xSite Marketing

I was very honoured this year to be asked to present a case-study at the 2009 Canada E-Connect conference on Brewster’s online video campaign, Vacations Canada TV.  This was my first time speaking in front of an audience this size but I think I did alright. 

Throughout the case-study, I tried to demonstrate that as online video usage continues to grow, so too does consumer expectations and demand for higher quality video content on the web.  Since the largest media vehicle is still TV – are we really to believe that consumers are going to settle for poor quality, amateur video footage on the web?  The growth and popularity of Hulu.com seems to demonstrate that consumers DO want the professional quality they’ve become accustomed to on TV.

There were no questions following my presentation – and to be honest I wasn’t sure what to make of it.  Did it mean noone was impressed or noone cared?  I got the impression (assumption, perhaps incorrect) that the audience (travel and tourism marketers) now only see value in leveraging user generated content to market their products.  While I agree this is crucial today, I believe that online marketers need to offer a mix of both high-quality authoritative content and user generated content so that their customers can make an informed decision.

This is especially important related to online travel and tourism marketing.  What if the only view of a product, in this case; a travel destination was offered through shaky, low quality video camera footage from other travelers.  What if it was too dark to catch a glimpse of the hotel lounge or the users failed to capture an aspect of the experience that was important in making a purchase decision?

Online video allows marketers to engage a potential customer and communicate convincing features and benefits of a product as well as enhance a customer’s ability to understand and relate to a product.  It becomes a challenge (however not impossible) to communicate these ideas using ONLY user generated content.  The Canadian Tourism Commission and British Columbia Tourism are doing just that.  Their latest campaigns will leverage traveler videos to communicate an emotion around a travel experience. The examples I saw were extraordinary and this will be a very effective strategy but again I feel that professional quality content will compliment these emotional excerpts and vice versa.

Marketing is about a balance and a mix and by using different mediums and strategies, we can appeal to different aspects of our target audience.

Somewhat related, I remember reading an article discussing whether professional travel writers and restaurant critics will cease to be relevant with the explosion of Web 2.0 and consumer reviews.  But I believe that consumers want a mix of opinions and travel planning materials, both professional and amateur.  Of course they want to know what the ‘average joe’ thinks of the experience, but at the same time they also wish to have clear visual expectations of what they are paying for.  Especially since many of us are taking fewer holidays and more recently have tightened our budgets, we must be very selective as we choose the perfect getaway for our family.

Also, it is difficult to monetize user generated video content. Businesses are cautious with the idea of placing their ad next to a video which could potentially have a negative impact on their brand.  This is supported by a September 2008 review from LiveRail, stating that while Hulu.com is apparently able to sell ads against 100 percent of its video inventory, YouTube is struggling to hit 3 percent. “User-generated video content, it would appear, is not nearly as lucrative as selling advertising against professionally-generated video content”.

Our online video campaign was designed to provide consumers and travel agents with unique travel experiences using high quality video alongside relevant Canada vacation packages (in the form of interstitials).

We are still looking at ways to incorporate user-generated content to further support these video episodes but the idea was to stand out in a crowded and competitive marketplace.  Right or wrong, I believe we’ve done that and although these episodes were not derived from users, I feel there is strong value to those planning travel and holidays in Canada.

High-quality authoritative product content compliments the user-generated content and reviews available to those researching and planning their next purchase.  What do you think?