It is the start of a New Year, and a good time to examine campaigns from last year. The most compelling advertisements and videos are ones that have a strong story, humor, inspiration, and excitement. They build a bond with the audience, and inspire thoughts and action. It’s not easy to create a short video that engages audiences and inspires them to share the video and view it more than once, so it is worth examining the top videos from 2016.
Here are the most viral brand videos posted to YouTube in 2016. As calculated by Marketer MVPs, these top five brand videos generated the most engagement (likes, comments, and shares) on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and YouTube.
- Domino’s Pizza (Domino’s DXP): 52+ million views
- Geico (Going Up: Fast Forward): 46+ million views
- Walmart (Easter Surprise – Jelly Bean Garden): 45+ million views
- Nike (Unlimited You): 37+ million views
- Gillette (Perfect isn’t Pretty): 34+ million views
Combined, these five videos have generated more than 214 million views last year!
Group Activities and Discussion Questions:
- Discuss the importance of branding and brand management. How do the videos fit into branding?
- Divide students into teams. Have each team analyze one of the following videos with respect to target market, key message, type of appeal, etc.
- Domino’s Pizza: https://youtu.be/lsmmgFxI0Jc
- Geico: https://youtu.be/Hk5HT_J3n6k
- Walmart: https://youtu.be/2cznl3lkfbM
- Nike: https://youtu.be/VEX7KhIA3bU
- Gillette: https://youtu.be/xRXfevLDZBc
- When teams have completed this, have each team show the video and discuss their analysis with the rest of the class.
- What are the commonalities between the videos? What are the differences? What should other companies do to replicate the success?
Source: Ad Age Daily
