Having recently read about the raging debate at Marketing Week on the potential impact online video will have on television advertising. Yesterday the bus waiting experience came true. Nothing for a while then a couple come a long at the same time. Online video as a promotional medium – broadcasters may well be worried.

Ok. YouTube has been around for an age and the ability to view video online is not new. But one thing that struck me yesterday was the actual power that video holds as a marketing vehicle for businesses and brands. Traditionally I have though of the online vehicle as a great and cheap additional distribution mechanism for TV campaigns, especially when you consider the impact of viral distribution on a recent campaign such as Evian Live Young (created by BETC Euro RSCG). Viral has delivered significantly more audience reach than airing on the TV would ever have achieved.

Where it becomes interesting is if you virtually eliminate the costs of generating reach and significantly reduce the costs of production you suddenly have a medium that still carries the marketing impact but instantly becomes far more accessible to marketers.

The first video that got me thinking this way was for a revolutionary new probiotic product called Symprove (No I am not taking the stuff but a close friend is behind the launch). As a communication I think the execution is superb, creatively very good. It ticks all the boxes simple, informative and appealing. Yet all for a fraction of the cost of a typical TV ad. How will it get audience reach?  Well I have already sent it on to a number of people from as far afield as Kazakhstan and Australia, and you are reading this so you too have become the audience.

Shortly afterwards I viewed another three online videos.

The first was from an estate agent for a house they have for sale. The impact was amazing. It presented a highly visual interpretation of the property that simply could not be replicated using a printed brochure.  The interesting part was the video was made up of a series of still images very well placed together and a voice over applied, so it would have been very low cost to produce.

The second was for a privately owned country hotel. Again it was a series of still images with a voice over applied giving a full tour of the hotel and its core facilities. The execution gave what could only be described as an almost personal viewing, you actually gained a feel for the hotel and surrounding area, something that would have been virtually impossible to achieve in a written form. 

The third was for a Tax Consultancy that specialises in supporting businesses claim government rebates for investment made in product and research and development. In under a minute and a half the video covered the type of activities that are eligible for rebates, the potential rewards and the process to make a claim. A brief but very informative snap shot in to a businesses activity which I know would have made very dry reading in written form.

As a marketing vehicle each video was an extremely powerful communication, that is why TV advertising has such appeal. The interesting part was to see how this medium and type of execution could actually work for such a diverse set of businesses, their products and services. The dramatic reduction in costs mean for the first time I can genuinely see that this type of medium could actually be a very accessible part of the marketing mix for a whole array of small, medium and large businesses. Online video as a promotional medium – broadcasters may well be worried!