5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and...skip!
Ever heard of the Five Second Rule?
The famous five-second rule states that if you pick up dropped food within the five-second window, then you are allowed to eat it. Of course, if you Google the five-second rule, you’ll see that it’s not just about food anymore. Advertising too seems to have taken note of this and created ads, specifically the YouTube pre-roll ads that you can skip after five seconds. It doesn’t matter that some of the ads last for more than five seconds. Not unless you grab the viewers attention in that five seconds. It’s sink or swim, and here are five tips to advertise swimmingly.
Keep it short. Shorter.
Take a look at this ad. It’s not even five seconds long and yet got its point across. By displaying the text really fast, it highlighted the speed of the car. ‘Go from 0 to 100 in 3.8 seconds. Just as long as this ad.’ The background engine sound only emphasizes the statement. Now that’s a smart ad.
Likewise, Toyota released an ad that lasted just 4.9 seconds and still managed to highlight the product.
Just do it. Or don’t.
Nivea released an ad in March featuring Anushka Sharma. It was a regular ad until Anushka asked us to skip the ad right after six seconds. Here’s the catch though, the ad is 1:25 minutes and we’ve only seen 6 seconds of it. What trickery is this? Why does she want us to skip the ad? She doesn’t of course. But by making us think that, we’ve actually kept watching. We see what you did there, Nivea.
It works the other way round too. Ads that demand that we don’t skip the ad seem to fill us with a sense of terror- like this ad that threatens to electrocute a puppy for instance. Take a leaf out of Evil Dead’s book and scare the ‘skip ad’ thoughts away.
Think outside the box!
How annoying is it when the video you want to watch is not available? This ad pranks viewers in five short seconds by making us think that the video is unavailable. While at first glance it may seem like it does not showcase the product effectively, #takeiteasy and the playful cookie are not so easily forgotten.
Changing the narrative to something more current also gives you an edge. Raymond’s ad that used slam poetry as their narrative form went viral because it stood out in its storytelling.
Don’t stay in the shallow waters.
Be relevant. Interest in what’s happening around the world shows viewers the brand’s human side. Ads that are bold, or funny, or inspiring like this Oxemberg ad generate interest in viewers. The more depth your ad has or the more human emotions it can capture, the more chances that you’ll get noticed.
What’s new?
Combine your storyline with what’s trending on social media and you’re most likely to go viral like this Munch ad featuring the viral sensation Priya Warrier. You have to give your audience what they want. Manyavar’s ad that had the celebrity duo Virat and Anushka (or Virushka as they say) is another good example of keeping up with the trends, especially considering it was a way of announcing their wedding as well.
What’s your favourite pre-roll ad? Let us know in the comments!