YouTube has been drawing a lot of attention from media, as demonstrated by their invitation to Media Summit this summer in Idaho where the world’s richest media and technology leaders gather each year.

The reason is because YouTube is serving more than 100 million videos per day, which equates to a lot of users and site traffic, and a lot of potential for advertising and viral marketing. Users can’t resist self-expression and businesses can resist reaching these users.

Since the creation of YouTube, I have pondered the possibilities of coming up with a video that I could syndicate through the site and create brand exposure for Twelve Horses. Not something extremely polished, but a video that is fun and funny and gives people a better sense of what we do and who we are. I even started shooting footage. When I saw that Agency.com had produced a video on YouTube based on competing for the Subway account, I went to watch it with great interest.

Agency.com’s Subway video, while brave, missed the mark. Their attempt at utilizing the power of consumer generated media to reach a larger audience backfired and negatively impacted their brand. Not only are they getting brutalized in the blogosphere by blogs such as Micro Persuasion and Adfreak, but they did not win the Subway account when all was said and done. The main reasons: It just wasn’t funny or all that creative.

I am not sure how many people they tested the video on before releasing, but they should have. Groupthink got the best of them. A little outside perspective would have helped tremendously. YouTube, in my opinion, still offers a lot of potential for businesses, but its reach and effects should not be taken lightly. Your video may have a viral feel and give the sense that it is not polished and perfected, but you still better approach it as a product of your company just like any other ad, website, email campaign, or communication with the external world. In fact, because of the potential reach and the audience it is directed to, you may want to take it even more seriously.

Check out what Agency.com has to say about themselves. Looks like it is viral for the sake of viral.

Technorati : YouTube, consumer generated media, viral marketing, viral video

This entry was posted by Robert Payne on Thursday, August 3rd, 2006 at 5:45 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.