How to Make Your Video Campaigns Unskippable

When’s the last time you actually watched a pre roll ad on YouTube in its entirety?

You know the drill. You go to watch a video and suddenly you see a commercial that you have to watch for at least five seconds before you can click “Skip Ad.”

Think these ads are a waste of your time and the advertisers money? Actually YouTube pre roll ads generate significant viewer impressions at a cost effective rate of around 10 cents per view.

Plus YouTube pre roll ads enable you to segment your target prospects and customers by geography, demographics, category of video we are watching in real time and types of videos that typically interest us.

I’m not pitching YouTube pre roll ads. Rather, I’m pointing out that successful marketing focuses on clearly defining who you want to reach and influence and then developing a creative message to tell your story to those target audiences. It’s about the markets, the message and the mediums used to convey your message to your target markets.

For “top of the sales funnel” brand awareness, YouTube pre roll ads enable you to target the who, what, where and when of potential and current customers.

But what if we only view those first five seconds we’re required to watch?

Geico has the answer with their “Unskippable” campaign which puts the emphasis on those first five seconds in a compelling and memorable way.

The ads begin with a mention of the word “savings” by characters in the video. The voiceover states: “You can’t skip this Geico ad because it’s already over.”

After the announcer says the ad is over, the actors are left suspended in a live freeze-frame. Then something odd happens around them like the family dog jumping on the table to eat the dinner food while the family remains stuck in fake smiling mode.

Talk about making it about them and matching the message to the medium. These ads wouldn’t work well on “regular” TV but are great for YouTube. The key takeaway is right there in those first five seconds: “Geico. Savings” but the creative messaging leads many viewers to watch longer than the required amount.

The right message to the right market at the right time makes Geico’s campaign a success.

Your campaign can be Unskippable too by focusing on the markets, the message and the medium to tell your story in a creative and memorable way.

Click on the following clips below to view more video campaigns:
Elevator: Unskippable – GEICO (Extended Cut)
Cleaning Crew: Unskippable – GEICO (Extended Cut)
High Five: Unskippable – GEICO