“That was sooo boring” is something no one wants to hear about their videos. Whether it’s in marketing or in film, you want to capture interest.
This is the only time it’s really okay to crave attention, I mean really crave it. You want people to watch it, but what if you can’t get them past the first five seconds? If you’re anything like me, YouTube is probably you best friend. I can spend hours on it and eventually, my fingers start to get tired constantly hitting the skip button (for now we’ll ignore the videos which I actually start and then decide to leave, that is a WHOLE other topic). However there have been two times, on record where my finger actually paused. The first one was the Pantene – Labels ad.
When it started, the music and the imagery made me wonder ‘where exactly is this going?’ So I just kept on watching.
The second incident was a lot more light-hearted. After searching, I can’t for the life of me remember the brand or find the advert, but I do remember everything else.
Basically, it started with a man who paused his wrestling match on TV, the doorbell rings and he goes to get his takeaway. This wasn’t the fun part. The fun part was the wrestlers. The hilarious conversation that ensued between the two stuck, paused in probably the most awkward position actually made me laugh out loud. It was like a “mature” Toy Story.
Have you noticed a trend yet?
Whether it was humour or intrigue, these ads had me hooked. They were interesting, so they caught my attention. So how do you grab attention?
Don’t waste those five seconds
You can’t get them back. I’ve seen so many ads that waste their time with a fade in, or a “well placed” logo and slogan. I can’t help but wonder why do that? They’ve given no real reason to keep watching so obviously, I skip. I feel no urge or need to continue to watch. Lets look at McDonalds…
They get straight to the point, leaving their well placed logo and slogan right to the end. Just how it should be, in my humble opinion. If you’re interested in the McRib, this will definitely hold your attention.
Be relevant, relevent, relevant
So, for whatever reason, Google decided that because I watch a lot of cute baby videos and family vlogs, I am definitely a soon too be mum. I’m not. I every time I watched a video I was hit by diapers, baby food and educational toys. Skip, skip AND skip. This is just time wasted for you as a marketer or video director and me, your humble viewer.
This is just down to knowing your audience, and knowing them well. If it’s catered to the right people, they will watch.
Be interesting
Now this is tricky one. How do you make something interesting?
Think of it as the way you think about people. What type of people do you find interesting? Now I’m not talking about people you like, the word is interesting. Daring, controversial, opinionated, funny, mysterious etc., that’s what you want in your five seconds, impact. This can be done with visuals, sounds or words. Just looking at some still work, you can see how strong a single image can be. Now image a strong video.
It’s great to have amazing videos and marketing, but if you can’t get your viewers attention you might just be wasting your time. So don’t wait, make your five seconds count!
