Gone in 6 Seconds

Ads that grab, hold, then go

By Erica Rascón on Dec 27, 2013 in Technology

When it comes to commercial advertisements, traditional rules have fallen by the wayside. Millennials have nontraditional tastes. We recycle our snail mail without reading it. We use TV commercial breaks to tweet about the show, not to watch ads. What banners? We can ignore a pop-up like you never even made it. Millennials respond best to out-of-the-box advertisements that say a lot in time-friendly morsels.

Meet the six-second ad. It’s a growing phenomenon that catches the attention of Millennials through some of our favorite social media platforms. Learning to master the six-second ad opens up a cost effective marketing opportunity that carries weight with young consumers.

The popular video site, YouTube,  allows viewers to skip ads after six seconds. This means that you can make a longer commercial if you want but you must grab and hold viewers’ attention within the first six seconds or we will quickly press that little right-facing arrow.

Vine is a growing site for posting three- to six-second videos. Variations of these circulate as memes on Facebook, Tumblr and other social media sites, vastly expanding the videos’ audience. When brands create vines, their commercials can be placed seamlessly (read: hidden) amongst quirky videos by users’ friends. It’s like gorilla advertising.

Want to advertise to Millennials with videos that we want to watch? These tips will help you get started.

5 Things to Keep In Mind for Your 6 Second Ad

• Ads can be as abstract, funny, tear-jerking, or as provocative as you want. At the end of those six seconds, however, you must prove that your product will enhance our lives and fit into our lifestyles. Skip long winded pricing or guarantee comparisons–we can look that up ourselves, and we will. Rather, show us what your product can do for us in a way that no other product can.

• Strike up conversation. Give us something to talk about, a reason to share the video with friends and get their feedback. Sharing will spread your ad across the web faster than you can say “viral” but we won’t share something that isn’t worth talking out.

•  Be open to diversity. Millennials are a diverse group and we like seeing our glorious array of personalities, interests, and features reflected in our marketing. While there is something to be said for selecting an exclusive niche audience, you also risk getting slammed for it and your sales will suffer. (Ahem, Abercrombie and Fitch.)

•  Engage with us! Give us a way to respond to your ad, either with hashtags (kudos for TJMaxx #TheGifter) or by encouraging us to create video responses of our own.

•  Remember: six second ads are a stepping stone that can draw viewers to other ads. Don’t feel pressured to tell all during the video. Tell us just enough to convince us that your product is worth researching. (We like browsing, by the way.) Lowe’s Fix-in-Six Vines show their tools and know-how at work without diving into the benefits of each item.