Centering your brand in YouTube ads

Nacia Walsh: Hi, everyone. Welcome to our “How to think about” series. I’m Nacia. And in this video, we’ll be discussing a core principle marketers can use to build effective YouTube ads: branding. Along with attention, connection, and direction, branding is key to ensuring positive ad recall. Once you’ve locked in people’s attention, you’ll want to make sure that they see and hear your name or product throughout the ad so they won’t forget who you are.

In fact, optimized ads featuring strong branding have shown to increase brand perception by 17%. We spoke to Ariane Le Port, Global Creative Effectiveness Lead at Google, to learn how she thinks about branding for YouTube ads. Over to you, Ariane.

Ariane Le Port: Thanks, Nacia! Hi there. I’m Ariane, and I’m here to discuss branding for YouTube ads. Over 70% of viewers say that YouTube makes them more aware of new brands.

Leading with your brand makes it clear to your audience who the message is from, and why the offer is worthy of their attention.

So let’s dive into three key strategies to help you think about branding for YouTube ads. No. 1: Show up early and often. When concepting your creative, think about featuring your brand or product in the first five seconds.

Since people have short attention spans, showing up early helps viewers immediately understand who’s speaking to them. It can also increase overall engagement. And don’t forget to keep showing up too. Featuring elements of your brand throughout your ad means you stay top of mind for viewers as they experience your ad’s full story. Plus, viewers say that they’re 2X more likely to buy something they saw on YouTube.

No 2.: Reinforce your brand with audio. Remember, YouTube is different from other social platforms in that most people are actively listening. In fact, 95% of videos on YouTube are watched with sound on, so take advantage of the opportunity to make audio work in your favor.

According to a Nielsen Media lab study, audio ads increase ad recall by up to 24% over display ads. So the rule of thumb is: Make sure your audience sees and hears your brand or product name.

No. 3: Use a variety of brand assets. Throughout the YouTube ad, showcase a range of visuals and colors that are unique to your brand.

And this can be your logo, characters, tagline, or even a jingle, if you’ve got one. Your brand assets help to set you apart from your competitors. Plus, it’s always good to change things up. Showing different brand elements can help boost ad recall in the long run.

So there you have it. Branding, along with attention, connection, and direction, play a huge role in helping marketers create effective YouTube ads for consumers to engage with. By weaving your brand throughout your ad, you make it more memorable — and that’s kind of the whole point of advertising, right? Thank you so much for listening and back to you, Nacia.

Nacia: Thanks for sharing, Ariane. Let’s do a quick recap, shall we? When it comes to the four core principles of creating great YouTube ads, showcasing your brand tells your audience who you are. Remember to show up early and often; reinforce your brand with audio; and use a variety of brand assets to make your brand stick in viewers’ minds.

Well, that’s it for this video. Learn more about the ABCDs for creating effective YouTube ads by watching our other videos. And don’t forget to subscribe to our channel while you’re at it. See you next time.