YouTube Adds Cards, Making Videos More Interactive

Last week, YouTube launched a new Cards feature this week that is seen as the evolution of annotations. Items to note on these new cards are below:

• Allow creators to add interactive, Google-now like pop ups on videos.
• Can inform and link viewers to: merchandise, fundraising, other videos and playlists, websites and fan funding.
• Available on mobile (a big win)

As marketers develop Cards it is essential ensure these cards are truly adding value in the user journey of discovering video content. These cards should not disrupt the viewing experience unless it can provide unique and interesting interactivity—a feature that annotations for the most part have not supplied.

You can learn more here.

Bringing "How To" Videos to Vine and Instagram

After an extremely successful Black Friday Vine program, Lowes continues to evolve the campaign using consumer behavior and insights to drive creative, and effective, work. 

In the new campaign, Lowes:

• Evolves the “Fix in Six” campaign from small hacks to larger projects
• Showcases seemingly hard-to-do tasks in easy, digestable, 6-15 second videos
• Leverages existing user experience and platform functionality with a “Tap thru” engagement
• Breaks projects into steps that viewers can pause turning the quick video into a tutorial
• Educates audiences on how to use the feature and videos

Now, with the influx of the use of the mobile app and utility of the Vines, there is an opportunity to take this in-store and purchase the items needed for this DIY project. 

To learn more about the new campaign, see Lowes on Instagram, Vine and within this article.

Kate Spade, Anna Kendrick and Cinematique Give "Window Shopping" a New Meaning

Holiday shopping is upon us as retailers push new promotions and advertising at consumers across platforms.

But, following up on a successful Google Display Network campaign during Holiday 2013, Kate Spade pushes digital video even further with a new shoppable video via Cinematique, giving "Window Shopping" a new meaning in the digital video sphere.

And, if you haven't seen the new video starring Anna Kendrick, then you should watch it now:

The Cinematique technology on this video is outlined below:

• Users can watch the video and click products they like
• The video aggregates your clicks/products via a secondary page within the player (found when clicking the Cinematique logo "Q" on the player)
• Users can then be taken to the product page to purchase the images selected
• Via the screen after clicking "Q" users can also log-in to the Cinematique experience via email or Facebook for future updates and information on your products
• Cinematique not only allows shoppable information, but also can provide more details about an actor, location or any item within a video
• Touchable video is enabled on mobile via the App Store

Beyond Kate Spade, retail has led the way in interactive video campaigns. For more, see these campaigns below:

Juicy Couture Shoppable Annotations
Gap Back-To-School with Cinematique