Some people check their phones every 6 seconds.
6 seconds of mindfulness can make you more effective.
It takes 6 seconds for the blood in your body to go from the heart to the lungs and back.
As you can see there are a lot of things that happen in 6 seconds.
What about marketing and advertising?
Ernest Hemingway was able to tell a story in 6 words:
For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.
Can marketers and brand managers do the same?
Introduced by Vine in 2012, the short-form video hosting service where users could share six-second-long looping video clips, six years later the 6-second videos are making a comeback.
With YouTube introducing 6-second ads in 2016, marketers and brand managers have been challenged to tell stories really fast.
It seems the trend is here to stay because according to Vidyard’s 2018 Benchmark Report – Video in Business, 75% of videos produced by businesses are less than 2 minutes while 54% are up to 60 seconds.
How to Create Effective 6-second Bumper Ads for YouTube
Realeyes, the emotional intelligence platform which uses the power of AI to help brands measure their video content in terms of attention, emotions and sentiment, has the following statistics regarding 6-second videos:
- They grab similar attention as longer ads;
- They score higher attraction, happiness and engagement with teens under 19 years old than with people 30+ years old;
- They are 26% better at grabbing attention on mobile versus desktop;
- Brevity can be very effective, but it’s not about cutting down a longer story to an abbreviated version.
Start with something relatable.
Alexander Engel, Filmmaker via ThinkwithGoogle
How-to create effective 6-second ads according to Realeyes:
- Go native: create for the channel you will broadcast the video ad on;
- Don’t use cut-downs;
- Don’t compromise on the aspect ratio;
- Deliver a concise message: don’t cram too much into six seconds;
- Rather than trying to tell a whole story, you can use the 6-seconds ad to entice the audience to begin a campaign journey with a clear call-to-action to “swipe up”;
- If possible don’t edit the scenes;
- Keep your visuals free of distractions;
- Keep your copy simple.
Key takeaways from Realeyes regarding the 6-second ads:
- 3x more emotional impact per second than 30-sec videos;
- 2.7x more effective when used as a campaign reminder than a teaser;
- 43% more emotionally engaging when placed alongside premium content;
- 40% more emotionally engaging for digital natives;
- 26% better at grabbing attention on mobile versus desktop;
- Up to 1.6x more emotionally engaging than the average Super Bowl ad.
Google, which acquired YouTube in 2006 is using its powerful resources to gather consumer insights, map out culture, trends and industries benchmarks. ThinkwithGoogle is rich with latest stories, data and inspiration.
Keep everything simple.
Lawrence Chen, Director, BBDO —Daniel Adrain, Creative Director, BBDO via ThinkwithGoogle
Here are the Dos and Don’ts of creating effective YouTube 6-second bumper ads according to Google:
- Creativity loves constraints so it’s no surprise that 6-second video ads have unleashed a tidal wave of creative, innovative storytelling;
- Begin with a striking visual and build the story around it;
- Immediately let your viewers know they’ve stepped into your brand’s space;
- Avoid the temptation to cram too much into the opening, which may confuse viewers;
- Leave viewers with a clearly expressed final thought or call to action that’s given enough time to sink in;
- Focus on keeping it simple and delivering it well;
- Leverage simple visuals or a striking headline with music;
- Go beyond a single ad to a series of six-second spots that may explore different facets of an idea or message;
- Plan for 6 seconds.
The Harvard Business Review conducted a research in an attempt to discover what makes an ad go viral. Although the study looks at all video ads irrespective of their length, the findings are useful because they pinpoint 5 problems and offers 5 solutions.
Build curiosity.
Lake Buckley, Filmmaker via ThinkwithGoogle
4 tips and tricks to create effective video ads according to the Harvard Business Review:
1. Problem: Branding puts off viewers
The researchers found that the more prominent or intrusive the logo, the more likely viewers are to stop watching even if they know and like the brand.
Solution: Weave the brand image unobtrusively throughout the ad. Ask yourself: If I remove the brand image, will the content still be intrinsically interesting? If the answer is yes, viewers are more likely to keep watching.
2. People get bored right away
People may start viewing the ad, but they lose interest very quickly. Harvard Business Review found that keeping viewers involved depended in large part on two emotions: joy and surprise.
Solution: Today’s online viewers need to be hooked in the opening seconds so create joy or surprise right away.
3. People Watch for a While but Then Stop
As a marketer you know that your ad must play the emotional card to be effective. Surprisingly, ads that produce stable emotional states generally aren’t effective at engaging viewers for very long.
Solution: Building emotion into your ad is important but equally important is how you build it. Give your viewers an emotional roller coaster.
4. People Like an Ad but Won’t Share It
A viral ad is not build on viewership alone, but on the number of shares it gets – that’s what marketers and brand managers look for. Even though people may enjoy an ad themselves, they won’t always send it to others.
Solution: Surprise your viewers, but don’t shock them.
