Unruly have launched what they say is the world’s first ‘social video lab’, which will allow advertisers to predict the effectiveness and shareability of their video content before they spend anything on disseminating it online. The social video lab will use Unruly’s own analytics to enable clients to pre-test the video, and then tweak it according to research and insights provided by Unruly prior to launch.
Unruly say their Viral Video Chart is the engine behind the video analytics and that clients’ concepts will be tested using ‘sentiment tracking’ and ‘competitive intelligence’. The company says the content will then be ‘blended with the latest creative techniques in conjunction with academic institutions, including psychometric testing and focus groups with bloggers’.
Demonstrating Social Video’s Value
The lab sounds like it will be a smart move by Unruly. One of the problems that even the most reputable of the social video companies have had to contend with is the legacy of the viral video craze that sprung up during the early days of online video.
For every creative agency capable of delivering viral success in those days, there were twenty who couldn’t but were willing to promise they could. Seeding often meant uploading to YouTube and Daily Motion, with the more adventurous also submitting the video to Digg. They were the video world’s equivalent to social media consultants. Needless to say, many brands got burned.
The need for accountability and ROI has also been driven by what has been happening outside of social video. As video advertising (as in the regular pre/mid/post-roll kind) has evolved, analytics and reporting have become highly sophisticated. As a result, brands and agencies have become more demanding, so social video has had to catch up. Hence the fact Unruly say the main goal of the London-based lab will be to explain the ‘science behind sharing’ so clients understand how they’re getting bang for their buck and what they might hope to expect from their campaign.
“Having delivered award-winning global campaigns, including T-Mobile’s Life’s for Sharing, Evian’s Roller Babies, Old Spice’s Man Your Man Could Smell Like and Heineken’s The Entrance, we have the knowledge, technology and the best historical data in the industry to help marketers pinpoint which content is most likely to be enjoyed and shared online by consumers,” said Sarah Wood, Co-Founder and COO of Unruly.
