Video Ads that Exponentially Scale Revenue

Video Ads that Exponentially Scale Revenue

By Manuela Vulpescu

Did you know that 70% of viewers say YouTube makes them aware of new brands, and more than 80% of marketers admit that video helps them increase traffic to their website, generate leads, and boost sales?

Whether you run a business from your apartment, have a small B2C or B2B startup that’s just been launched, or work for a huge multinational corporation, there are countless ways to use video to your advantage.

Storytelling never dies

Purina came to BuzzFeed in 2014 to run an advertising campaign. They together decided to create a series of videos and test them to identify what best resonates with BuzzFeed’s audience. Entirely developed through trial and error, the Purina campaign instantly became revolutionary.

The video series, entitled Dear Kitten, in which the big old cat educates the little one by telling stories about the strange human behavior and the fantastic things worth experiencing in life, became one of the most iconic pieces of social advertising to date. The campaign generated more than 30 million views, and it’s still counting.

Among great storytellers, the first place still goes to Chipotle Mexican Grill - a master of non-traditional advertising whose stories reflect its commitment to the transparency and integrity of the food industry. Instead of just promoting its products, Chipotle talks about its purpose by creating brand stories that invite customers to embrace more responsible eating habits.

Their first ad created history.

And it is still for REAL in 2021.

Amazing, right? But let’s face it: going viral is rare, and coming up with hero content is something you probably do once or twice a year if you are lucky enough to have relevant budgets. Otherwise, you will most likely go for highly predictable solutions, especially if you are not mainly focused on creating brand awareness but on generating leads and driving sales, ensuring in the meantime that each nickel you put in brings four nickels back.

How to manage that? Here are some ideas worth exploring.

What video ads work best in 2021?

Chamber Media conducted an in-depth analysis to find out what works best in video marketing nowadays. First, they took the creatives of the top 2.000 Shopify sites, the most elite brands on the planet, and put them in a machine learning database. Then, they ran everything through an AI platform and checked the metadata, the length of the videos, and a series of other factors to sort out the top 1% performing ads.

Here’s what they discovered.

Breakdown of the top 1% Video Ads

From all sorts of video content tested during the experiment, the best-performing ones could have been included in one of the following categories:

  • Product Demos (video ads highlighting the product features and demonstrating the value points to consumers) 50.8%
  • Social Proof Videos (opinions of brands or products by consumers, influencers, blogs, etc. / testimonials leveraged to create trust between consumers and brands) 20%
  • Dynamic Ads (computer-generated creative assets to A/B test at scale) 19.7%
  • Lifestyle (videos showing the product being used in everyday life) 4.71%
  • Spokesperson videos (highly engaging videos featuring a person explaining the product and highlighting its features) 2.4%
  • Unboxing (showing the product packaging and products) 1.59%
  • Case Studies (controlled study or testing of products proving superior performance or increased quality of life) 0.73%

Chamber Media also found out that even the most relevant Shopify stores on the planet, the most famous brands in the world, are sometimes running too much of an ad type and less of the others, thus affecting the ROI of their campaigns.

The study further analyzed several industries and concluded that the ad types are entirely different for each sector in part and that the length of the videos highly impacts the performance.

The best-performing e-commerce ad types

  • Electronics - Spokesperson & Social Proof
  • Health & Care Products - Spokesperson & Product Demo
  • Pets - Unboxing & Social Proof
  • Homeware - Case Study & Product Demo
  • Beauty - Case Study & Product Demo
  • Food & Drinks - Case Study & Social Proof
  • Unique Stores - Unboxing & Product Demo
  • Personal Items - Social Proof & Product Demo
  • Jewelry - Spokesperson & Unboxing
  • Accessories - Case Study & Unboxing
  • Clothing - Unboxing & Case Study
  • Mens' Clothing - Spokesperson & Unboxing
  • Women’s Clothing - Lifestyle & Case Study
  • Underwear - Spokesperson & Dynamic Ad
  • Footwear - Product Demo & Case Study
  • Sports - Case Study & Product Demo
  • Fitness - Product Demo & Social Proof
  • Outdoor - Product Demo & Social Proof
  • Swimwear - Lifestyle & Product Demo
  • Cars & Vehicles - Unboxing & Social Proof

The Ideal Video Length for each Ad Type

  • 21 seconds for lifestyle ads
  • 44 seconds for testimonials
  • 9 seconds for dynamic ads (they are so short because they are generally used for remarketing purposes)
  • 25 seconds for product demos
  • 44 seconds for case studies
  • 92 seconds for spokesperson ads
  • 29 seconds for unboxing videos

The Universal Ad

Now that the secrets have been revealed, how can you make sure you spend your budget wisely and confidentially with a full-funnel strategy? A solution would be to opt for Universal Ads that magically work for everyone.

They are nothing but spokesperson ads combining all the other formulas in a unified idea. They could very well include unboxing and lifestyle. They can be dynamic, product demos, case studies, and social proofs at the same time. By clearly presenting the problem and the solution while telling a captivating story in the meantime, the Universal Ads are usually 1 to 2 minutes long videos able to prequalify viewers outside your webpage at a lower advertising price as pay per view is always cheaper than pay per click. This way, you’ll get on your website just those qualified visitors who are more likely to convert.

Here is a great example of the Universal Ad at work.


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