Opinion: Bruce Daisley | YouTube
This is the year that social media hit knock-out scale. In the past most of us have been a member of a Facebook group that struggled to reach the headcount of a Monday night pub. This year social media communication hit massive new audience levels. Groups for and against the comedic acts of Messrs 'Brand and Ross' created immense legions of antipathy roaring against each others temerity for even existing.
The Barack Obama campaign brought a succession of genius pieces of social marketing (Remember the 'Yes we can' video featuring Will.I.Am and Scarlett Johansson? Remember the stunning reunion of the Wassup boys ground down by myopic Bush era? These two clips alone were viewed 32 million times on YouTube. In the old days a candidate used to turn up on Letterman or Leno, crack a few gags and hope it gave their campaign some human texture. These two incredible films (and I urge you to remind yourself of the Wassup clip - seeing it again, it is still breathtakingly bold) dwarfed the 4 or 5 million viewers who watch the networked talkshows. A social media election - of course - and its 100th time you've been told it.
And for brands? Social audiences love ads. In the days when you were a little firmer, a bit fresher faced a glorious Guinness ad might be seen two or three times in its run. Spotted in the centre break of Murder She Wrote, and each time relished and rewound. Now audiences treat ads as rewarding pieces of film - in the last two months YouTube homepage placements for major TV campaigns have seen advertisers like Barclaycard and T Mobile become our most viewed clips of the week. The video on the homepage of YouTube is seen 6 million times in a day - that's bigger than the centre-break of the last Big Brother final - and bigger than most ITV 9pm shows in the last month. Now is the time for bold brands to get involved.
If a politician can do it - then you certainly can