Second Nature Marketing

An Interview with Roger Wu: Creating “Lean Forward” Experience with “Lean Back” Media

In the past couple of years, videos have become a vital part of any and all 

marketing campaigns. Video sharing sites like YouTube & Vimeo

have even made videos easily accessible and interactive. 

Creativity has also reached new heights when it comes to incorporating video

 to peak people's interests in brands. 

Below is an interview with Roger Wu, Founder & CEO of Klickable.tv, 

a site that allows users to make their own interactive videos. 

GENERAL INTERACTIVE VIDEO QUESTIONS:

·   Are lifestyle companies in beauty, fashion, and health/fitness
industries uniquely positioned to use video as a marketing tool?   


RW: Yes.  All three industries have been marketing using images for  
years.   With the rise of Internet video, we can now take these images  
and bring them to life.  We can see our favorite celebrity wearing or  
using some type of non descriptor product and  learn what it is.   
Overall we will be able to see in action what we've only been able to  
read about in words.


·   In your personal opinion, what is the most creative e-commerce  
campaign that used interactive video as a driving force? What about viral?

RW: Personally, and perhaps I'm biased, I like the campaign for the film  
Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day, a film that skews 30-40 female.  The  
interactive Klickable trailer was sent out to a bunch of 20 year old  
guys, in which they were told that a secret object in the trailer   
would lead them to free movie tickets.  The next day we received a  
bunch of emails saying, "I've been watching this trailer for over an  
hour and can't find the tickets, but what happens to Miss Pettigrew?"

Other videos that I really like from a viral aspect include the Diet  
Coke and Mentos experiment.  Although the campaign was not created by  
either, it lifted sales of both.  It was something that is so fun and  
easy and got people saying "Does that really happen?" that thousands  
of video replies were created.  Another branding campaign I enjoyed  
was "Will It Blend," where the company's founder asked viewers what  
object he should blend in his blender next.  He blended everything  
from iPods to golf balls to garden rakes...


·   What is the ideal length of an interactive video?

RW: There's been a lot of debate about this.  I think the length won't  
matter if you've reached the right audience and provided a high level  
of engagement.  That being said, there's a TubeMogul study that shows  
that after 10 seconds of video you lose 10% of audience, 30 seconds  
you lose 35%, and 1 minute later you lose 55%.  This definitely tells  
you to skew your video length toward the shorter end.  However, I  
think that the reason for this is the strange feeling you get when you  
are watching a short video clip (not Hulu).  You are being passive in  
front of an active machine (your computer).  * The reason I say not  
Hulu is that typically when Hulu is watched you put your computer  
further back and recreate your TV screen.



·   What are important SEO considerations for producers to create and  
share interactive video content?

RW: Most of the basic SEO tips for your site also apply to your video, at  
least the page that surrounds your video.  Flash now allows for your  
video to be crawled by search engines so be sure to embed your  
keywords and metadata into the Flash portion.  I think that SEO will  
begin to play a smaller role in content discovery and that "viral" or  
"social" will play a larger role.  That being said, make sure to  
upload your video to the other video sharing sites and seed your video  
through Facebook and Twitter.

Klickable TV QUESTIONS

·   For those unfamiliar with your company, Klickable TV, could you  
give us the run-down of how the Klickable TV video platform creates a more
interactive experience for users compared to “flat” video?


RW: Klickable TV allows users to click directly on the video to receive  
more information on what they are clicking on.  If you see an actor  
you don't recognize clicking on him could take you to IMDB.  If you  
see a great shirt you might like to purchase, you could click on it  
and go to an ecommerce opportunity.  The concept is similar to when  
television executives promised us that we'd one day be able to see  
Jennifer Aniston's sweater on Friends and buy it.  In addition, we  
have a full suite of analytics that show you when and what people are  
clicking on.

The impetus for this was because when you are video snacking (watching  
short 2-5 minute clips of video) you are in an active environment (in  
front of your computer) while video only provides a passive one and I  
noticed many people began to Google things while they were watching.   
Why not let the content producer direct the viewer to where they want  
them to go (and receive credit for)?



·   Let’s talk analytics and measurability—how can companies or  
marketing professionals learn about their viewers if they create a Klickable TV  
video?


RW: Analytics was one of the first areas that we added a lot of emphasis  
to.  Viewers are given the ability to essentially vote on their  
interest level simply by clicking.  Like Google, you will click on  
what you are interested in.  We can see what people might find  
interesting since they can click on an item once to get a quick  
summary.  We can also see what people are truly interested in by  
capturing the secondary clicks; these clicks take the viewer to the  
underlying website.  We can also see the timing of when users click  
with what is on the video.  The most interesting thing we can look at  
it is the data in aggregate which surprisingly shows that most people  
click on pretty much the same items at the same times….


·   How does Klickable TV’s value-added information nuggets about  
viewers and click throughs differ from the YouTube’s Insight data metrics?

RW: We're capturing more engagement metrics than viewing metrics.  The key  
is that if you aren't actively in front of your computer you cannot  
click.  You could still be technically viewing a video even though you  
got up to walk the dog.
We're also taking common web page metrics like click thru rates and  
applying them to video, instead of basic simple metrics like views.


·   How did you come up with the concept for Klickable TV?

RW: I was editing a video one day when I realized that watching video on  
the computer was an odd experience.  You were in a lean forward  
atmosphere with lean back media.
I wanted to make a sitcom I wrote and shot into a "klickable" web  
series but began to realize that if I wanted to do this there were  
other filmmakers that wanted to as well.  I dusted off the old  
programming skills and worked at a tea shop with free wifi and  
uncomfortable plastic chairs for almost 9 months until I got the thing  
to work….