worth watching and learning from

The way nowadays brands are competing with each other in the world of marketing it is gonna get interesting in the upcoming time how different the scenario will get and how tough it will be for the brands which haven’t used the potential of youtube marketing yet. 

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FAQ

1. Are YouTube ads better than conventional ads?

If we considered today’s scenario there is no other platform bigger than youtube for a brand to promote itself, not even the platform which was once the heartbeat for any brand to market their product across the globe. Even factual wise and creative wise Youtube give the best chance for any company to convert their viewers into their profitable leads.

2. How youTube ads are charged?

Different types of ads are charged in different ways skippable videos are charged only when they are watched for at least 30 seconds or when they are clicked similarly non video ads are charged only when their link is clicked by any viewer and some ads are charged just was running their ads irrespective of whether their link is clicked or not.

3. What are some of the best YouTube marketing Campaigns?

We have listed some of the best YouTube marketing campaigns in the article. These are the best campaign that you must admire.