“The Briefcase”: Not your ordinary YouTube video

Have you helped Needlebaum deliver the goods?

Well, you should, if only to get a first hand look at some really fun advertising.

I’m giving the app world a rest this week in favour of interactive videos, which are a

great way to encourage interaction from consumers and get them to spend more time with your product.

Blame it on my “blog idea!” detector, but yesterday I clicked on one of those big advertisements at the top of the YouTube homepage - something I usually try to ignore.

This one was an ad for Rogers’ Handset Protection Guarantee program, featuring Needlebaum, their character who is accident-prone when it comes to his cell phone.

Viewers watch the opening sequence of Needlebaum buying a hotdog from a street vendor until suddenly, the video stops and, just like a digital choose-your-own-adventure, you’re asked to choose his next course of action.

These interactive, branching videos (videos with links embedded in them) have been around for a while ever since YouTube created the video annotations option back in 2008.

Only recently, however, have I begun to see larger organizations adding this to their marketing toolbox. For Rogers’ campaign, every video ends with a plug for their handset protection program, meaning that the viewer hears the message anywhere from 12 to 20 times if they follow through the entire story.

"As long as it's entertaining and as engaging as possible then you can really deliver your product information and consumers won't be upset by that because you're rewarding them with entertainment,” said Tim Kavander, the creative director behind the video campaign.

And he’s right - after I finished the game, I was curious to see what would happen with the options I didn’t choose, so I went back and played again.

Even charitable movements are in. The Robin Hood Tax campaign videos from Britain were the first interactive videos I watched and - although simple compared to Rogers - I think they work well. They use the emotional pull of the videos to get people to choose, immediately, which side they support and the subsequent link to the organization’s website reflects their choice.

A great way to turn the stationary viewer into a participant!