8 steps for mobile video success

Unruly’s Total Reach: 1.44 billionUnruly’s Mobile Reach: 420 million

Unruly gets videos seen, shared and loved across the open web for brands that want to move people, not just reach people.

1. Make your video intensely emotionalIt’s not enough to make viewers smile with amusement, you have to make them laugh out loud, send a shiver down their spine or make them cry a river. Unruly has found a direct correlation between the intensity of the emotion viewers feel when watching a video and their intent to discuss the ad, watch it again and purchase the product featured.

According to a recent Nielsen Consumer Neuroscience study, ads with above average EEG scores (emotional ads) deliver a 23% uplift in sales volume, while the Field, IPA and Gunn Report, “Selling Creativity Short”, stated that awarded campaigns (emotional campaigns) were 10X more efficient than non-awarded campaigns. Binet and Field have also found that campaigns which deliver high-intensity emotional responses are significantly more likely to deliver considerable business effects than more ‘rational’ campaigns.

This is because advertising works by building memories and more emotional ads generate stronger memory structures in viewers. As with all ads, when creating videos for mobile, think about the emotion you want viewers to feel and how you can make them feel this intensely. This will mean more viewers will remember and act on your campaign. Unruly EQ tests for the emotions in your video and helps you optimise your content to make them more intensely felt by your audience.

2. Ensure your brand is integral to the videoIf viewers don’t know who made the video, they can’t create a connection between the emotions they are feeling and your brand. Low levels of branding can also confuse viewers, who know they are watching an ad but have to spend time trying to figure out who created it rather than feeling the emotions the brand wants them to. Make sure your video is clearly branded early on and optimise your creative for brand metrics using biometric, neurological and emotional testing methodologies. With Unruly EQ, you can measure the metrics that matter.

3. Think about emotions, not creative devicesIt’s been proven that creative attributes of the videos themselves (celebrities, babies, music, cats etc) do not independently impact how successful your video is. Just putting a cat into a video will not make your ad more successful, rather it’s the way the cat (or any other creative device) can elicit an intense emotional response which builds memory structures. So think about emotions first, then which creative devices could amplify those emotions.

4. Keep it short70% of mobile users believe the ideal length of a mobile video ad is 20 seconds and under, and this is consistent across all age groups. The shorter your video, the more likely it is that viewers will watch to the end, resulting in them taking away all of the messaging that you wanted them to.

5. Shush! Plan for sound-off76% of viewers worldwide like to be in control of the sound of video ads on the internet, and 46% of European mobile users found video ads which play with the sound on straight away annoying1. In fact, 53% of viewers mute the sound right away when a mobile video ad’s sound plays automatically.

Mobile formats usually start with sound off as consumers don’t want music blaring from their smartphones if they are not wearing headphones. Make sure your creative packs an emotional punch and delivers your brand message without the need for a voiceover or music. Closed captions and subtitles can help the viewer to understand the narrative of an ad without the sound.

6. Think vertically53% mobile users worldwide say they find being forced to turn their phones horizontally to watch a video in full-screen annoying, while 34% use the rotation lock to keep their screen in vertical mode2. It’s best to create and distribute ads in the same way viewers consume video on their mobile devices. That’s why Unruly have created Unruly In-Article Vertical Video, an immersive outstream vertical video format which helps brands connect more authentically, intimately and effectively with mobile audiences.

7. A/B TestAs with any campaign, you can create slightly different assets and test them live. Then you can upweight the best-performing videos to increase overall campaign performance. With Dynamic Creative Optimisation, for example, you can optimise towards a specific campaign goal e.g. dwell time, to make sure you are putting your ad spend behind the highest performing asset. Make sure you test and build on mobile too to truly put the viewer first.

8. Plan for reachThe more of your audience you reach, the greater the impact of your campaign. Your audience spend the majority of their time on the websites, games, apps and blogs outside of YouTube.com and Facebook.com, so make sure you reach them there. Unruly, with a mobile reach of over 420 million, will create a bespoke sitelist for your campaign based on your target audience, market and objectives.

1 Unruly Mobile Study, 6,000 respondents WW, May 20162 Unruly Mobile Study, 6,000 respondents WW, May 2016

Unruly’s mobile formats

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In-Article vertical

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We are UnrulyBy bringing emotional intelligence to digital advertising, we help 91% of Ad Age 100 brands inform and inspire 1.44bn people around the world, using polite out-stream formats on sites that people love. UnrulyX, the viewable video SSP, creates better ad experiences for consumers, improved brand outcomes for advertisers and increased revenues for top-flight publishers. Emotion matters in marketing. Emotion creates values and sets preferences. Inspires action. Drives sales. Unruly has a decade’s data of consumer responses to video and uses that to hone content, model audiences and deploy ad dollars in ways that heighten emotional response and maximise brand impact. Unruly was founded in 2006 and acquired by News Corp in 2015. With 300 Unrulies across 20 locations worldwide, our super power is emotional intelligence and our secret weapon is passionate people on a mission to #DeliverWow.

Don’t just reach people.Move people.

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