We may like videos, but we love interactive videos such as the ‘Choose a Different Ending’ video on YouTube.
For Drop The Weapon the interactive video made the audience face difficult scenarios and essentially choose their own outcome through selecting various options that pop up throughout the video. My particular ending saw me get into a fight and attacked by a weapon.
The Choose a Different Ending video is very effective in not only demonstrating how many young adults are living in the UK but its interactive element is key in demonstrating that these young adults have the power to choose another path in the life, one free from knife crime.
I have since came across another excellent example of how interactive videos can be used by brands, and in this case by movie companies. The Sex and the City 2 movie comes out at the end of May and the hype has been mammoth; the storyline somewhat overshadowed by the impressive wardrobe which is rumoured to have cost around $10 million. Essentially Sex and the City is, and always has been, a brands dream; it is the programme that has launched a thousand fashion trends and every brand is trying to get in on the act. In the last movie alone, off the top of my head, I can think of at least a dozen different product placements: Vogue, iPhone, Starbucks, Vivienne Westwood, Louis Vuitton and, of course, Manolo Blahnik; and despite the movie not even being released yet already the brandwagon has begun.
Much of the promotional activity has been played out online and one aspect of the online campaign which caught my eye was the launch of an interactive trailer as seen on the Heat magazine website.
The interactive trailer is essentially the same as the one we watch on our TV’s but we can click on the video throughout to find out spoilers and information about the clothes the cast are wearing. This is once again, an excellent opportunity to increase the brand exposure even further and it really does take product placement to the max- but it is an effective way of doing so! No doubt it will be a matter of time before this is introduced to online tv programmes and movies.
What do you think, is this taking product placement too far or an ingenious use of online video?
EDIT: Due to the video being ultra noisy I have removed it from the blog post and you can now find it here.


On Friday something significant happened, thousands of women across the UK (and the US) woke up in a panic, ran to their Iphone, Blackberry, laptop, PC etc to see if they had got the golden ticket of all golden tickets- the invite to The Outnet £1 birthday sale.








