The evolving desires for content and how marketers can adapt

Ben Jones, the international director of Creative Works at Google, oversees initiatives to assist brands in improving business outcomes with more effective creativity.

The content landscape has undergone significant changes in the past two years, with video content emerging as a key player. Regardless of the format – short, long, streamed or shared, we turned to videos to navigate our restricted lives. The content that fills our libraries today, which is fine-tuned by algorithms to align with our interests, reflects years of diverse curiosity, skill enhancement, passion and interests. Now, they depict the domains of our affection.

Today's content consumers are no longer merely focused on the most recent releases. They seek content that stirs their imagination, ranging from legendary concert footage to educational videos on everyday tasks. This shift in consumer behaviour, which is driving a digital revolution across sectors, urges the industry to produce creative content that doesn't just reach audiences but also resonates with them.

Navigating this transformed landscape with infinite viewer choices, here are three essential considerations.

Quality over format in creative content

Ad creativity has become the principal determinant of return on investment (ROI). As stricter privacy regulations phase out outdated data sources and media automation liberates marketing budgets, standout creative content is increasingly crucial as a strategic differentiator.

The capability to analyse the performance drivers within a video and across campaigns has seen a significant surge. Despite the availability of new data, tools, and methodologies that offer rapid and measurable value, they remain underutilised.

The anthem video of YouTube for 2022 portrays the diverse and numerous methods viewers utilise the platform to discover more of what they enjoy.

In this era, viewers value quality in terms of relevance, intellectual stimulation, sensory experience, and emotional resonance more than format or production value. Contemporary YouTube users typically consume over 15 types of content, demonstrating their limitless choice and unparalleled control over their options.

Understanding how strategic alterations to your creative content perform across audiences will soon surpass the importance of getting ads on specific screens. It's how your content resonates with the viewer that determines its effectiveness.

Moving beyond the traditional TV mindset

The blueprint for success in the digital era shouldn't be based on linear television. With digital channels growing at an impressive scale, narratives dominated by television have no place in our marketing strategies. Brands should focus on optimising each channel, taking into account its unique audience and format.

Unfortunately, our collective nostalgia for the past leaves us unprepared for the present. The traditional 30-second ad is inefficient for awareness, persuasion, automation, and the era of infinite information. Ads with run times of six and 15 seconds have proven much more effective and efficient for awareness, while two to three-minute ads are best for swaying opinions.

Embrace the power of automation

So, how can brands develop a semi-automated, video-centric, privacy-protected, data-rich, objective-oriented, creative-led growth engine?

As demands of time, cost, and differing values introduce complexities, agile brands will grapple with them. As audience discovery, targeting, scaling, format selection, and basic creative optimisations become increasingly automated, marketers can focus more on sophisticated creative expressions.

Brands must align each asset configuration with a specific objective to maximise every campaign.

Creative teams will produce longer, richer narratives that captivate and persuade. However, to get those stories in front of audiences, brands must skillfully steer powerful machines like Formula One drivers – they need to master the machine.

Achieving this involves refining creative techniques. While most brands are familiar with the ABCDs of YouTube, they could be doing much more. By aligning each asset configuration with a specific objective in each campaign, brands can optimise and scale based on their findings.

Despite the complexities of a content landscape redefined by the interests and aspirations of millions of people, marketing teams should not fear. Those audiences are ready to be engaged. With knowledge of how to deliver a variety of messages to the most receptive audience, brands can marry creativity and media to unlock the potential of both.