Estee Lauder Endorses YouTube's TrueView Ad Format
Including stats on YouTube's Generation C in Hong Kong.
Estee Lauder Hong Kong is taking an interactive content marketing approach to sell its eye shadow makeup on YouTube. Its digital marketing manager has also given the thumbs up to Google’s TrueView video ad format.
The interactive video format is currently running on its YouTube channel. Be Your Own Makeup Artist allows the viewer to choose whether she has a single eyelid or double eyelids (displayed on the screen for users to click) so that the cosmetic firm could customize makeup techniques based on its products to individuals through the videos.
Jessica Lau, Estee Lauder’s corporate digital marketing manager, said at a recent YouTube press conference that they were re-purposing TVCs initially, but it has since evolved to produce infotainment videos on the platform.
Estee Lauder’s dedicated YouTube channel attracts 1.6 million video views by engaging star makeup artists in promotional activities, for example, according to YouTube.
Starting this year, Estee Lauder is also running video campaigns using YouTube’s TrueView ad format, which Lau said has been effective in raising brand awareness and influencing purchase behavior for the brand.
Google introduced TrueView ads for desktop and mobile in Hong Kong last year that features a skip ad button on YouTube allowing users to either watch or skip an ad after five seconds.
Advertisers with an AdWords account could promote their video content using TrueView ad formats (In-search, In-display, In-stream) that are auction based, but calculation is cost per view rather than cost per click in SEM (search engine marketing). The system could also be set in local language and currency settings.
Stella Cheung, head of sales for Google Hong Kong, did not share details on the number of advertisers using TrueView locally except that it has doubled since last year with about 75 percent of ads on YouTube now have the “skip ad” option.
Compared to traditional pre-roll ads, TrueView is said to have contributed 40 percent less in instances where the viewer stops watching a video entirely to avoid the ad.
Cheung also spent time explaining YouTube’s influential segment, the 16-to-39-year-old “Gen C” viewers comprising the largest social community online. The 5 Cs characteristics represent savvy Internet users that are into creation, content, connection, community, and curation.
For example, with the recent buzz on the big yellow duck in Hong Kong, Gen C users have uploaded 8,000 videos on YouTube, she noted.
An Ipsos research commissioned by YouTube also revealed the following on the Gen Cs in Hong Kong:
- 75 percent visit YouTube at least once every week on YouTube
- 25 percent visit YouTube at least once every day
- Spend 3.6 hours browsing YouTube content each week
- Switch between different screens 27 times a day
With more people using multiple mobile devices and switching between their smartphones, tablets, and PCs to watch videos, YouTube said it is committed to the “One Channel” concept so that users can have a consistent viewing experience watching its videos on any device and enable brands to connect more deeply with Generation C across multiple platforms.
From left: Stella Cheung, head of sales from Google Hong Kong and Jessica Lau, corporate digital marketing manager at Estee Lauder Hong Kong.
